The polished financial and shopping heart of the metro — malls, sky-bars, the best restaurants and the buzzing Poblacion nightlife district, all safe, walkable and well-served by hotels. The easiest, most comfortable base for most visitors, a world away from the old-city grit; central-ish for the metro, and the place to eat, drink and sleep well.
A look around
What you’ll be living next to. Swipe through.
€120–280
typical per night in Philippines
You pay for the postcode
One of the pricier addresses in Manila.
Where it sits
The circle is Makati and roughly a 10-minute walk around it.
How far is everything?
From the middle of this area to the city's headline sights — pick your own on the city page and these become your list.
- Manila Bay sunset16 min taxi5.4 km
- Rizal Park (Luneta)17 min taxi5.7 km
- National Museum complex18 min taxi5.9 km
- San Agustin Church20 min taxi6.5 km
- Quiapo Church & market20 min taxi6.6 km
- Manila Cathedral21 min taxi6.9 km
- Intramuros & Fort Santiago22 min taxi7.3 km
- Binondo (Chinatown) food22 min taxi7.4 km
On your doorstep
What you’re living next to if you stay here.
- 8.Filipino food — One of Asia's most underrated cuisines — tangy adobo, crispy sizzling sisig, whole roast lechon, sour sinigang soup, and the wild purple-and-rainbow shaved ice of halo-halo for dessert. Manila is the place to dive in, from turo-turo canteens to smart modern-Filipino restaurants reinventing it. Bold, comforting and unlike anywhere else; come hungry and curious.
- 10.Makati & Greenbelt — The comfortable, air-conditioned side of Manila — the interlinked Greenbelt and Ayala malls set around tropical gardens, ponds and a chapel, with the city's best shopping, restaurants and bars. A cool, safe refuge from the heat and traffic, and where much of Manila's middle-class life happens; a pleasant place to eat, browse and people-watch for an afternoon.
- 11.Ayala Museum — A sleek, modern museum in Makati that tells the Philippine story brilliantly — sixty exquisite hand-crafted dioramas of the nation's history, a dazzling collection of pre-colonial gold, and fine galleries of art and textiles. Compact, beautifully done and a great primer on the country; the perfect cultural pairing with a Makati shopping-and-dining afternoon.
- 14.Poblacion nightlife — Once the red-light fringe, now Manila's coolest nightlife district — a dense grid of speakeasies, rooftop bars, craft-beer joints and street food in old Makati, buzzing till late with a young, mixed crowd. Bar-hop the hidden cocktail dens, eat your way down the food-truck lanes, and see the city's most creative after-dark scene. Great fun, and walkable.
When are you staying?
Booking.com & Airbnb open searched to Makati; flights via Google Flights.