Manila Visitor’s Guide

Since Manila is home to many foreign residences, their families and friends probably come visit them in the Philippines to get to know the country. Some foreign travelers to the Philippines skip Manila and go straight to the destination islands with world renown beaches in the Philippines. It’s understandable, but Manila actually has some wonderful places to offer for travelers as well!

This guide is to help those visitors who want to explore Manila. Based on my own experiences of living in this city, I have selected some spots or activities as well as nearby beaches that are driving distance from the city. This is my personal recommendations written from a perspective of a foreigner, an expat wife, and a mom. I hope this will help you narrow down a long list of activities you can do in the city.

Sites To Visit

If I were to pick places to show our house guests, these below are the top places where I would like to show them.
Knowing what I know, these places are where I would love to see myself if I came as a tourist to Manila. Please click on the hyper links or photos to jump to access more detailed articles.

National Museum of Natural History

National Museum of Natural History is worth going even just to see the stunning atrium and the architecture of the museum. I find the space so peaceful and calming.

Intramuros

Intramuros, a city within walls, which was built during the Spanish occupation in the Philippines in the 16th century, is one of my favorite sites to visit. If you would like to know which sites to visit in Intramuros, please click the following link for my personal recommendations.

Site Recommendations For Intramuros In Manila

If you would like to see some photos of San Agustin Church, Museo de San Agustin and streets of Intramuros, please click the following link.
Photos of Beautiful Historic Intramuros – The City Within Walls ☆ Manila Philippines

Manila American Cemetery

Manila American Cemetery is open to public everyday except for a few National Holidays in the Philippines. The beautiful landscape in the heart of the Bonifacio Global City will provide an escape from the traffic and the quiet space.

Other Possibilities

We have not done this yet, but taking your guests to Tagaytay would be a nice excursion. If your guests like to hike, I’m sure a hike trip to the Taal volcano will be a memorable experience.

 

Restaurant Recommendations

There are countless restaurants in Manila and it can be overwhelming to chose from. If I were to pick a few, though, those would be my recommendations for visitors.

Blackbird

With the historical background of the building where this restaurant is housed, Blackbird is one of the places I recommend visitors to check out.

Nono’s

Nono’s is a Filipino comfort food restaurant in a beautiful setup. You probably want to try local food if you travel to the Philippines. If you have seen my blog for a while, you notice that I’m into interior design. This is just me, but in my personal opinion, dining experience is a whole package, not just food.

Wildflour

If you would like to go out for a nice breakfast at a stylish restaurant in Manila, I recommend Wildflour.

Breakfast At Antonio’s

Breakfast At Antonio’s is located in Tagaytay which is a couple of hours drive from Manila. It may feel like a long trek just to eat, and it’s true, but it’s worth the drive. Plus, Breakfast At Antonio’s is conveniently located on the hill overlooking the Taal Lake in Tagaytay. You can go visit the lake and have a brunch, lunch or even dinner! It’s a great restaurant for families. Taal Lake is famous for a lake filled inside of a caldera that has another island within a lake.

Something delicious, not necessarily local, but most foreign visitors would enjoy is Din Tai Fung. When you are looking for something different from local foods, it’s a good option to go to. My husband’s cousin loved eating lunch there.

 

Shopping

Souvenir Shopping

For shopping souvenirs from the Philippines, Kultura is a one stop shop for any souvenir needs. It has everything that foreign visitors are looking for from the country and they are stylish.

If you have a female guest who likes paper goods, I would take her to Papemelroti.

 

Spa

Your guests will enjoy a spa experience in Manila. Who wouldn’t like a nice relaxing massage? I think any place that is located nearby your place or you yourself likes going, that will work for your guest as well. We love using a service where a masseuse comes to our house. It may help you and your guest because you don’t have to take your guest to any place and he or she can relax at your home. We use a service from a company called Spaholic. (Phone: +63 917 531 3531)

If you have a female guest, she might enjoy a manicure or pedicure or both. There are many great places all over the city. My personal favorite is Nail Spa.

 

Quick Getaway Destinations

If you want to visit nice beaches driving distance from Manila because flying again will be too much, here are a few places that we loved.

Club Punta Fuego

Club Punta Fuego boasts very nice private beaches within the premises of the privately owned gated community. To see the beaches, please click the link below.

Club Punta Fuego & Long Beach ☆ Beautiful Hotel & Beach in Nasugbu Batangas

There is a resort hotel called Club Punta Fuego and if you stay at this hotel as a guest, you can access their private beaches. In other words, if you don’t stay there, you won’t be able to access these beaches inside the Punta Fuego gated community.

Amara Residences

Club Punta Fuego resort hotel can be booked full quite fast since there are not may rooms available. We stayed at Amara Residences and I can recommend this resort hotel. It’s a nice hotel for families with multiple kids or two couples who need a bigger space for lodging. The perks of this hotel and the reason why we picked this hotel is because you can access Club Punta Fuego, its facilities as well as the private beaches since they are part of the Club Punta Fuego group.

Amara Residences is walking distance from a beach called Natipuan Cove.

Puting Buhanging

We recently discovered Sandbar which is also known as Little Boracay among locals. The sandbar is 3.5 to 4-hour drive from Manila.

If you need a place to stay, the hotel options are quite scarce in the area. As for us, we stayed at Matabungkay. If you don’t mind a very basic lodging option catering to locals, then maybe you could stay here.

 

That’s it! I hope this will be helpful.

For residents, I have a recommendations for a life in Manila. Please click on the link below!

Manila City Guide ☆ For Residences

Thank you for reading and I appreciate your time to visit my blog!

Please feel free to add any of your recommendations in the comment section below so that the readers can consider your advice.