FAllWay

Hey guys. First time in Manila, Philippines.
I will be landing at 10:35pm on a Wednesday night with 1 checked luggage.
I need to continue to Cebu and I'm thinking about taking the 5:00am flight.
I'm guessing after getting off the plane, going thru immigration and luggage pickup latest I will be out is around 12am midnight. Then I need to get on the 5am. Do you guys recommend I stay at a hotel near by or should I just stay at the airport? Is that even allowed at midnight? Are any of the lounges open at that time? I only have the Lounge Pass card. ^

gracall

If budget allows, hotel all the way.

Which airline are you taking? I'm assuming you're arriving on an international flight at T1. Your Cebu flight will most likely leave from T2 or T3, niether are directly connected. Once you're out of a terminal, they won't allow you back in unless you have connecting flight. Camping out on the curb side is not the most comfortable thing to do.

JumboJet

I would be at a hotel.

IAN-UK

You're probably going to need to switch terminals and check-in again for the Cebu flight. The early morning hours landside at MNL won't be a comfortable environment for you and your possessions to wait for check-in to open.

Perhaps you can deal with a measure of discomfort and insecurity, but unless i were on a super-restrictive budget I'd get a hotel - and a later connection to try for some useful sleep.

Mabuk dan gila

You don't mention the terminals/airlines involved and that information is entirely relevant to any other advice you might get. MNL's terminal scheme is really more like 3 (or 4) completely different airports that are physically somewhat close to each other, so advice that might be applicable to one terminal might be meaningless to the other terminals.

You say you have "Lounge Pass card". I'm guessing that is Lounge Club or Priority Pass. None of the lounges in T1 or T3 are accessible on arrival or for a domestic departure. Only useful for international departures.

SM Kenko Spa/Lounge at Terminal 3 'might' be a good option if you are departing from terminal 3. With the HUGE caveat that I cannot personally vouch for them. Just noted their ad as an option to look at if I ever find myself with such a layover so untested by me.

They say they have a location at the 4th Level, Food Court Area which would presumably be accessible on a domestic departure but I would e-mail them and ask.

http://jipang-group.com/sm-kenko/naia
https://www.facebook.com/smkenkosauna
https://www.facebook.com/shares/view?id=670723126333533

That's really kind of an awkward schedule. Things move slow at MNL. Figuring time buffers you would be perhaps checking in to a hotel around midnight and checking out of the hotel at 3AM for the 5AM departure. So that's really only like 3 hours to kill. There are hotels in Pasay that offer hourly rates LOL but I would not recommend them unless you are adventurous and have a high tolerance for random things being not right. I could put that under the category of, "I'd probably personally check into Sogo Hotel for a few hours but wouldn't recommend it to ANYONE and would fully agree with all the criticism such an idea would generate and agree it's a bad idea but that's still what I would probably do myself and wouldn't complain if there was a roach or two, or the hot water didn't get hot or there was a loud couple in the next room." A good hotel in the area is IMO kind of pricy for a 3 hour stay so I personally wouldn't go that route unless it was a longer stay. As others have said. Maybe you are better to get a longer layover, get a good hotel and get some meaningful sleep. Being a first trip to MNL there may or may not be a bit of culture shock to adjust to that also complicates it a little.

fpmurphy

No lounges at NAIA (MNL) are open overnight. 5J flights (Cebu Pacific Air) leave from T3. Depending on which airline you are arriving on, you will either deplane at T1 or T3. At T1, you have a choice of a number of hotels within early reach by taxi. At T3, hotels at Resort World (Marriott, etc.) are very close by but not cheap. Getting from T1 to T3 may take anything up to an hour at night because of the current NAIAX Phase II road works.

chris19992

Get in and get out, Manila is a horrible airport at the best of times, just make sure you closely keep an eye on where your flight to Cebu is leaving from because they can and will change gates with zero notifications from the staff.

davidord

Get a hotel.
T1 at MNL is just plain horrible.
Counters will probably have no staff, so you wont even be able to check you bag to get into the lounge.
Traffic getting out of and into the airport is horrendous so make sure you have enough time.
You need to take a shuttle to get from T1 to T 2/3, and it's a long wacky process.

mbloes

As an aside, there is a commercial running on the US financial news (in my case, Bloomberg) selling the RP as a great place to have your next business meeting - "It's fun doing business in the Philippines" or something like that.

Of course, the whole thing is quick cut, close cropped, with shots of NAIA and the SMX convention center thrown in with a bunch of "diverse" people ostensibly having fun at their meeting.

And I thought to myself "Damn, it really doesn't look anything like that".

EmailKid

Had something similar a few years ago, and found an inexpensive hotel nearby the airport.

Much better than staying the night at MNL IMHO @:-)

sgosline

We have a similar situation. Our flight to Bali leaves Manila at 4 am. I booked the Remington at Resorts World for about $90 US. It is right across the street from the terminal we are departing from (T3 I think?). I don't know if that means walking distance or not but I figure the closer the better. Last time we missed our connection because of huge traffic jam just getting from one terminal to another.

Also Resorts World has a free shuttle from T 1

fpmurphy

It is within easy walking distance from NAIA T3 but a lot of construction in the area and crazy traffic.

rxziebel

This is not a flip question - I would really like to know! How can you walk from Terminal 3 to Resorts World? From what I can see, the street is not crossable (fences, non-stop traffic, construction). Last time I was there, I waited almost 2 hours for the Marriott/Resorts World shuttle and I could SEE THE MARRIOTT from where I was waiting. So frustrating! If you have found a way to walk it, I would be so grateful if you would share it.

rxziebel

Bump to see if anyone has found a way to walk from Terminal 3 NAIA to the Marriott/Resorts World complex?

Mabuk dan gila

Never done it and wouldn't recommend it since you could take a taxi for $2 if waiting for the free shuttle took more than a few minutes so there REALLY is not any reason to wait or to walk unless you are walking for fun just to explore or because you just like walking (perfectly valid reasons, but saving time or money are not valid reasons to walk it). I recon you would have to get on to Andrews Ave the same way the cars do. I think they have a pedestrian bridge/gate to Andrews but it is either closed or not completed. Walking ANYWHERE in Manila without encountering traffic, construction and miscellaneous other 'adventures' is pretty difficult.