Backpacking Manila
Almost everybody lands in Manila and almost nobody stays. The standard plan is one night near the airport and a dawn flight out to Palawan, Cebu or Siargao, and there is a reason for it: the islands are what you came for.
But give the city one full day and it pays you back. Intramuros is a walled Spanish city founded in 1571, with a fort on the river and cannons still pointing out over it. Binondo, ten minutes away, is the oldest Chinatown in the world and the best street to eat in the country. And Makati, twenty minutes south, is glass towers and rooftop bars and a district called Poblacion that does not stop until four.
Three cities in one day: Spanish, Chinese and modern Filipino, for about €20 including the beer. Then you fly out in the morning like everybody else.
Why Manila is popular with backpackers
- The gateway: nearly every island flight in the country starts here
- Intramuros, a walled Spanish city from 1571, best seen on a bamboo bicycle
- Binondo, the oldest Chinatown on earth and the best eating in the Philippines
- Poblacion in Makati: bars, live music and rooftops, all walkable
- Street food from about thirty cents a skewer
- A jeepney ride across town for twenty cents
- Tagaytay two hours away, with a volcano inside a lake inside a volcano
Best time to visit Manila
Hot and humid all year. What changes is the rain, and the typhoons, which between July and October can stop the city entirely.
One piece of planning that matters more here than anywhere else on this route. When a typhoon comes through, domestic flights are cancelled in bulk. If you are travelling July to October, always leave a spare day before your international flight home.
Backpacker budget: around €20 a day
- €7hostel bed
- €2local meal
- €1.20beer
- €0.20jeepney ride
Guide prices from our own days in Manila. Add a tour or a night out and it climbs fast.
Best hostels in Manila
All three are in Makati, which is where you want to be: safe, walkable, close to Poblacion and a manageable drive from the airport.
Lub d Manila Makati
One of the best hostels in the country: hotel standards with a hostel’s common areas, an excellent position in Makati, and the easiest soft landing after a long haul flight.
If you are working for a few days before the islands, this is the one.
Manila Z Hostel
The backpacker classic, and famous for one thing: the rooftop bar looking out over the Manila skyline, which fills up with travellers every evening.
Nearly two thousand reviews. This is where you meet the people you will bump into again on Palawan.
Ola Hostel Manila
Relaxed, affordable, and with a rooftop pool, which after eighteen hours of flying is worth more than it sounds.
Central, good value and a sensible base if Manila is a stopover rather than a stay.
Best things to do in Manila
One day, three different cities. Start inside the walls, eat your way through Chinatown, and end on a roof.
Intramuros, Chinatown and old Manila
The best introduction to the city in half a day: inside the Spanish walls, out through the old gates and into Binondo, with somebody explaining how three and a half centuries of Spain, fifty years of America and one devastating month in 1945 produced what you are looking at.
Manila does not explain itself to you. A guide here changes the whole day.
Intramuros by bamboo bicycle
The same old city, on a bicycle made of bamboo, which sounds like a gimmick and is genuinely the nicest way to do it. You cover the whole walled city in a morning instead of a sweaty afternoon on foot.
Nearly seven hundred reviews and a 4.8. Go early, before the heat arrives.
Fort Santiago
The Spanish fort at the mouth of the Pasig, and one of the most important historical sites in the country. Jose Rizal, the national hero, spent his last night in a cell here before he was executed in 1896, and brass footprints in the ground trace his walk to the execution ground.
Quiet, green and shaded, in the middle of a city that is none of those things.
Binondo, the oldest Chinatown in the world
Founded in 1594, which makes it older than any other Chinatown anywhere, and still a working neighbourhood rather than an arch and a souvenir street. Hokkien Chinese cooking that has been mixing with Filipino food for four centuries, and stalls that only make one thing.
Come at lunchtime, when every cart is out, and come hungry.
The rooftops of Makati
Makati is the modern half of the city and it is where the skyline is. The rooftop bars around Poblacion and the Ayala triangle look out over all of it, and a drink costs about €4.
Go up for sunset. The light over a city this size, from thirty floors, is the thing nobody expects from Manila.
Eating off the street
Filipino food is the most underrated cuisine in Southeast Asia and the street is where it starts. Skewers off a charcoal grill from about thirty cents, grilled squid, barbecue pork, and a bowl of something sour and hot.
Pick a stall with a queue, which means everything on it is fresh.
Rizal Park
The big open green next to Intramuros, running down to the bay, with the monument to Jose Rizal at the centre of it and an honour guard that never leaves. It is where Manila goes on a Sunday.
Free, and the quietest it gets is early in the morning.
A night out in Poblacion
A few square blocks in Makati that turned from a sleepy district into the best night out in the country: cocktail bars in converted houses, live music, rooftops and food from everywhere, all within a ten minute walk.
It starts late, around ten, and it goes until it stops.
A day trip to Tagaytay
Two hours south and six hundred metres up, which is enough to change the temperature completely. The view is Taal: a volcano in a lake, on an island, inside a larger lake, inside a much larger volcano.
Cooler air, a row of restaurants along the ridge looking at it, and an easy escape from the city.
Best area for backpackers
Makati and Poblacion
Makati is the modern business district and Poblacion is the few blocks inside it where everything happens. Nearly every hostel worth staying in is here, along with the bars, the restaurants and the rooftops.
