cks30

My wife and I will be connecting through MNL later this year and will be forced to overnight. We will land around 5:30PM, and depart the next morning at 8:45AM. I've thought about just booking a room at the airport Marriott, but wanted to see if anyone here had some other suggestions. Is it worth going to see the town for that short of time? I've never stayed in MNL, so am looking for suggestions.

Thanks in advance!

yannix

Based on your timeframe, the places that will still be open would be shopping malls, restaurant, bars, coffee shops, casinos. There's Makati CBD, Malate area which are quite close to the airport.
If you have specific things you want to do or not do, I can suggest specific areas. HTH

RustyC

The area around the airport is best known for the casino and some massage places. You've got the Mall of Asia not far away with some semi-upscale food choices like Cafe Adriatico (steaks) and Via del Mare (oysters & a great bibingka). U probably can't get there in time but many restaurants also face the sunset. A bit farther by taxi but still easily do-able is the Aristocrat, a big place right across the road from the bay that has been there since 1936 and is "the" home for Filipino food.

There's also Makati, and especially Greenbelt 3 and 5 (dinner, movies, etc.). Though that area looks a lot like a U.S. exurb and doesn't have much that's uniquely Filipino about it.

Many people get negative first impressions of Manila. It's big, traffic can be a nightmare, there can be problems with taxis (though that used to be worse) and there's lots of visible poverty. The country as a whole can be a bit of an acquired taste, like durian.

cks30

Thanks! I definitely think we will have to try out Aristocrat. It looks amazing. Thanks for the suggestions.

EmailKid

Yes, some amazing sunsets from there, alas probably past sunset for OP.

There's a nice old church just a couple of blocks going away from the ocean as well as carriage rides IIRC.