Things to do in Manila

Landmark · Old Manila

The Spanish colonial walled city — Fort Santiago, San Agustin Church and cobbled streets inside sixteenth-century walls.

Local tip: Do it by bamboo bike with a guide rather than on foot in the heat. San Agustin survived the 1945 battle that levelled almost everything else, and knowing that changes how you see it.

Food · Old Manila

The oldest Chinatown in the world, established 1594, and the best eating in the city.

Local tip: Go hungry on a food walk. The Filipino-Chinese cooking here — kiam pung, hopia, lumpia — exists nowhere else in quite this form.

Neighborhood · Taguig

A planned modern district of towers, walkable streets and public art — the Manila that surprises visitors.

Local tip: It's genuinely walkable, which is rare here. High Street on a weekend evening is where young professional Manila actually spends its time.

Nature · Roxas Boulevard

The bay produces some of the most spectacular sunsets anywhere, watched from the baywalk.

Local tip: Go around 5:30pm and walk the baywalk. The water quality is poor, but the sunset is genuinely world-class and completely free.

Nightlife · Makati

A former red-light district turned into the city's most interesting bar, speakeasy and restaurant quarter.

Local tip: Start on Felipe Street and wander. It's the one part of Manila where you can move between good bars on foot rather than by car.

Culture · Old Manila

Manila's pre-war main street, lined with faded art deco buildings now filling with artists and small studios.

Local tip: The First United Building and the Saturday market inside it are the way in. Almost no visitors come here and it's the most atmospheric corner of the old city.