This is a small guide for expats who have just moved or will be moving to Manila in the future.
UPDATE
If you are curious about how COVID-19 affected expat life in Manila, here are posts.
Expat Life in Manila During The Pandemic: Helpful information about navigating Manila during COVID included
Our Expat Family Life & Challenges On Lockdown
Easter in 2020 During Lockdown
Helpful Advice For Parents For Life Under Quarantine
CLIMATE
Manila has two seasons: Wet and dry. The rainy season starts in June and ends around in October. Typhoons still hit the Philippines as late as December. When a typhoon passes through a part of the Philippines, it rains in Manila.
It is warm or hot all year round. It gets quite hot from mid February to November. December and January are comfortable and beautiful.
LANGUAGE
Filipino (tagalog-based language) is the national language. In Manila English is widely spoken. Coming from Japan, I’m constantly impressed by the high level of English proficiency among the locals. There haven’t been many times when I encountered someone who had difficulty communicating in English in Manila.
COST OF LIVING
It is definitely cheaper than any European countries, the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Japan, or Singapore. However, you may be surprised by how expensive some services and products catered to wealthy Filipinos and foreigners are. Life in the Philippines can be cheap, but you may find it more expensive to live here for expats than you have imagined.
SAFETY
Having lived in Dakar, Jakarta and Mumbai, I feel very safe as a woman to walk around by myself in Makati and Bonifacio Global City (BGC). I have never felt vulnerable or in danger in Manila during the day. At the same time, I must say that Makati and Bonifacio Global City could be considered living in bubbles of Manila.
Among Dakar; Senegal, Jakarta; Indonesia, Mumbai; India and Manila; Philippines, Manila is the safest place by all accounts thus far.
PETTY CRIMES
During the holiday season, the number of petty crimes increases as you may imagine. Staying vigilant is advised especially between September and December. For women, a purse with a zipper is recommended. I see many locals carry a backpack on their front especially during the holiday season. Personally I have not experienced any, but my friend had her cell phone stolen from her purse in the business district of Manila.
TRAFFIC
Traffic in Manila is comparable to Jakarta, Indonesia. Some people who have lived in Jakarta say it’s worse than Jakarta and some others say it’s easier in Manila. The condition is one of the heaviest in the world according to the recent study by Asian Development Bank. (via)
HOUSING
It may take you some time to find your ideal home abroad. It’s often the case. For apartment living in Manila, there are many options available. For house living, it may take a few to several months until you can find one and move in. There are more new apartments that are small with 2 bedrooms available. Apartments that are big with 3 bedrooms or more are harder to come by.
SCHOOLING
There are many options for expats and international residents. Research schools, study their websites, and select a few schools that you are interested in. I recommend that you reach out to the schools of your interest at an early stage of your relocation.
There are many early childhood education options available in the city.
MEDICAL CARE
The quality of care at the hospitals and clinics are quite high in Manila. Many expat women give birth in Manila and they seem to have had good experiences. I also know some expats who choose to have surgeries in Manila instead of flying to other countries to get them done. Their experiences were all positive.
There are two major ones that many expats go to, but there are more options available. Makati Medical Center and St. Lukes Hospital are probably the most well known among expats in Manila.
DENTISTS & ORTHODONTISTS
There are so many options. The standard of care is quite high. The best is to ask around your neighbors or your expat friends once you move into your housing so that you can find someone nearby you.
DENGUE FEVER
When I learned that my family was moving to Manila, this was one of my concerns. Dengue fever was very common in Jakarta. In the first year of our life in Manila, I didn’t meet anyone who suffered from dengue fever in Manila. However, an outbreak of dengue fever in the Philippines in 2019 was declared an epidemic. We know many friends who were hospitalized for dengue fever this year. I have my children apply mosquito repellent before leaving the house in the morning everyday.
SHOPPING MALLS
The mall culture exists here. It was the same in Jakarta. People love to go to a mall to hang out. Each mall has different designs with many shops and entertainment available for both kids and adults. Many malls have international brands. Just to name a few, Zara, H&M, Forever 21, Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, and West Elm have presence here.
GROCERY SHOPPING
Pretty much everything is available in Manila. Supermarkets such as Rustan’s, Robinsons, Landmark, and SM Groceries are very nice and have variety of items from local produce to imported items. S&R and Landers are members only wholesale stores such as Costco in the U.S. They have many imported items that other stores don’t sell.
FURNITURE SHOPPING
There is a wide range of furniture available. There are some furniture that are at affordable prices in Landmark and SM. There are many high end luxurious furniture available in Manila. There are also American brands such as Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn and West Elm, but they are on the pricier end. IKEA is rumored to open the biggest IKEA shop in Asia sometime in the next few years, but so far I have not seen any definite date for its opening.
If you are moving to Manila, I recommend that you bring some furniture especially your kids furniture from where you are.
If you like rattan furniture, I recommend ADR Furniture.
