Philippines Travel Guide

Posts Tagged ‘Manila’

Within countries that are inside of the ASEAN, the Philippines is the sixth country in number of tourists among all countries of this area of the world, so we are faced with a situation really very good for this country. The truth is that Philippines leads climbing positions for some years and today is one of the reference countries for many tourists who travel for the Asian continent, in particular by the countries that are within of the ASEAN in Asia.

This year 2011 Philippines aims to maintain this sixth position and greatly improve to reach the figure of 4 million tourists in the coming years. Still much to be done in this regard so that the Philippines may have more millions of tourists who enjoy its charming beaches and have the opportunity to enjoy with all its natural charms, but for now is a pretty good figure for the country’s economy and in particular is very positive for hotels and other tourist facilities in the Philippines. Read the rest of this entry »

From the Philippines you are thinking about offering a number of advantages to all disabled visitors who have desire to enjoy a vacation in the Philippines, with the intention of promoting tourism for the disabled, the number of tourists with disabilities who travel by the Philippines, it is really a very low figure, so offer discounts can be a good option for tourists to encourage to meet a beautiful country as it is the case of the Philippines.

When the Minister of tourism of the country is considering to provide even a 20% discount for all foreign tourists traveling to the Philippines and have a disability, a very appealing discount that surely are welcome for all those people with disabilities who want to know the Philippines since will now be able to get a good discount when visiting the country. Read the rest of this entry »

Hotel Pan Pacific Manila is one of the most luxurious hotels of the city and much of the country, as it’s a hotel 5 star deluxe, ideal for those tourists who can afford a lodging in a hotel of this kind, it is wonderful to enjoy a city as beautiful as it is Manila. Inside the hotel you can see each of the installations perfectly decorated and always a very good atmosphere so that customers can enjoy.

The rooms stand out because they have a good space for the enjoyment of all the tourists, but it is also very attractive to have a Butler at our disposal throughout our stay. Each room has everything that the customer may need, such as a bathroom with all luxury of details, as well as a large bed, TV, telephone and all the details that you can imagine in a five-star hotel room. Read the rest of this entry »

Rizal Park. We started our visit to Manila itself starting to walk from our hotel in Malate area, north on Mabini Street up to the Rizal Park. Along the way we crossed the Ermita area, seeing a landscape of great contrasts, with towering hotels or office buildings with really crappy and very poor sites. And this not to mention the incredible web of electric and telephone cables that cross the streets up in all possible directions. Rizal Park, meanwhile, is quite nice and well kept. The day I visited was Sunday and there were many people walking by him. To visit its most emblematic places follow the helpful tour guide proposed by the LP: the monument to Rizal, the place of the execution of Rizal, the relief map of the Philippines, Chinese and Japanese gardens and the Plaza of Chess. A must in this area is the luxurious and historic Manila Hotel, a hotel with character between the Rizal Park and Manila Bay. It was built in 1912 and have passed through it distinguished guests, heads of state, political figures and celebrities worldwide. It’s one of those hotels and classy Asian pedigree can be found scattered across the continent, colonial-style architecture or something decadent interiors and furniture. It’s worth sitting on the comfortable sofas in the lobby there and look around. Also this hotel can be a great place to watch the sunset over Manila Bay.

Intramuros. The district of Intramuros, located along the south bank of the Pasig River, was built by López de Legazpi in 1571, the beginning of the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines, and is therefore the oldest of Manila. As its name suggests it is a city surrounded by moats and high, thick walls, cobblestone streets, Spanish-style colonial buildings, churches, ramparts and drawbridges reminiscent of 300 years of Spanish occupation in Manila. Intramuros has suffered, in addition to the bombings of World War II, many typhoons and earthquakes that the city reduced to ruins on numerous occasions, but thanks to the occasional restoration has managed to preserve a part of this rich heritage. Despite being the only historical vestige of that time in the city of Manila are few travelers who include in their visit to the Philippines, which is a shame because it’s worth spending at least half a day.

MANILA is the capital of the Philippines and with 16 other municipalities, to form the Metro Manila, a metropolitan area of 636 km ² where more than 12 million people. It was founded by Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi in 1571. From its rich architectural heritage of that time is not much, as earthquakes, fires and wars, especially World War II, have resulted in the loss of much of it. Even in Manila and so there are several points of interest that may have entertained us for at least a couple of days.

To move around Manila is within walking distance in the central areas and the rest of the best and cheapest are the always colorful jeepneys, but are subject to circulatory congestion in the city. To escape the chaos in traffic (and heat, as the cars have A / A) nothing like the MRT and LRT, two urban rail systems have a network rather limited, but useful as what our destination. The price of the MRT or LRT depends on the number of stops to go.

Malate. In this area there is not much to see, but here you can find a wide variety of hotels and restaurants for all budgets. But places to visit we can cite something in Malate Malate Church, corner of MH del Pilar and Remedies. Just 100 meters west of the church is the great avenue of Roxas Boulevard, and the sea, so from the same side of this avenue we can enjoy the famous sunset of Manila Bay. Returning to the church and continue 200 meters further east we come to Remedios Circle, the epicenter of an area with many restaurants and bars. Worth visiting this area at night to see the great nightlife is concentrated here.

