[The Duke]

A lot of the info on the web is stale in terms of places to go out. I thought I'd share with you guys some fresh information about the nightlife in Manila. Fresh as of April 2011.

Manila, Philippines has an interesting night life. Some places seemed to have been full of whores and some places seemed normal. Nightlife goes on late in this city, until 4 am for most normal places.

REGULAR NIGHTLIFE (FEW OR NO PROS)

• Republiq in "New World Casino" near the Marriot near the airport. Republiq is large. There's a second club in the same complex which is similar to Republiq, forgot the name. Both close around 4 am.
• Fiamma, upscale, young, rich kids. Bouncer said they close at 5am. 32 Jupiter Street Bel Air Village, Makati, Philippines
• Embassy in an area called "the Fort" is supposed to be good with a young crowd. I did not go.
• Central Bar in Makati. It's a bar with food. Middle-class (not upscale). Cheap. Only tables--makes it harder to meet people. Was crowded at 2 am. Open until 4am. They almost didnt let us in at 2 am -- maybe they only wanted locals there?
• There's Hard Rock Cafe in Makati near the Greenbelt. Has live bands. Nice but not super busy. Closes around 2 am.
• Eastwood City: Libis near Ortigas ( Quezon City ) has a nice boardwalk of cafes and a couple decent clubs.
  

NOT REGULAR NIGHTLIFE

• If you research online, many websites claim the area known as Malate has the best nightlife in Manila. These websites are usually quite dated. There is a lot of nightlife here, but the area is seedy. Prostitution is rampant in Malate. If you want a normal girl, you are better off going out in another area of the city.
• A Club called Icon at the Intercontinental Hotel is open until like 8am. When I was there 80% of the girls seemed to be freelance prostitutes. 80% of the guys there are ex-pats, some in their 40s and 50s.
• At Greenbelt 3, there is a bar called Havana Cafe. It's next to Starbucks and Seattle's best coffee. It's busy every night of the week until 4am, but 90% of the girls there seem to be freelance prostitutes. Again lots of expat men in their 40s and 50s.
  

I plan on going back to Manila. Please expand this list, if you know of good places to go out in Manila -- particularly places with girls who like foreigners (normal girls or semi-pros but not full-blown prostitutes).

[Lumiere]

Not sure how fresh thıs ınfo ıs - Embassy club has not exısıted sınce ıt was closed down ın 2010

A new club called Encore ıs now there and havıng vısıted both ın the last 12 months I can defınıtely say that Embassy was lıvelıer and more fun

[The Duke]

Ok, thanks for the clarification. Two people recommended Embassy to me, glad I didn't try to find it. I did go to a club in the Fort area, forgot the name, but it wasn't very lively. I assure you, the rest of the info is fresh.

[OSL]

The whole fort area is great. I went to Members Only, Encore, and some other place that I forget.

I also like Icon a lot, although I didn't go there to pick up. Every time I went clubbing I went with a chick I had swooped elsewhere, or with friends from school.

[truedat]

Any update on Manila? I need to roll through there for a bit in Sept. Swagger whats the final update from your last trip?

[FilMor]

So in Manila every chick will expect you to pay for her mealsdrinkscab? I heard they pull the i left my money at home card often.

[Marco]

The area I liked the best in Manila is Pasay, just between Makati and Malate.
It is a bit "rough" neighborhood but I did not felt insecure- just go with not much money on you.

There some cheap bar which you can find nice 18-20 YO jewels there, you can have it in the backroom or even get her to your place, most of them surely working girls but for 10-15$ it is cheaper than most none-working girls in most of the world.
I had also countless pickups of girls that working in the shopping malls, usually I take the number and then SMS after work, those are not working girls.
Ooh... Manila days were great with 3somes and even 1 time 4some... Until I got tired of the Phili look. Now I have the Russian disease.

[Lumiere]

(04-14-2011 03:02 PM)The Duke Wrote:  

Ok, thanks for the clarification. Two people recommended Embassy to me, glad I didn't try to find it. I did go to a club in the Fort area, forgot the name, but it wasn't very lively. I assure you, the rest of the info is fresh.

There was a stabbing incident at Embassy and they lost their license.

The crowd at encore is older and the music and the vibe way less lively.

Still not bad but not as good as Encore was.

[Craig88]

This place seems pretty decent: http://www.facebook.com/groups/120980634644383/

[InternationalSwagger]

Hit my boy @jerzoliveira on twitter he's the nightlife King in Manila...I'm on every guest list everytime I step out in MNL and he always looks out!