DINING SCENE IN MANILA
EDITED
My Facebook follower asked about the dining scene in Manila and I realized that I forgot about it!
There is a variety of cuisine and options available for dining in Manila. I have put some places I have liked so far on my blog. You may view the list in Manila City Guide Page.
You can pretty much find any cuisine in Manila, but so far we haven’t found great Mexican or Vietnamese restaurants. Major restaurants from other countries are also available such as Din Tai Fung and Marugame Udon from Japan. Dining out can be expensive, but if you research, you can also find relatively cheaper options.
I have not added too many restaurants on my recommendation list for Manila since there is a plethora of restaurant reviews available online and I feel that my reviews just get buried under others. However, if I go to any place that I would love to document myself, I will put up a post on my blog.
TRAVELS
It is more expensive to travel in the Philippines for a family of 5 or bigger if you want to stay at a decent hotel compared to other countries in the region. Many of my friends told me that they had used Airbnb. We may need to explore that option for our future travels in the Philippines, but we haven’t. There are plenty of options available for backpackers and those who can afford a luxury hotel, but there are not many options in between. It surprised me. Maybe it feels expensive because I have lived in Indonesia.
Domestic travels in Indonesia was very accessible for expats. All my expat friends in Jakarta flew back to Bali at every opportunity they had or traveled to various places within Indonesia. On the other hand, many expats in Manila fly out to other neighboring countries in the regions for vacation. It could also be because the Philippines is centrally located.
TRAVEL SITES IN MANILA
I wrote a guide for visitors to Manila. It contains a list of places that I suggest visitors to checkout during their stay. Please check out my blog post below.
Manila Visitor’s Guide ☆ Recommendations For Foreign Visitors
DOMESTIC HELP & DRIVER
The majority of expat families hire either a full time domestic help or a part time cleaning lady. Many also hire a driver while some expats choose to drive themselves. There are some expats who live in the area called BGC do not own a car and get around either on foot or Grab, a company offering ride-hailing transport services just like Uber. Uber is not operating in Manila at the moment.
If you’re already in Manila and in market to find one, here is a post about “10 Questions To Ask When You Interview Household Help”
DRIVING IN MANILA
It feels intimidating to drive in a foreign country and many expats feel that way about driving in Manila. Having lived and seen how people drive in Japan, Singapore, the U.S., Senegal, Indonesia, India and the Philippines, I have to say that Manila is manageable. It may feel scary to drive in Manila at first. However, compared to the driving environment in northern Virginia, that in Manila is much friendlier. I have seen people yell/scream and show a finger in Virginia, but I have not seen that in Manila.
In Manila traffic rules change constantly. Often times expats may not be aware or have a hard time keeping up with these changes. We have a driver who works for us. I find having a driver very helpful because drivers communicate with other drivers to keep each other updated on changes of traffic rules.
LOCAL PEOPLE
Filipinos are truly the friendliest people I have encountered. I would say in confidence that they could be the friendliest people in the world. In general it would be hard to find people friendlier than Filipinos. When you walk on the street or shop at a grocery store, complete strangers look at you in your eyes and smile. I have never seen angry Filipinos on streets of Manila in the last year and a half of my time here. Even with the worst traffic, people stay calm.
BEST THING ABOUT LIFE IN MANILA
There are many perks for living in Manila. We are very fortunate to live in the tropical paradise of the Philippines. At the same time, I do recognize some hardships of living in Manila. Thus, this is not to diminish the hardships that some expats may go through.
If I were to pick one best thing about the life in Manila, I would say friendliness and kindness of the people. I find it such a high value of life abroad. As I mentioned above, Filipinos are very friendly and smile at you when your eyes meet theirs. Everywhere you go in Manila, you see special treatment and discount for people with disability and senior citizens. They take care of their people.
Filipinos are making a big effort to conserve their environment and pursue a sustainable living. It’s very inspiring to see the changes they make in order for them to reduce the amount of plastic to protect the earth especially marine lives. For example, my kids carry reusable straws these days. It’s just a small part of the efforts the Philippines is making. I would love for you to see it yourselves!
RELATED POSTS
I hope to write about helpful information to know for settling in Manila for newbies in the future. Meanwhile, here are some posts for those who may be moving abroad soon.
Timeline For Overseas Relocation ☆ How To Prepare For A Move Abroad
Items That Are Helpful To Ship For Moving Overseas
How To Stay Happy Overseas ☆ 10 Tips
How I Organize My Suitcase & Pack Light
Celebrating Holidays Abroad & Christmas Decoration 2019
The Reasons Why Home Decorating Is Important For Expats & My Fall Decorations 2019
If you have any questions, please leave them in the comment section. If you have trouble leaving a comment here, please send me an email at chuzailiving [at] gmail.com or leave me a comment on Chuzai Living Facebook page.
Thanks for reading my blog!!
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