Manila Travel Guide: Intramuros, Makati and the Real Metro

See & Do

Metro Manila is not one city. Plan by district, not landmarks: the traffic between them eats your day.

Intramuros and the old city

Intramuros is the walled colonial core, 0.67 square kilometres, and the only part of Manila that rewards slow walking. San Agustin Church, completed in 1607, is the oldest stone church in the country and a UNESCO World Heritage site; Fort Santiago and Casa Manila fill a half-day. Cross the Pasig to Binondo, the world's oldest Chinatown (1594), for the food crawl most visitors rate as the best thing they do here.

Makati, BGC and the modern city

Makati holds the country's largest skyline, 432 high-rises including 138 over 100 metres, plus most embassies. BGC is a 240-hectare estate in Taguig, home to the Philippine Stock Exchange and the country's tallest building. These two are where almost every nomad lives.

Day trips and the bay

Corregidor Island runs as a full-day ferry and jeep tour of the WWII ruins in the bay. Tagaytay, two hours south above Taal, is the standard weekend escape for cool air and volcano views. Closer in: the Manila American Cemetery and the Roxas Boulevard sunset walk.

Eat

Manila is where you eat the Philippines' whole range, from a three-dollar plate to a tasting menu, often within the same barangay.

What to order

Start with adobo, sisig and kare-kare, then go regional: Ilocano pinakbet, Bicolano laing and Cebuano lechon all have their own restaurants here. Halo-halo is not a dessert, it is an afternoon. Numbeo (September 2026) puts an inexpensive meal at ₱350, a mid-range dinner for two at ₱1,700, a cappuccino at ₱160.

Where to eat

Binondo for a proper crawl: dumplings, hopia and beef mami on Ongpin. For a modern night out, Poblacion in Makati packs bars and small kitchens into a few blocks. Nomads.com's working-café picks are Co.lab and ASpace.

Where to Stay

Pick your district before your building: here the commute, not the rent, decides whether you enjoy living here.

Makati

Nomads.com's top pick, and the default for good reason: embassy row, the biggest concentration of cafés and coworking, the most reliable fibre. Condo towers around Salcedo and Legazpi villages put weekend markets on your doorstep. Numbeo's city-centre one-bedroom average is ₱34,117, near $542/month.

BGC, Ortigas and Quezon City

BGC is the cleanest, greenest and priciest option, best if you want to walk everywhere. Ortigas and Quezon City cost less for more space, and QC gives you a genuine neighbourhood feel. Numbeo's outside-centre one-bedroom average is ₱17,660, about $283/month.

Ermita and Malate

The old tourist belt on Roxas Boulevard: cheap, central, close to Intramuros, the easiest place to land for a first month. Rooms older, streets louder. Base camp, not a home.

Logistics

Ninoy Aquino International (NAIA) sits just south of Makati, with four unconnected terminals, so check which one your flight uses before booking a transfer. Grab is the app to use; metered taxis are cheap but the meter is a known friction point. Numbeo's taxi start is ₱47.50.

The MRT and LRT beat the roads at rush hour and are the only reliable way across town between 7 and 10am; outside those hours, Grab everywhere. Nomads.com rates it 'cards OK almost everywhere' and tipping is not expected, so carry cash for jeepneys and markets and card the rest. If you want the calmer, cheaper version of this country, our Cebu guide is the island alternative.

Weather: tropical year-round at 26 to 33C, dry roughly December to May, typhoons June to November. Air quality is the caveat: nomads.com's annual average of 54 US AQI is 'Good' by its scale but well above the region's cleaner cities.