[european_lover]

I recently got convinced to post my datasheets also in the forum, so here we go:

I have been in Manila in July 2011.


Clubs

• Republic: in the Marriot hotel, upscale, expensive (club Opus is also nearby)
• Icon in the Intercontinental hotel is said to be similar (but less popular) than the Republic
• Fiamma: upscale, young, rich kids
• The fort: Some clubs (Embassy is closed, there is another club next to it, I didn’t go inside) and bars. 7 high is nearby (upscale).
• Eastwood city: some bars, the waiter said there is also a club open in the weekends (on Tuesday there was nobody)
• In Makati, close to the A. Venue shopping mall: Time748, Attica
• B-side: we went there Fridays for a facebook party, quite small, no cute girls, alternative place, no air-conditioning. Girl from the hostel said Sundays there is a reggae party there.
• Guilly’s island: full, few white, tables, they cheated me, bad area.
  

My experience

Tuesday:

Bar with prostitutes (I went there for a midget fight, don’t ask): all but one prostitute were not hot.

Eastwood city: empty.


Wednesday:

Republic: all girls surround tables and are in mixed groups, except for some hookers that are with a white guy that stands at the bar. In general, girls are not hot. I approach some girls, they didn’t want to talk with me. Finally a 4 set of only girls, I talk to one, she holds my hand and gives me her number, she replies to my first SMS but not anymore when I ask her out. And she was ok, but not hot.


Thursday:

Time748: nearly empty.


Friday:

Day: With a friend I go to SM shopping mall (the biggest mall in Manila) and the bay close to shopping mall. No hot girls. After lowering my standards, I approach 3 shop clerks: the first one, a male clerk joins the conversation and obviously wants to get rid of me, the second one, calls her ugly friend to help me, the third, in the supermarket, I get her number, but she never replies.

Couchsurfing party: I meet the CS that I was supposed to meet on Monday, she turns out to be not hot, I cancel the Monday meeting later. I get the number of a Chinese (quite cute) and the best looking Philippina, but she is still not really hot (more about both girls later). Otherwise few good looking Couch-Surfers, as I leave some new ones arrive, I have no time to check them out. Too many guys anyway, and super fucking hot!

Fiamma: some ok looking girls, but not easy to meet them. I stay in the smoking area, outside. I meet one that speaks German, but I lose her. More rejections. Before going out I get the number of one girl that says I can join her next week, never to be heard of again. I meet Lila, who seems nice, her friend has a car, she tells me about all her travels, speaks very good English, she is only 18 but except for her dental brace quite hot. We go to Guilly’s, a friend joins me and he doesn’t like the place and we never meet the friends that she talked about earlier she would introduce us to. I pay the taxi and her beer; she gets us in the club for free, and pays for some food. I don’t try too hard, don’t want to look like a sex-tourist.


Saturday:

On the street I meet a girl close to the fort, get her number (I want to arrange a meeting for the next days, but she says she is busy during the week, wants to meet me Friday, but I can’t, I’m in Boracay. Anyway, I am sure she was not a hooker. The only girl that I met in Manila that I am sure that was not a hooker and that responded to my SMS.)

7 high, mostly mixed sets, loud music, my friend fails with the only 2 alone girls there.

Attica: again, ugly girls, mostly mixed sets, tables …

We meet Lila again, she gets us for free in the Guilly’s island again, she introduces us her friends (2 hookers? 4 guys, and one girlfriend), the guys don’t speak, one of the girls behaves like a hooker, Lila leaves us alone and parties at another table. When it comes to paying the first round of drinks, the waiter wants me to pay for the drinks of everyone, Lila comes and says I shouldn’t pay, but leaves again without helping, it gets intimidating, we pay and go, I see Lila while leaving, she just says “ah, ok” – what a bitc…. Ok, I lost only 600 Pesos, but still. Did she also try to hook me up with her hooker friends? And she tried to get me on another date the next day, she wants to choose the place, does she think I am so stupid? I met her in a nice club (Fiamma), and then this, I really don’t trust the local girls anymore.


Sunday:

Day: I meet a girl from CS, but she comes with 2 other girls from her hostel.

The girls in the mall are ugly again.

In the evening I meet the girl from China I met first on Friday, super slim, bring her back to my place, F-close.


Monday:

Night: I meet again the CS from Sunday. We have a great evening, go to her place, but she doesn’t want to kiss. She apologizes for that the next day. By the way, she had a car with a driver, who was driving us around.


