Visiting Manila Cancel Title is required

My sponsored child Sunshine lives in Manila and said in her last letter that she wants me to visit her. I would like to visit her in the future and wanted to get some information from people who have visited their sponsored children in Manila. What are some good hotels to stay at? What have you done with your sponsored children while you visited? Are there some specific things you would recommend? Any and all information would be wonderful. Thank you for your help and information!

Sad to say, I would recommend that you NOT even consider visiting during typhoon season... But - visiting your child is one of the most amazing experiences! I hope you get there and  find the visit to be glorious!

I have visited twice in Manila/Quezon City Area....when you plan to go to Manila you will need to coordinate with Ci and when talking to them ask them for a list of Hotels which they will provide....it is a list other sponsors have stayed at...and you can get on-line and look...as far as what to do...I had 2 separate groups and one day we went to the Manila Ocean Park and the other group went to the Science Center...both groups loved it....they had never gone to anything like that...then we had lunch...and then shopping...but it is all up to you...what you want to do...there is an amusement park there also but we did not get there...I hope you can go because it is something you will not regret or forget and will start making your plans for your next visit upon your return home...

I was in Manila in January 2012. It is the cooler (less hot) time of year. The child I was visiting lived in Legaspi. I stayed in Manila for 3 weeks with friends. 

I visited Manila twice. February/March 2012 and April/May 2014 and it was both very, very hot. January/February are the "cooler" months. CI can send you a list of hotels where to stay in Manila or have a look on tripadvisor.com. I usually tend to stay in the Ortigas Area.

I have had the pleasure of visiting my two sponsored teenagers in the Manila area twice: October 2014 and May 2015.  Both times I stayed in Makati City.  The hotels near the big shopping malls (Greenbelt and Glorieta) are the nicest, and also the most expensive.  I stayed at the Ascott, which is world class, with world class prices.  The next time, I stayed at the St. Giles, which is not as convenient to the malls, but very nice (business hotel) and considerably less expensive (but not cheap, either.)  Both my sponsored children happened to be participating in the same Quezon City center.  There are at least two different CI Centers in the Manila area, and if you sponsored children in more than one center it might require some special handling to try to visit them in one day.  

The CI Center I went to was pretty far time-wise from Makati City.  Greater Manila is terribly gridlocked most of the time.   A trip that should take 20 minutes without traffic typically takes 90 minutes.  On my first visit, I used a private car and driver provided by a friend, and finding the CI Center was a challenge even with GPS.  With prior arrangement and staff availability, CI will send a car to your hotel in the morning, and drop you back at the end of the visit.   Having the CI staff pick me up worked out much better, but the trip each way was still more than an hour.  I do not recommend renting a car and driving yourself around Manila.  Traffic is truly pandemonium, and living in New York City I know pandemonium when I see it.

I stayed at the Discovery Suites Hotel (Ortigas) last month.  It's on CI's list of suggested hotels and I thought it was great.   CI planned the excursions, which were to Ocean Park.  Traffic is monstrous in Manila, rush hour at any time of day.  Shopping is a major activity, both grocery shopping with the mom and department store shopping with the kid. CI pretty much does all the work so you can just enjoy it and take pictures.
I recommend checking Agoda.com for great deals on hotels.

My family came to America in the 80s as refugees from Laos. Since relocating here, I have never traveled out of the country (when I lived in NY, I did went to Canada on two occasions, but I'm not going to count that). Traveling to see your sponsor kids, typically how much would it cost (cost of plane tickets, hotel stay, etc.)? If anyone care to share. 

Kenny, your best research would be google.  Cost varies from where you live to where you are going.  Time of year factors in as well.  I used a travel agent in 2014 however, did all the research via google for  my 2015 trip.  Hotel cost and hotel reviews can all be found there.  Factor in cost once you get to destination such as taking kids out to eat, events, taking kids shopping (if you chose to) and daily expenses while on travel.  

Reseaching hotels I have used tripadvisor.com, usually the big flight sales are taking place December/January/FEbruay and then again in June. It also helps if you subscripe to various arilines - they will email you when a sale is taking place. Also check kayak.com or flightscanner for price availability. Over here in the UK I belong to a frequent flyer programme, shop at a certain supermarket to get points (which will be redeemed in points) and have a credit card where I get points. It all adds up. If you can go and visit your child. You will be amazed and see first hand what CI is doing. 

Kenny, I just visited my sponsor child in Quezon a week before your post. Like others have mentioned, flights can vary a lot. I am looking to go back in January, and prices then are around $650. But if I went late December, it would be around twice that. Hotels are around $35 to $40 a night for a decent one from what I have seen. Food can be cheap or expensive depending on if you want "American" food in your hotel, or eat street food. I would estimate food to be around half of what you would pay here in the states, unless you do street type food which is much lower. Travel by taxi is very reasonable if they use a meter. CI picked me up at my hotel in Manila and took me back after my visit. I had a driver, and a volunteer from CI. There was no charge for anything except for what I wanted to do with my sponsor child, and paying for meals for the volunteers that came along. I have heard that a reasonable price for a taxi from the airport to a hotel is roughly $20 to $40, depending on distance. Hope this may help

You didn't ask about transportation from the airport to your hotel, but I can tell you from experience to ONLY take official airport taxis.  Other taxis can be quite aggressive about telling you that the line for the airport taxis will take too long, etc.   I got stuck taking a non-airport taxi because the guy grabbed my suitcase and I couldn't catch up  with him until he'd gone several blocks and put the suitcase in the taxi.   Don't fall for that.   Airport taxis are subsidized, and cost about 1/4 of what the other guys charge. 

