🇵🇭 Philippines · Asia
Manila
Spanish walls, the oldest Chinatown on earth, and Michelin food at canteen prices.
cityculturefoodnightlife☀ best: Dec - Mar
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The Manila guide
Inside the premium guide
A preview of the real thing — a detailed premium guide, researched and checked in 2026. Click a page to enlarge.
THE COMPLETE CITY GUIDE
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PHILIPPINES · RESEARCHED 2026
Manila
Spanish walls, the oldest Chinatown on earth, and Michelin food at canteen prices.
sama·sama
The cover
What this guide covers
38 pages, A4 — cover to back, everything in one place.
What’s inside + how to use
The place & what a day costs
City at a glance — the best-of snapshot
What & how to eat
Where to eat — cheap & local
Mid-range & special occasion
Sweets, cafés & coffee
Vegan, veggie & gluten-free
Supermarkets & typical prices
Markets & food halls
Souvenirs & shopping
Where to stay — neighbourhoods
Budget, boutique & luxury stays
Hostels — the backpacker shortlist
Six big things to do
Top 10 experiences — book & compare
Nightlife & after dark
Best day trips
Insider tips + safety & scams
Ready-made day plans
Getting around
Arrival, tickets & transport cheat sheet
When to go + best time to visit
Cash, cards & tipping
Connectivity & insurance
Health, safety & entry
The travel toolbox
Every link, one place
Sama·Sama · Manila guide38 pages
Everything it covers
Everything. In one premium file. Working for you.
This isn’t a blog post saved as a PDF — it’s a detailed, premium, 38-page A4 magazine — researched and checked in 2026, designed to be used. Keep it on your phone or print it, open it at a street corner in Manila and it answers the question you’re standing there with.
38A4 pages — cover to back
201+researched prices in €
315live, verified links
112jump straight to Google Maps
62hand-picked photos
Add it up: 578+ researched details — every price checked, every venue placed, every link live. More usable information than a week of blog-tab hopping, in one beautiful file.
- Every venue is one tap from navigation — 112 Google Maps links mean you never type an address on holiday.
- Real prices, not vibes — three honest daily budgets (€22 / €99 / €416) and prices on everything from a dorm bed to a splurge dinner.
- Zero sponsorships — nobody paid to be in this guide. If it’s in, it’s in because it’s good.
- Book everything from the page — stays open on Booking.com & Hostelworld, experiences on GetYourGuide, Trip.com & Klook, transport on official operator sites.
- Plan-it-for-me included — ready day plans, a Top 10, a best-of snapshot, and neighbourhood “best for” labels that choose your base with you.
Buy the Manila guide — €14.50 →
✦€14.50 is our price. Etsy adds your country’s sales tax on top — MVA in Norway, VAT across the EU, usually nothing in the US — and shows you the total in your own currency at checkout.
SHOESTRING
€22/day
dorms, street plates, transit
COMFY
€99/day
private room, sit-down meals, a treat
FLASH
€416/day
nice hotel, good dinners, no maths
🧮 Trip maths
€693 total
What Manila costs, day to day
🛵 Getting around
Grab
Motorcycle taxi (Angkas, JoyRide)
Metered taxi
Jeepney ride, first 4km€0.2–€0.3
LRT-1, LRT-2 or MRT-3 ride€0.1–€0.7
EDSA Carousel busway€0.2–€1.2
beep card + minimum load€0.7
🛏 Stays
Per night
Hostel dorm bed, Poblacion€10–€17
3-star hotel, Makati or Ermita€21–€32
4-star, Makati/BGC/Intramuros€52–€195
5-star, Makati or BGC€130–€518
Monthly
Studio, Makati or BGC€400–€750
1-BR, decent area€550–€1,100
🛒 Groceries & daily life
Puregold — cash-and-carry, cheapest for a real shop
SM Supermarket / SaveMore — the everyday chain, strong own-brand
Robinsons / Waltermart — mid-market mall supermarkets
Alfamart / 7-Eleven — corner shops; Alfamart is the cheaper of the two
Milk 1L€1.6
Bread€1.2
Eggs 12€1.8
Cheese 1kg€9.5
Chicken 1kg€3.4
Rice 1kg€0.8
Beer 0.5L€1
Coffee jar€4
🍜 Eating out
Carinderia / turo-turo plate€0.7–€2.9
Binondo street-food crawl€5.7–€10
Local restaurant meal€2.9–€5.7
Bib Gourmand dinner, Makati€5.7–€13
Fine dining tasting menu€56–€141
🎡 Things to do — with kids
Fort Santiago & Intramuros€1.1
National Museum complex, all threefree
Villa Escudero day trip, child rate€13–€14
🌙 Things to do — grown-ups
Poblacion cocktail, each€5.1–€5.7
Club night, Entertainment City€14–€36
Helm tasting menu with pairing€107–€141
🌤 Climate
Day °CSea °CRain
Best: Dec - Mar · Wet: Jun - Nov
The heat barely moves; the rain is the whole story - 14mm in February against 432mm in August, and low-lying Manila floods fast. June to November is typhoon season, and the usual damage is not a direct hit but a storm sitting offshore dragging the monsoon in. April and May are dry but the heat index routinely reads 42-43C.
