Hotels in Manila

For a first visit, stay in Makati: it has hotels from mid-range to five-star, MRT-3 stations at Ayala and Buendia, the Greenbelt malls and the Poblacion bar district within a short ride. Choose Bonifacio Global City (BGC) for a newer, planned estate with malls and no historic sights. Choose Intramuros for the walled city, Entertainment City in Parañaque for a casino resort on the airport side of town, and Ortigas Center for malls and offices east of Makati.

Manila is a set of separate city centers, not one downtown. Makati, BGC, Intramuros, Entertainment City and Ortigas sit in five different cities or districts, and traffic decides how much of the map you will actually use. Pick the area where you will spend your days, then check the airport side if you fly out early. Most Philippine itineraries route through Manila or Cebu, so a night here also protects a connection, as the Philippines first-timer itineraries plan for.

Quick Pick: Which Manila Area for Which Trip

Makati, BGC or Ortigas: Choosing a Business District

Makati is the original business district and the default choice. Poblacion, inside Makati, is known for restaurants, night clubs and boutique hotels. The Ayala and Buendia MRT-3 stations serve the district, and Ayala’s Greenbelt is the upmarket mall. Ayala Museum, the strongest private collection in town, is here too, and the Salcedo Saturday Market and Legazpi Sunday Market bring Manila’s food scene to Makati on weekends.

BGC is a planned mixed-use estate in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig. It has no MRT-3 station of its own: MRT-3 stations in Makati serve it indirectly, so plan on Grab or a bus for the last stretch. Ortigas Center is a business district shared by Pasig, Mandaluyong and Quezon City, with SM Megamall and Robinsons Galleria and its own MRT-3 station. Of the three, only Makati has a strong evening scene in walking distance of its hotels.

Manila Areas, One by One

Makati and Poblacion

Book near Ayala or Buendia station if you want to ride the MRT-3 to Ortigas or Cubao. Book in Poblacion if dinner and bars matter more than a quiet lobby, since the neighborhood’s speakeasies, rooftops and craft-beer spots sit in a few square blocks. Hotels in the business district run from mid-range to five-star.

Bonifacio Global City

BGC suits a stay built around dining, shopping and meetings. The trade-off is distance from the sights: Intramuros and the old city are in a different part of Metro Manila, and a Grab covers the gap.

Intramuros and Ermita

Intramuros is the walled Spanish city. Fort Santiago, San Agustin Church (the country’s oldest stone church and a UNESCO site), Manila Cathedral and the Casa Manila museum house are all inside the walls, so a hotel here turns the walled city into an early-morning walk before the crowds. The Bayleaf Intramuros is a mid-range hotel inside the walls. Nearby Malate has a nightlife strip along Del Pilar Street and can be noisy, so ask for an upper floor away from the street.

Entertainment City and the airport side

Entertainment City is a gaming and entertainment complex in Tambo, Parañaque, home to Solaire and City of Dreams Manila. It is on the same side of Metro Manila as NAIA, which makes it a resort-style option for a night before an early flight or after a late landing.

Ortigas Center and Quezon City

Ortigas Center spans Pasig, Mandaluyong and Quezon City and combines malls, office towers, nightlife bars and restaurants. Quezon City is the farthest of these areas from the airport. Both are farther from the airport and the old city than Makati, so they suit a longer stay better than a first night.

What Manila Hotels Cost

Nightly listings start from USD 12 on Tripadvisor and USD 17 on Expedia, as of November 2026. Five-star Makati rates run from USD 157 to USD 278 across the two hotels in the table, which also shows how far one property moves between sites and dates. Sample rates below are nightly prices in USD printed on Expedia (stay dates 25 October to 2 November 2026), Booking.com (“from” prices) and Destinationless Travel (updated 3 November 2026). A hotel appears only where two sources print a rate.

Compare a hotel’s rate on at least two sites for your exact dates, because the same hotel’s rate differed by USD 47 to 119 between sources in this sample. For what a Manila stay adds to a whole trip, the Philippines travel budget prices Manila days alongside the islands.

Airport Nights: Which Terminal, Which Side of the City

NAIA is 7 km south of Manila proper and southwest of Makati, between Pasay and Parañaque. Its four-terminal layout drives the choice, and the terminals are not connected airside, so a late landing at one terminal and an early departure from another means a road transfer in between, as the flights to the Philippines guide explains.

• Terminal 1. Philippine Airlines has run its international flights here since 16 June 2023.
• Terminal 2. Philippine Airlines domestic and PAL Express flights use the north wing.
• Terminal 3. Cebu Pacific and most other international airlines.

Assignments have been reshuffled again in 2026, so read the terminal off your ticket close to departure. Hotels sit within walking distance or a short ride of Terminal 3, and Entertainment City is on the airport side for a resort night. Grab has an official pickup point at each terminal, and the flights guide lists the coupon taxi and the UBE Express coach for the ride to Makati or BGC.

Getting Around From Your Hotel

Grab works across Metro Manila and shows an upfront fare, which is the simplest way to cross between Makati, BGC and Intramuros. Traffic is part of daily life, so a short ride can take far longer than the map suggests; plan one area per half-day rather than three.

MRT-3 runs along EDSA and stops at Ayala and Buendia in Makati and at Ortigas, which makes it the useful line for a Makati to Ortigas day. LRT-1 and LRT-2 cover other parts of the city, and LRT-2 runs out to Antipolo. Stations are not at every hotel door, so pair a station with a Grab for the last stretch.

When to Book a Manila Stay

December to May is the dry season, with January cool and dry. March to May is hot, with Manila’s average daily high at 32 to 33 degrees Celsius. June to October is the wet season and August is Manila’s wettest month at 476 mm, with the typhoon peak running from July to October. The Christmas season starts on 1 September, and rates are among the lowest of the year in September, so a wet-season stay is cheaper but needs a flexible plan; the Philippines best-time guide has the month-by-month table and the PAGASA normals behind these figures. Holy Week falls in late March in 2027.

Planning From the US

Philippine Airlines flies nonstop to Manila from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York and Honolulu, and United flies San Francisco to Manila. Manila stays on one time all year, so the gap with the US changes only when US clocks do; see the time difference and jet lag guide. Plan the first night as a recovery night in Makati or on the airport side rather than a sightseeing day.