Manila Pub Crawls

The Manila Nightlife Scene

Manila's nightlife is big-city specific and requires understanding the geography before going anywhere. Poblacion in Makati is the most interesting bar district: a dense grid of streets around Jalan Bohol and the surrounding blocks with bars ranging from Filipino craft beer taprooms to rum bars to rooftop cocktail spots, all within walking distance of each other. BGC (Bonifacio Global City), adjacent to Makati, has the high-end clubs and hotel bars — Revel at The Palace, The Palace Pool Club — with door policies and table minimums. Ermita and Malate, the old nightlife area near Roxas Boulevard, runs a cheaper and more mixed circuit including the heritage-listed bars that have been there since the 1970s. These areas don't bleed into each other.

What You'll Pay

San Miguel at a Poblacion bar: PHP 80–130. Craft beer: PHP 150–280. Cocktails: PHP 200–400. BGC clubs have table minimums that start at PHP 3,000 and go up substantially; walk-in entry is PHP 500–1,000. Ermita bars run PHP 50–80 for local beer. A full Poblacion evening with five drinks and no club: PHP 800–1,500. Add BGC club entry and a round, and the evening is PHP 2,500–4,000.

Best Nights

Poblacion is best on Thursday and Friday; the Makati professional crowd is out and the bars haven't yet been overtaken by the weekend visitor influx. Saturday in BGC is the clubs circuit at its busiest. Ermita and Malate are more consistent through the week, with Friday running the most live music. Manila's traffic is the practical constraint: leaving anywhere before 9pm in a taxi is necessary if you're crossing from one district to another.

Practical

Manila traffic is not a joke; crossing from Makati to BGC by Grab during peak hours can take forty minutes for what is nominally a 2km trip. After 10pm this improves. Grab is the standard transport. The MRT Line 3 covers the Ayala (Makati) area; last train is around 10pm. Cash is standard in Poblacion; BGC clubs require card for minimum spends. Dress codes enforced at BGC venues: no rubber slippers, no shorts at the upscale clubs.