✈️ Getting there
Philippine AirlinesCebu PacificAirAsiaEmiratesLondon€450–€850
Amsterdam€480–€900
Dubai€280–€550
Singapore€60–€180
Everything routes through Ninoy Aquino (NAIA), 7-9km from Makati and BGC. Three terminals are in use: T1 international only, T2 domestic only, T3 both and the busiest. Airlines were reshuffled in spring 2026, so confirm your terminal 24 hours ahead - there is no airside link between terminals, so a change means the public road and an hour. Clark (CRK) fares look cheap but it is 90-100km north, half a day each way.
🏧 ATMs & money
Fees: A flat ₱250 rides on almost every foreign withdrawal, with 10,000–20,000 ₱ limits — it stings in percentages on small pulls.
Limits: ₱10,000–20,000 at most banks; HSBC allows up to ₱40,000 — four fees become one.
Best machines: HSBC (higher limits)BPIBDO
HSBC branches allow bigger single withdrawals, diluting the flat fee. Bring some USD as backup for islands; change at bank counters or established changers, not kiosks.
🩺 Health & safety
Vaccines: Routine, Hepatitis A, Typhoid; rabies awareness with strays.
Health: Bottled water, repellent for dengue, sunscreen like it's a job — the tropics' honest checklist. City private hospitals (Cebu Doctors', Chong Hua) are good; island clinics are basic, so travel insured.
Tap water: ⚠️ Metro Manila and Cebu tap is chlorinated but most drink bottled/purified; on islands, always bottled.
Safety: The tourist islands — Boracay, Bohol, Cebu's resorts — run calm and heavily hosted; violence involving visitors is rare there. National statistics look higher than your actual itinerary: the areas driving them (far southwest Mindanao) are 500+ km from anywhere on this site. Typhoon season is Jun–Nov; Dec–May is your blue-sky alternative.
Emergency: 911 nationwide
🌱 Vegan, veggie & gluten-free
Plant-based: Hardest of the region — meat hides everywhere. Stick to Chinese-Filipino veggie houses, Bohol's farm cafés, and market fruit.
Gluten-free: Rice-based mains are safe; soy sauce (toyo) is in most adobo and marinades — grilled fish + rice is the reliable order.
'Walang karne' = no meat · 'gulay lang' = just vegetables · big cities have growing vegan scenes (Cebu IT Park).
🛂 Visa & entry
For most short tourist trips, citizens of the US, UK, EU/Schengen, Canada, Australia and New Zealand either enter visa-free or get a simple online authorisation (an eVisa or eTA) before flying. Typical visa-free stays run 30–90 days. Some countries want a visa arranged in advance, and a growing number ask you to fill an online arrival or eVisa form even when 'visa-free' — so always check the official portal for your exact nationality before you book.
Rules change — always verify with an official source for your nationality before you book.
💬 Traveller tips & reports
Build the day around traffic, not the map — A 6km trip takes twenty minutes at ten in the morning and ninety at six in the evening, and Friday is worst of all. Rush hour is 7-10am and 4-8pm. Cluster the day into one district and walk it, and cross town on MRT-3: North Avenue to Taft is 32 minutes against two hours by road.
@edsasurvivor · Aug '26 · ▲ 214
Withdraw at HSBC, nowhere else — Every other Philippine bank charges a foreign card about 3.55 euros per withdrawal and caps you at a low ceiling. HSBC charges nothing and lets you take four times as much at once, which over two weeks is fifteen to twenty-five euros kept. HSBC is Manila, Cebu and Davao only, so draw cash before flying on. Always press PHP, never EUR.
@pesoprinter · Aug '26 · ▲ 137