Manila...Advice on what to see/do?

[FlaMariner]

Port stop in Manila.......

 

I am hearing conflicting info....some say get out of town and head to the mountains for the scenery and others suggest a tour of old Manila.

 

What did you do and what would you recommend?

 

And any independent tour advice would be appreciated. 

[FlaMariner]

So zip, nada on intel for a day in Manila?

 

Just popping this back up the queue........

[edinburgher]

On 5/19/2024 at 3:00 PM, FlaMariner said:

Port stop in Manila.......

 

I am hearing conflicting info....some say get out of town and head to the mountains for the scenery and others suggest a tour of old Manila.

 

What did you do and what would you recommend?

 

And any independent tour advice would be appreciated. 

There may be some info and/or suggestions in previous threads.  If you have not already searched for and read some of them, choose from these:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=manila&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=43

 

[wpas1]

We enjoyed China Town.  Walked around and ate small portions at several restaurants.  We also did a tour at Intramuros. It was very interesting especially not knowing a lot of Filipino history.  My SIL who is Filipino said it was a school field trip for him many times but he learned new things on our tour.   We only spent one full day in Manila.

[roothy123]

I didn't find Manila fabulous, but early on I didn't make too many plans as I heard that Saturday traffic around the port was horrendous and the heat was too.   It ended up not being all that bad, traffic or heat/humidty wise.  But I didn't go far, so maybe that helped.  First I walked out of the port, past tons of people vying for my attention (cab drivers/tour guides mostly, and a few tuk tuk or carriage drivers).  I had planned to walk over to the old town area but ended up a little short of there at the outskirts of the park.  I finally decided to negotiate with a tuk driver for a short tour of the old town.  We stopped for a brief while at the fort, and stopped for maybe 15-20 minutes when I went into the cathedral.  I forget how much he wanted, or I gave him, but I think it was a little over $20.  That may have been too high, but it was what I felt was worth it to me.  There was little "touring" involved, but that was OK.  I had done research and pretty much knew what I was seeing.  The tuk driver dropped me near the port and I found my travel partner and had lunch. 

 

After lunch I took the shuttle to the mall in a somewhat newer (but still fairly center city) part of the city. I then walked to the waterfront and saw my ship in the distance. The Mall was just like any U.S. mall, except that a security person looked in each person's bag before the person was allowed in.  It was a nice, but unexpiring day. I preferred the two preceding days in the beautiful water eas of the Philippines (beautiful Puerto Princesa and Coron).  But I had not researched much in Manila because I feared the traffic a little bit. The somewhat good news is that if you want to go into the city, it's not hard from the cruise port, assuming you're a decent walker.  And there were a lot of vendors in the port terminal, which made for a little bit of fun for those looking for artsy small things.