Manila travel guides & articles
All 7 in-depth pieces we’ve published on Manila — newest first.
Underground Manila: Where the City Really Shops
Sixty years before mall culture arrived on the surface, Manila was already shopping underground — this is a route through the city's underpass bazaars and basement markets, from a 1961 Quiapo tunnel to Makati's polished supermarkets below street level.
Manila After Dark: A Night of Candles Among the Dead
For one night every November, Manila's cemeteries fill with families, mahjong tables, and a sea of candlelight — here is the honest route through the city's Undas season, from the North Cemetery's all-night fairground to the hushed contrast of the Heroes' Cemetery.
The Videoke Republic: Manila's All-Night Singing Machine
From ₱5-a-song street machines to Poblacion's private rooms, karaoke is Manila's true national pastime — here's how to sing your way through the city in 2026, from budget family KTVs to the rowdiest party rooms in Ortigas.
How Manila Eats: Lechon Stalls, Halo-Halo Shacks and the City's Endless Adobo Debate
A dish-by-dish tour of the carinderia counters, lechon roasters, halo-halo institutions and adobo rivals where Manila's thirteen million people actually eat in 2026.
Manila Bay Sunset: The City's Daily Ritual Along the Baywalk
From the packed Mall of Asia seawall to the quieter CCP boardwalk, here's how to time, plan, and eat your way through Manila's evening ritual in 2026.
The Tagaytay Ridge escape: Taal Volcano and highland cool
A ridge run from Manila's heat into cool highland air — the live crater of Taal, marrow-rich bulalo, and Michelin-tier tables, plotted as one clean route.
Chrome Horses: The Riotous Life of Manila's Jeepneys
From the welding bays where they are still hammered out by hand to the tables and bars where they have parked for good — a route through Manila told by its loudest, proudest machine.