It is also the answer to the safety question. Makati and Bonifacio Global City are well lit, patrolled and fine to walk around at night, which is not true of every part of this city.
Good to know about this area
- Safe, modern and walkable, including after dark
- Almost every hostel in Manila is here
- Poblacion is the night out, and it is all within ten minutes on foot
- Good connections to the airport, though the traffic decides how long
- Popular with digital nomads, so the cafes and the wifi are good
- Use Grab rather than flagging a taxi, and the price is set in advance
How to plan your days in Manila
One or two days is what most people give it. Pick how long you have.
Intramuros and Chinatown. The walled Spanish city, best done on a bamboo bicycle or with a guide. Then walk over to Binondo, the oldest Chinatown in the world, for lunch.
Tonight: the bars of Poblacion in Makati, where the city actually goes out.
Makati, or Tagaytay. Rooftops, malls and the better restaurants are in Makati and BGC. To get out of the city, Tagaytay is two hours away and looks straight at the Taal volcano.
Tonight: early night. Domestic flights out of here often leave at dawn.
Food and drink in Manila
Filipino cooking is not like the rest of Southeast Asia. It is barely spicy, it is built on sour and salty rather than hot and sweet, and it carries three hundred years of Spain and six hundred of China on top of what was already here.
Manila is the best place in the country to work out what that means. Adobo braised in vinegar and soy, sinigang sour with tamarind, lechon roasted whole for hours, and halo-halo, which is shaved ice with about nine things in it and makes no sense until you have had one.
A small dish of vinegar with garlic in it arrives with almost everything. That is not decoration. It belongs with the food, and it is the thing that makes it work.
Getting there and onward
Manila is the air hub of the Philippines. Nearly every domestic flight to the islands leaves from here or from Cebu.
From the airport. NAIA has four terminals a long way apart, so check which one you need. A Grab to the centre is about €5, and in rush hour it can take an hour or more.
Around the city. Manila traffic is genuinely famous. Grab is the easiest, the jeepney the cheapest at about twenty cents, and the LRT and MRT the fastest, though they are packed at peak times.
Onward. It all goes by air: El Nido, Coron, Cebu and Bohol are all one to one and a half hours away, Siargao about two. Book well ahead for the cheap fares.
- Domestic flightCebu, Coron: 1 to 1.5 hrs · Siargao: about 2 hrs
- GrabPrice set in advance, and by far the easiest
- JeepneyAbout €0.20 a ride, and the classic
- LRT and MRTFast, and packed at rush hour
- FerryTo the Visayas, but slow: reckon on days
Staying safe in Manila
Manila has a reputation and part of it is earned. In the districts travellers actually use, Makati, Poblacion, BGC and Intramuros in daylight, it is straightforwardly fine as long as you pay attention.
- Use Grab rather than flagging a taxi off the street
- Stay in Makati, BGC or Poblacion at night. Those are the safe districts
- Keep your phone in your pocket on the jeepney and the train
- Only use cash machines inside a mall or a bank branch
- Walk at night through districts you do not know. Take a Grab instead
- Go along with anyone who approaches you about a card game or a family party
- Accept anything from a stranger, including a sweet or a drink
- Carry valuables visibly around Intramuros or Rizal Park
Rebels on the Road tip
Almost everybody books straight through to Palawan or Siargao and sees nothing but the airport. Give Manila one honest day instead, in this order: a bamboo bike tour through Intramuros starting at eight, lunch on a plastic stool in Binondo, and a rooftop in Makati for sunset. Three cities, one day: Spanish, Chinese and modern Filipino, and each of them is a different country. It costs about €20 and it is the reason you will not describe the Philippines as just beaches when you get home.
Frequently asked questions
How many days do you need in Manila?
One full day covers Intramuros, Binondo and a night in Poblacion. Two if you also want Tagaytay or the museums. Most people give it a night and a morning, which is the one thing we would change.
Is Manila worth visiting?
Yes, for a day. It is not a beach and it does not pretend to be, but the mix of Spanish, Chinese and modern Filipino in one city is something no island gives you, and the food is the best in the country.
Is Manila safe for backpackers?
In Makati, BGC and Poblacion, yes, including at night. Intramuros is fine in daylight. Elsewhere after dark, take a Grab rather than walking, and keep your phone away on public transport.
Which area should I stay in?
Makati, and specifically around Poblacion. That is where the hostels, the bars and the restaurants are, it is safe to walk at night, and it is a manageable run to the airport.
How do I get from the airport?
Grab, for about €5 to Makati. Check your terminal first: NAIA has four and they are a long way apart, with a shuttle between them that is slower than it sounds.
How do I get to the islands from Manila?
By air. El Nido, Coron, Cebu and Bohol are all an hour or so away, Siargao about two, and flights are cheap if you book ahead. Ferries exist and take days rather than hours.
Do I need to worry about typhoons?
Between July and October, yes, and mostly as a planning problem rather than a danger. Domestic flights get cancelled in bulk, so always keep a spare day before your international flight home.
When is the best time to visit Manila?
December to February, the amihan season: as cool and dry as it gets here, and the only time walking around the city in the middle of the day is pleasant. March to May is very hot, and June to November is wet.
