Manila Tourist Entertainment Guide

Manila has a lot of restaurants, serving local food as well as international cuisine- you’ll find everything from Indian and Chinese to Arab, Tex-Mex and classy French food here, but in most cases you’ll find that foreign food is more expensive than local. M. Adriatico Street, Roxas Boulevard and Ermita in Manila have a large concentration of restaurants and are among the favourite haunts of Manila’s food lovers. For anyone who’s wary of trying Filipino food, there are also a number of fast food outlets, where the usual fries-burger-soft drink combination can be had at very low prices.

Amongst Filipino cities, when it comes to entertainment, Manila wins hands down. There are lots of options to choose from, and if you’re a night bird, you’re going to like this city- there are lots of bars, discotheques, music halls, karaoke lounges and nightclubs, where you can see Manila at its most lively and vibrant best. There’s a lot of cultural entertainment, too- you’ll find regular performances of traditional dances, theatre and music at hotels and cultural venues all over town, with the most well known places being the Cultural Centre of the Philippines, the Insular Life Theatre, and the Philippine Education Theatre Association. At these venues you can also see some foreign productions (Broadway and West End hits usually land up here fairly regularly). The Puerta Real Gardens and the Rizal Park Open Air Concert Stage are venues for excellent chamber music.

For those interested in sports, there are facilities for golf, tennis, bowling and swimming; and if you’re keen on traditional sports, there are regular tournaments and matches of Arnis de martial, a Filipino martial art which uses bamboo poles; Sipa -a local form of volleyball and cockfighting.