Manila for a wedding, in July

[mckenzie]

I’ve been invited to a wedding.
I’d like to go. Without DH and DCs.
Hotels look very reasonable, price wise.
Weather looks awful.

What is there to see and do?
I’m happy to be going solely for the wedding but it’s a heck of a long way to go to not take in some sounds and sights of the Philippines huh?
I’ll be meeting up with family so probably won’t sight see alone.

Any tips please?
Best airline?
Best place to stop over (going from the UK)?

Anyth8ng I should be aware of before booking?

TIA

The Philippines are not for the feint hearted and you will see some of the worst poverty in the world in Manilla. It really is an awful place. Out in the Provences you'll see some of the most beautiful scenery in the world but again the poverty will always be in plain sight. Its not a place I could ever go back to despite having strong connections to the Phillipines, and the people being lovely.

You could get there with Emirates and do a stopover in Dubai but for something a bit different you could do Oman Air to Muscat, have a few days there, then Oman Air to Manila. Its an 7.5 hour flight followed by a 9 hour one

Rice terraces in the north, El Nido (accessed via Puerta Princesca) and the 'chocolate hills' are all amazing - but check the political climate in particular because I think things have deteriorated since I was last there (between Islamists in the south and the president's "war on drugs"). I flew with Emirates once (lovely) and once with Air Philippines (... eh. It was direct.) Manila has huge inequalities, yes.

Sorry, I just realised Ive probably put a real damper on things for you so just to add I wasn't there as a tourist. I was there looking after a friend during the last month of her life. I didn't really do the tourist things. I very much lived the way of life in the Phillipines despite having the means to live a much better version of it. It was life in the Phillipines in the raw.

That said I did see foreign holiday makers out and about.

This is whats available on Viator

www.viator.com/search/manila

Thanks for the replies.
I had a feeling it was going to be as described.

I’ll go a different view; of all the places in the world I have travelled, the one I most enjoyed and the one I would go back to in a heartbeat is the Philippines. We started in Manila, flew down to Bohol and island hopped back over 6 weeks and I’d do it again tomorrow, even with my kids in tow now, without even thinking twice about it.

I lived in the Philippines for a year as I was working out there. What previous posters have said is pretty accurate.

Manila itself is a disappointment, it's dirty, chaotic, packed & boiling, with not much to see unfortunately. You need to move about to see the sights of the country; Banaue rice terraces in northern Luzon, chocolate hills of Bohol, Mindoro, Boracay or Palawan for beach resorts. Scuba diving is excellent in many places.

Avoid Mindanao, the large island in the south as it's Muslim and home to Abu Sayyaf Isis militants.

morning all, I've booked my flights now . I'll have 4 days before the wedding to play at being tourist. I'm basing myself in Makati as that's where my nephew and his wife to be are living and my sister and her husband are staying.

Can I get from there to some touristy places daily? a day on the beach would be lovely if that's possible.
TIA

bump

Any help on what to pack would be useful too please?
I’ve asked the groom (english/Australian) for wedding dress etiquette help but it hasn’t been forth coming yet. If it’s going to be as hot as everyone says it will be I’m not relishing the thought of full English wedding day outfit.

TIA