Saturday, after Boracay and Davao:

I meet the Philippine girl from the CS party, she is too posh for me, speaks about art and this and that nice place, doesn’t drink, I try to kiss her, no, but she doesn’t leave, I think she would need more time. We went to super elegant restaurant, talked about art, she doesn’t like bars, and wanted to go home early, afterwards I had the feeling I should have pushed harder, cause the next day she wrote that she was tempted to join me in the club that I told her I would go afterwards (after I realized that she is quite reserved). But maybe that is just the style of normal girls there, that’s what they say in internet, they are reserved until they are alone with you. Hmm. (Kissing her in the bar didn’t work, but maybe in the club? Or taking her home?)


Conclusion

Philippine girls are simply not my type (in particular their face). And neither the one of most other travelers that I met there. Whenever I found one that looked quite ok she was a Chinese immigrant. In addition, like in Bangkok, there are many prostitutes. But the clubs are less nice, the city is less safe. I am sure that I’ll never go back to Manila.


My friend said: “the Lila story could have been more dramatically written (I can remember the weird guys in our table, looking like killers, and the beggars not leeting us close the taxi door hahah!) That was no fucking, but a fucking adventure!”

My friend also told me: “Not one guy at the hostel got any ph girl in Manila. Even x that got quite a few in other areas but not there.” He staid there for nearly 2 weeks.

An addition from me: Recently I have been to a marriage of a Philippine couple. She is one of the most beautiful, nice and cool girls I have ever met.

[Cookie]

Cool I'm headed to Manila in December, a friend of mine got back from there awhile ago and said that most of the clubs are infested with freelance pros. So it looks like I'm gonna have to master the art of shoring before I ship out

[Malo]

Bump - I'm in Manila now, working Tinder and FC but would like to go out old school as well.

Anyone been hitting the nightlife here recently and can recommend some clubs and bars? 'Normal' nightlife, no p4p, and not too posh? I'm currently in Makati.

OP is from 4 years ago.. couldn't really find updated info in other threads.

Thanks guys!

[Ali]

Go to Quezon city, on Tomas Morato Ave. There is a club called 88 (or Eight Eight). Went loonewolfing there Friday night. At first no one even looked at me. After one hour or so girls were literally throwing themselfs at me. I think the club was called Excess before (it has been written about somewhere in this forum, cant remember where exactly). Didnt have time to check out the other clubs in the area but im sure that you will get crazy value in the whole area. Becaus many foreigners dont come here. Anyway, it was younger crowd and the music was great.

If you happen to be in Taguig, go to Hyve. Went loonewolfing here too. We were 5 foreigners here. 2 loud sweaty drunktards. 1 guy dancing for himself, also drunk as fuck. 1 bored looking dude with his Filipina girlfriend/date who gave me lots of IOI's. I just walked right in with a pleasant smile and ordered a beer and got approached instantly by two girls. Other girls were looking at my direction and started to dance closer to me. Got my lay from here. Good place and good music. Friendly people. May be a bit "posh" for your taste, though.

[Malo]

Thanks Ali! Following recommendations in other Manila threads I actually booked myself in Quezon city at the beginning of next week. So will definitely check out the places you mentioned and report back

Will also try to check out Hyve, although yeah I'm not into the posh stuff and the prices man.. a girl invited me to join her and her sisters on her birthday party in a new place in the fort called Valkyrie. Went there, entry costs 800 pesos (almost $20/16eur).

This is nuts in my book, I've been partying central europe for years and hardly recall covers higher than 5 euro. The girl even offered to pay the cover fee for me when she saw I was taken aback but I refused. Not into the posh scene, and can't complain about the 'regular' pinoy girls

[YardDog]

(01-26-2015 07:29 PM)Malo Wrote:  

Thanks Ali! Following recommendations in other Manila threads I actually booked myself in Quezon city at the beginning of next week. So will definitely check out the places you mentioned and report back

Will also try to check out Hyve, although yeah I'm not into the posh stuff and the prices man.. a girl invited me to join her and her sisters on her birthday party in a new place in the fort called Valkyrie. Went there, entry costs 800 pesos (almost $20/16eur).

This is nuts in my book, I've been partying central europe for years and hardly recall covers higher than 5 euro. The girl even offered to pay the cover fee for me when she saw I was taken aback but I refused. Not into the posh scene, and can't complain about the 'regular' pinoy girls

Yeah, that's $ for Manila but it does come with 2 drinks.

