Manila flights and travel guide

Manila is a thriller, despite the smog, the traffic congestion and the crush of people. And, more and more travellers are taking cheap flights to Manila each year to experience this wonderful, lively city and get beyond its unfair reputation as an ugly city without a soul.

Manila has been flattened and rebuilt many times. The city has been home to the Spanish, Chinese, British, Americans and Japanese. A coruscating bombing campaign by the Japanese in 1945 left it the second most-devastated city after Warsaw. It was rebuilt in American style and is today a city of shiny shopping malls, tower blocks, freeways, and, as the gap between rich and poor in the Philippines is gaping wide, shanty towns.

One fascinating piece of old Manila that has survived is Intramuros. This perfectly restored medieval city - intramuros means "within the walls" - has immense historical interest. Every power that has ruled the Philippines has flown its flag over its walls and although there are outlets of Starbucks and McDonald's inside the walls, there are churches and convents (including San Agustin Church, the oldest church in the Philippines), schools, Fort Santiago and other important monuments that have somehow survived Manila's tumultuous history.

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Manila climate

The climate is tropical wet and dry. Temperatures are high year-round as are humidity levels. The range in temperatures is small. Average lows are about 20 degrees and average highs are in the low 30s. The dry season extends from January to April and the wet season from May to December. Typhoons and storms - followed by floods - are a danger during the wet season.

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When to fly to Manila

Peak Season: 

November to February is high season. Late March to May is also very busy as this is when the schools are out and local families flock to the beaches. Easter and Christmas are wonderfully colourful occasions. 

Off Season: 

The wet season - June to December - is low season. July to October is typhoon season.

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Getting into town Manila

The best way of navigating Manila is by taxi. Make sure the driver switches on the meter before you set off. If he refuses, get out and hail another taxi. There's no shortage in Manila.

The Manila Light Rail Transit System serves the Metro Manila area. It's extremely cheap and fast, even if the system is not as comprehensive as other cities in Asia. There are three lines - LRT1, LRT2 and MRT.

Buses are regular and also very cheap, but the Jeepney is the tourist experience. These stripped-down, yet richly decorated, former army jeeps are used by the locals (they're cheaper than buses). A ride in a Jeepney can be a tight squeeze and it can be hot and dusty too but it's an unmissable experience. FXs are air-conditioned Jeepneys that, like regular Jeepneys, follow certain routes. Kalesas, horse-drawn carriages, are an old-fashioned way of seeing major attractions such as Intramuros or Chinatown. There are tricycles and pedicabs too and it's advisable to try to fix a fare before you set off.

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Getting around Manila

Several car-rental companies - Avis, Hertz, National - have desks at the airport.

If you're staying at a major international hotel, it may provide bus or taxi service from the airport. There are accredited, prepaid, taxis but these are more expensive than a regular taxi. If you're taking a regular taxi from the airport, try to ensure that the meter is sealed and switched on before you start your journey.

Jeepneys operate a fixed route, which will be posted on the windscreen. Find one that is going to Baclaran and connect from there. Baclaran is a major transportation hub.

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Manila insider information

• Keep a little cash aside to cover the departure tax when you leave the airport. It's P750 (about $20 AU) for international flights. 
• Tipping is expected in the Philippines. For a taxi driver, for example, 10 per cent on top of the metered fare is a decent tip. 
• Todos los Santos (All Saints) on November 1 is a grand celebration when families take offerings of food and drink to cemeteries in Manila to honour their dead relatives. 
• Many travellers taking cheap flights to Manila will use the city as a gateway to the Philippines' 7000+ islands. Boracay is a popular spot with partygoers. It's about 300km south of Manila, but Bohol, an hour's flight away, is quieter and boasts the Chocolate Hills. These are limestone hills that turn brown in the summer heat. Bohol is often called the Jewel of the Philippines. 
• Inihaw na bangus (grilled milkfish) and halo halo (crushed ice with syrup) are Filipino specialities. 
• At the weekends, Filipinos flock to Rizal Park. There are ornamental gardens, a large model of the Philippines in 3D, an open-air chess pavilion and the execution site of José Rizal, the national hero.
•  The Chinese Cemetery is where Manila's Chinese citizens were interred as they were denied burial in the Catholic cemeteries during the Spanish colonial period. Note Chong Hock Tong Temple, the oldest Chinese temple in the city, Liat See Tong (Martyrs Hall), built to honour the Chinese community leaders who were executed by the Japanese during World War II. 
• The Black Nazarene, a 400-year-old statue of Christ from Mexico, is believed by many Filipinos to be miraculous. It stands in Quiapo Church, known as the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene. 
• Greenhills Shopping Center is the place for knock-offs - handbags, MP3 players, clothes, pirated DVDs. 
• Imelda Marcos was the original shoe-obsessed woman. The Marikina City Footwear Museum in Marikina exhibits hundreds of pairs of shoes, rescued from the presidential palace when Imelda and her husband, President Ferdinand Marcos, fled the Philippines in 1986. They're all size eight-and-a-half. It's fitting that the shoe museum should be in Marikina. About 200,000 people work in the shoe-making district.

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Manila airports

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