I have flown in and out of Manila airport probably a dozen times during my 4 visits to the Philippines. I have never taken the bus or a jeepney or a trike from there but I think I have taken what can be considered the 3 most common (and what we are used to) types of car transportation to/from the airport.  First the people who approach you at the airport will try to get you to use a private car service.  Normally when you haggle, or they try to negotiate, they will go down to 1000 pesos to Manila (Rizal Park area).  That's about $20-25USD. Once when I prebooked a car from the airport with my hotel they used this service to get me to the hotel. Next are the yellow cabs. They are also outside the arrivals area and a security officer will give you a receipt when you get in so you know who was driving you if something goes wrong.  They use the meter and are as clean and comfortable as a Chicago cab but maybe a bit smaller. My fare to the hotel has normally been in the 350-500PHP area w/tip. So around $8-12USD.  Lastly if you go upstairs to the departure drop off area you will find the local taxis which are white in color. Most of these cars while serviceable will remind you you are not in Kansas anymore. I took one once from the airport and the fare (metered) was 200PHP with tip.  All the fares I mention were to/from the airport 1 person to travel to/from the Rizal Park area.   If you are going to Makati it may be less and if you are going to Quezon city it may be more than double these rates due to distance.  Overall I think yellow cab from the airport is the best option. However if you are a small group private service may be better if you can get the 1000PHP rate for 3-4 people .  From the airport I'd pass on the white taxi after a long flight I'll pay a few extra bucks for a bit more comfort.  I do use the white taxi's to get around Manila. Only once did the driver not use the meter but if he overcharged me it was by less than $1USD.

My parents will be going to visit his sponsor child in November. They are going to spend a week in Manilla what are some places to visit. Thanks 

Enchanted Kingdom is a theme park, although it takes about 2 hours to reach it, but the kids love it and its really a lovely place, Manila Ocean Park is another popular place, situated in Manila itself, Le Mesa Eco Park, is a park situated in the area most kids live,  you can hire bikes for the kids etc, very reasonable prices...Manila children's museum, there is also a kids science centre which is hands on, one of the best places I have been is a place called Art in Island, located in Manila, amazing, 3D massive wall art, Avalon Zoo, located in Manila itself, very basic though, but no matter what, sponsored kids will love even the most basic outing...there is also a big playground in Rizal Park, so depending on the age of the child, its also a great place to visit, and free..

I'd visit with 1 other person for safety, what if we ​travel there together on the same plane, would you?

I am trying to travel there with one other person, at least another American on the same plane there. I just want to make sure if a heat wav​e suddenly comes and I'm outside I have  a friend who can help assure water bottles are available instead of falling asleep for a few hours outdoors from dehydration. Would you at least fly with me to Manilla when I visit my long-time CI children there?

Hi,  I hope this finds you well.  I too am connected to a wonderful family in Manila.   I am studying Tagalog,  but I would like to visit them sooner or later.    I am well traveled,  and we could invite other people.    if I own a jet,  it costs the same if we will fill it with passengers.  it would be a free vacation and we could make it really great.  And I would come get you and whoever else.       Let me know,   thank you sir.        

I’d love to go… well, sometime next year or even the next. Keizy is dear to me and I have loose plans to visit once the storms in my own life pass. Manila and Guatemala City— two places never on my “bucket list” but now I know what time it is there and when a storm is approaching! 

Can we stop in Legaspi City too? For all my Bicol region people!! hahaha if so sign me up. I thought Manila office wasn't accepting visitors? It could have changed but it seems not to long ago there was discussion on Manila and Zambia still not accepting visitors.

When I visited the Philippines 4 years ago, I thought the hotel could just call me a taxi. They couldn't.   It seems that signing up for GrabTaxi is the best way to go.  It's like Uber, and very reliable.  Fees are billed to your credit card.

It’s Tuk Tuk’s for me, all the way! LoL

Manila did recently reopen visits, though they are still on hold in Zambia.

Is Tuk Tuk another taxi service?

Kind of- you should totally look them up on youtube! Also, “jeepneys”- these are what the locals use, along with buses. I suppose people with money use regular taxi’s down there, just like everyone else in the world -! Kyla sends me videos of her in the jeepneys and tuk tuks on the way to school and it’s made me want to try them, although they are probably not as comfortable as other forms of transport :) 

Manila and the surrounding metropolitan area has roughly 21 million people, far too large to rely on a tuk tuk or jeepney. Not uncommon to have a short drive of 2-3 miles turn out to be 1 hour of bumper-to-bumper traffic. I'd highly recommend doing your research to get a hotel close to the center you want to visit, and go with Grab. It's like Uber. Hopefully you can arrange to meet someone there to serve as a guide. For me, I'm a bit more fortunate in that my wife is from the Philippines and has plenty of friends and family that can assist us.