Prive is P600 for 2 drinks and I think Hyve is similar.

You can go to smaller clubs around Fort Strip free. Urbn, Haze, Imperial, etc.

Malate clubs are free too.

Here's a guide with the many of the most popular spots and how much they run: http://manilaclubbing.com/

The worst thing about the higher end clubs in Manila is the lack of legit dance floors. They push bottle service here so lone wolfing is not as much fun. Anyway, enjoy man.

[Malo]

Thanks YardDog. Yeah they told me at the door it includes 2 drinks but it didn't really make me feel better I checked out manilaclubbing.com before but they all seem high end "vip" clubs there.

I want to check out the clubs the places you mentioned though, thanks! Will update..

[the-dream]

If you're in QC, there are a lot of pretty good places on Tomas Morato. It's one of the main younger, normal nightlife districts. I've never been but Timog is also another popular nightlife area in QC - I think it's just off Tomas Morato.

I was at Black Market in Makati the other day which is good too; free entry, a proper dancefloor (most clubs here have tables and waiters all across the dancefloor) and people are a bit more chilled and there for a the music. Still a little pretentious though.

Another thing to bear in mind is that the posh VIP clubs in the Fort don't necessarily just attract that kind of crowd. Often, young people in Manila are more inclined to save up for a month or two then put their money together with their friends to have one night out in the Fort with VIP etc than to actually go somewhere that they can afford.

[YardDog]

(01-27-2015 11:44 PM)the-dream Wrote:  

If you're in QC, there are a lot of pretty good places on Tomas Morato. It's one of the main younger, normal nightlife districts. I've never been but Timog is also another popular nightlife area in QC - I think it's just off Tomas Morato.

I was at Black Market in Makati the other day which is good too; free entry, a proper dancefloor (most clubs here have tables and waiters all across the dancefloor) and people are a bit more chilled and there for a the music. Still a little pretentious though.

Another thing to bear in mind is that the posh VIP clubs in the Fort don't necessarily just attract that kind of crowd. Often, young people in Manila are more inclined to save up for a month or two then put their money together with their friends to have one night out in the Fort with VIP etc than to actually go somewhere that they can afford.

Ah, Black Market, the place over by Finders Keepers in Makati. Yeah, I've not been but it looks a bit more on the edgy/hipster/arty side of things, which I can get down with. The fact that it has a proper dance floor alone would make it a good lone wolf spot.

What were the girls like there? I just checked their FB and didn't see much but I found that's not always the best indicator.

I still haven't partied up in QC, but need to make that happen once of these nights.

[calwinston]

(01-27-2015 11:44 PM)the-dream Wrote:  

If you're in QC, there are a lot of pretty good places on Tomas Morato. It's one of the main younger, normal nightlife districts. I've never been but Timog is also another popular nightlife area in QC - I think it's just off Tomas Morato.

Tomas Marato and Timog Avenue intersect at Boy Scout Circle. The people in the area call it Scouts Triangle

If anyone has been to or live in LA around Koreatown/Mid Wilshire this area will give you that feel that you are back in that area.

Seems like a nice middle class area in Philippine standards

Large student population, great bars, mix of different ethnic foods (24 hour restaurants), cafes, and clubs.

A new mall just opened in the area - Fisher Mall. SM North EDSA nearby.

[Malo]

Thanks y'all!

The area you mentioned seems to be about 7km from the place I rented in Quezon city (should be there on Sunday). So should be fine by taxi.

Will see if I find the time to check out some stuff on Makati this weekend. But definitely looking forward to QC!

[nomadicdude]

I was at Black Market a few months ago. I think it is the after hours club and does not get busy until really late. Like others said it was more of a proper American style club with a dance floor, but when I went it was a sausage fest. I don't know if you find "good" girls out at 3am in Manila and when you do they are out in mixed groups.

[Malo]

Back to Makati from QC. Checked out the nightlife at Boys Scouts circle (including club 88) only last Saturday, but was pretty stale. Go figure. Anyway focusing on day and online game, no problem Thanks for the tips, much appreciated!!

[Sp5]

Bars and clubs around "Greenfields" (not to be confused with Greenbelt) in Ortigas.

Early evening (8 pm - after midnight) scene with several bars, some with live music. Caters to the many local call centers and BPOs. Can get busy.

https://goo.gl/maps/1yRny

[PacFan]

Greenfield District in Ortigas is a decent spot...always plenty of talent around on a Friday and Saturday night

My favorite place is Blackwoods...nice little area to sit outside and watch the world go by