Mariana Fonseca
Intramuros walls to the last ferry out
Based in Intramuros, Manila.
Mariana moved from Lisbon to Manila to research Spanish-era architecture and now writes about Intramuros, the Escolta heritage district and the ferry-hop neighbourhoods past the city edge. She builds walkable half-day routes that link a church, a museum and a decent coffee stop.
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Inside Fort Santiago in Manila's walled Intramuros
The gate costs ₱75. Inside is the Rizal Shrine, and within 10 minutes of the walls are museums, dining rooms and roof decks.
Inside Manila's San Agustin Church and Monastery Museum
The oldest stone church in the Philippines runs on parish hours, and the monastery museum beside it locks its doors for an hour at midday.
Inside Casa Manila, the Furnished 1800s House of Intramuros
Entry is ₱75 and the courtyard is paved in Chinese granite. Weekends are the only time you can walk in without a group booking.
How Manila Spends Sunday on Roxas Boulevard
For a few hours each Sunday morning the cars leave the bayside boulevard, and the asphalt between the seawall and the hotels does a better job of explaining Manila than any museum label.
Inside the Manila Hotel Lobby Where History Checked In
A half-day walk along the bay, through the hotel lobbies, cells and session halls where the Philippine twentieth century played out.
Five Days on the Rice Terrace Road from Manila
An honest route north from Manila through Sagada, Banaue and Batad: what the walking really costs, what the 2025 typhoon changed, and how a party of six should plan it.
Walking Manila's Intramuros Walls in Half a Day
A stop-by-stop route through Manila's walled city, with opening hours, door prices and a straight answer on whether to take a guide.
Your First Evening on Manila's Pasig River Esplanade
A five o'clock start at Fort Santiago, a lit riverside walk to Arroceros, and where to eat on the way, whether that is a rooftop or a late plate.
Sleeping Between Manila's Old Walls and the Casino Bay
Sixteen honest beds across five Manila districts, and how to pick the one base that decides how much of the city you actually see on a first trip.
Manila's Rooftops from the Walled City to the Towers
Fourteen Manila rooftops, including a bar that puts Intramuros under your feet and a 40th-floor deck in Poblacion, with the hours, the prices and the door rules for each one.
How to Cross Manila Without Losing Half a Day
Manila stacks its transport in layers: an elevated tollway, three rail lines, a segregated bus lane and motorcycles that filter through the gaps. Knowing which one to use turns a two-hour crawl into twenty minutes.
Landing in Manila and Still Getting a Day Out of It
What to do with your first hours in Manila, hour by hour: airport beds, the transit tour, how much of Intramuros you can still reach, and what it all costs.
Walking Manila from Rizal Park to Escolta in the Rain
A one-day route through Manila's oldest quarter, planned around arcades, cloisters and free museums, so a downpour costs you almost nothing.
Working a Manila Layover Around the Traffic
A Manila layover can be worth leaving the terminal for, but only if you plan outward in rings and count the road time home first.
Two Days in Manila Spent Walking, Not Waiting
A two-day route through Intramuros, Binondo, Escolta, Makati and BGC, walked where it can be, with a river ferry between districts and a fort that stays open until ten.
Manila's Dry Routes from Museums to Mall Walkways
A district-by-district plan for a wet week in Manila, with the opening hours, prices and covered walkways that decide where a rainy day is worth spending.
Walking Manila's Three National Museums in One Day
Fine Arts, Anthropology and Natural History are ten minutes apart on the edges of Rizal Park, all three are free, and one day covers them properly with Intramuros left over.
Manila's Barangay Fiestas and the Economy Behind Them
A month-by-month route through Manila's parish fiestas, with the 2026 dates, the crowds worth avoiding, and the flower market that supplies the city's processions.
Manila's Art Deco Trail From the Met to the Pasig River
A walking route from the restored Manila Metropolitan Theater through Escolta's Art Deco office blocks to the newly relit Pasig riverside, with exact hours, prices, and who should book a guide.
How Manila's Lost Carnival Crowned the City's First Queens
A history of the pre-war Manila Carnival, the annual fair at Wallace Field that crowned the country's first beauty queens, told through the hotel, theater, street and museums that still stand.
Quiapo's All-Night Vigil: Manila's Faith Never Sleeps
Inside the Quiapo district where fifteen Friday Masses, a fortune-telling plaza, and a mosque within earshot of the basilica bell show what daily devotion in Manila actually looks like.
How Manila's Sari-Sari Stores Quietly Run the City
A route through the wholesale markets, wet markets, and weekend bazaars that stock the five-peso window on every Manila corner, from Balintawak before dawn to a Makati speakeasy that borrowed its name.
Underground Manila: Where the City Really Shops
Sixty years before mall culture arrived on the surface, Manila was already shopping underground — this is a route through the city's underpass bazaars and basement markets, from a 1961 Quiapo tunnel to Makati's polished supermarkets below street level.
Manila After Dark: A Night of Candles Among the Dead
For one night every November, Manila's cemeteries fill with families, mahjong tables, and a sea of candlelight — here is the honest route through the city's Undas season, from the North Cemetery's all-night fairground to the hushed contrast of the Heroes' Cemetery.
The Videoke Republic: Manila's All-Night Singing Machine
From ₱5-a-song street machines to Poblacion's private rooms, karaoke is Manila's true national pastime — here's how to sing your way through the city in 2026, from budget family KTVs to the rowdiest party rooms in Ortigas.
Manila Bay Sunset: The City's Daily Ritual Along the Baywalk
From the packed Mall of Asia seawall to the quieter CCP boardwalk, here's how to time, plan, and eat your way through Manila's evening ritual in 2026.
The Tagaytay Ridge escape: Taal Volcano and highland cool
A ridge run from Manila's heat into cool highland air — the live crater of Taal, marrow-rich bulalo, and Michelin-tier tables, plotted as one clean route.
Chrome Horses: The Riotous Life of Manila's Jeepneys
From the welding bays where they are still hammered out by hand to the tables and bars where they have parked for good — a route through Manila told by its loudest, proudest machine.
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