Along the southeast gate giving access to Intramuros golf course is built on the old moat of the fortress. From here, following the General Luna street can see a few but beautiful colonial style houses and so on down to the church of St. Augustine, the oldest in the Philippines and the only building left intact after the destruction of Intramuros. The visit to this church, Heritage of UNESCO since 1993 along with three other Baroque churches in the Philippines, we found interesting for the beauty of its facade and interior. Next to it is a museum that we did not visit. Just across the street is the magnificent Casa Manila, a reconstructed house to faithfully reproduce the Spanish colonial style and the opulent lifestyle of a noble family in the s. XIX. Admission is 50 P and is well worth the building itself, but also for furniture and period decor. General Luna continued along the north and came to the Piazzale Roma (formerly had a bull ring here). On one side of the square stands the Cathedral of Manila, built in 1951 in classical style after being destroyed before. And only about 50 meters to the north is the entrance to Fort Santiago, which served as headquarters served at different times of the Spanish, British, American and Japanese. The entrance to the exhibition costs 50 P and can see the remains of the bastions of San Francisco and San Miguel, whose function was to protect the entrance to the Pasig River from the sea. Also worth visiting the shrine of José Rizal, national hero who was imprisoned here for the last days of his life before being executed in November 1896.

 Our flight from Doha to Manila, also with Qatar Airways, Doha leaves at midnight and found to be as pleasant, which reassures us more, if possible, in our opinion excellent service on board of this company. We landed at the airport Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Manila after 8.5 hours of flight. After passing the immigration control (since our stay in the Philippines is just 21 days, do not pay anything for the visa filipino) and recover the luggage minimal change euros in one of several bars of change out there. Exchange differences between them is minimal, but there, so you should look at a few before settling on one. Moreover, given the change in these offices is slightly lower from that obtained in the center of Manila.

Leaving the office terminal are prepaid taxis to the city (NAIA Queueing Transport System). You pay a fixed amount according to the Manila area to be. For example, go to the area of Malate / Ermita, our destination, worth 440 P. It is paid in this office and give us proof that after the taxi driver we have waiting in the queue. Not cheap, but it is the fastest and most convenient option, especially considering that drag the fatigue of a transcontinental flight. However, it would be feasible, but not easy or comfortable, walk out of the airport area and find a local transportation, among the millions who walk the streets of Manila, to be our destiny.

We started this trip with a Lufthansa flight from Barcelona to Munich (1 hour and 20 minutes). We have a wait of 2.5 hours until the next flight, but fortunately the airport of Munich is the most pleasant of all the major European airports, is neat, quiet and the coffee, tea and newspapers are free. Our next flight is already Qatar Airways and the company covers the route between Munich and Doha, 4,500 km. The flight service, food and selection of movies, TV and games for the entertainment staff are more than correct.

We landed at Doha airport after 5.5 hours of travel and spending the night en route. Our clock advances 1 hour to adjust to the Qatari local time. When we left the plane to the outside at 5:30, the sun had just appeared on the horizon, but the heat was impressive. When flying with the airline in Doha Qatar stop is mandatory, since all flights have this city, the capital of Qatar, as the origin or destination, a fact that we wanted to take this opportunity to visit. Thus, although we could have linked to a flight to Manila nearly 3 hours after our arrival in Doha, Doha voluntarily chose a flight to Manila that left us room for 18 hours for the visit

Philippines being a country as large and with so many islands it is easy to imagine that the aircraft and the ship are essential to jump between islands. Move the ground can sometimes be hard, either by the state of the roads or the vehicle itself.

Plane. The national airline is Philippine Airlines, but it appeared some years ago that other companies, some are low cost, which has been beneficial for the traveler. The rates are usually inexpensive and offer a discount for buying through Internet, for example. These other companies are Cebu Pacific Air, Air phillipines, Seair or Asian Spirit.

All our domestic flights in the Philippines with Cebu Pacific Air did and the experience was very good, with excellent on-time, a very new aircraft and efficient service. Tickets are bought in the Philippines on the fly, sometimes with only 2 days in advance, although it should be noted that it was low season. When checking in for domestic flights are paid an output rate that depends on each airport: 200 P in Manila Puerto Princesa 80 P …

Ship. There are a myriad of lines it is responsible for moving passengers and goods between the islands. The prices are usually quite inexpensive, but quality of service may vary greatly from company to company, so it’s no wonder that terrible accidents occur from time to time. Anyway, there are companies large and modern fleet in which the security level is much higher. In the Philippine ports also have to pay a small shipping fee. A traditional type of boat used for short or medium is bangka.

 In the Philippines we had no problem with it and not even feeling of insecurity, but we know of some bad experiences travelers about burglaries, especially in Manila. For this we should take the usual precautions and use common sense, especially in large cities (like Manila or Cebu), uncrowded areas or, conversely, areas with large crowds or tourist areas.

On the other hand there are areas of the country that are best avoided because of guerrilla or terrorist activities, such as the southern region of Mindanao, the island of Basilan, south of Mindanao, Sulu archipelago or even further south. Have also been some indiscriminate terrorist attacks perpetrated against the civilian population in cities like Manila (in the commercial area of Makati, for instance), but as we know it today is something that can happen anywhere in the world.

As we believe Qatar is a fairly safe, although the overall safety course anywhere there and here should be cautious.