Makati Travel Guide: Where to Stay and What to Do

Featured image: Judgefloro, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Makati at a glance

Makati is a highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region. It covers only 18.17 km², yet its office towers, embassies and malls give it the densest skyline in the metro. Neighbors include Mandaluyong, Taguig, Pasay and Manila. Weekdays belong to office workers, and evenings belong to restaurants and bars.

• Role: central business district with malls, hotels and dining.
• Best for: short stays, business trips, shopping, restaurants and nightlife.
• Skip if: you want colonial streets, markets or heritage walking.
• Neighbor to know: Bonifacio Global City is a separate district in Taguig, not part of Makati.

Best things to do in Makati

Start at Ayala Center, the mall cluster that links Glorietta and Greenbelt. Glorietta is the indoor, shopping-first end. Greenbelt is the garden-and-restaurant end, which suits an evening meal. Ayala Malls lists each mall's current directory and hours. Ayala Museum is the main culture stop in the same area, so pair it with a morning before the malls fill up. Its official site carries current visiting details.

• Ayala Triangle: a green pocket among the towers, good for a walk between meetings or meals.
• Salcedo and Legazpi Villages: residential-business streets with cafés and restaurants, best on foot in the daytime.
• Rockwell Center: a planned district of towers and malls on the Makati side, quieter than Ayala Center.
• Circuit Makati: an entertainment and events district, best checked against its event calendar.
• Poblacion: the bar and late-dining pocket, covered in our Poblacion Makati guide.

Makati neighborhoods compared

Makati is a cluster of districts, not one walkable grid. Pick the pocket that matches your evening, and use the table to decide. For the wider choice across the metro, read our Manila neighborhoods guide.

Makati vs Intramuros, Binondo and BGC

Use Makati for modern comforts and plan the old city separately. Intramuros is the historic walled core. Its Visitors Center at Fort Santiago is open daily from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Binondo is the food and Chinatown alternative. Government tourism pages put it about an hour from the airport and a few minutes from Intramuros and Rizal Park.

BGC is the closest rival for a modern base. Bonifacio Global City (BGC) Travel Guide: What to Do and How to Visit sits in Taguig City, not Makati. Its official site says most destinations inside it are a 5-15 minute walk apart. Most BGC parks open from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM. Kalayaan Avenue is listed as a main entry point from Makati. Treat the two as neighbors and choose one as your base.

How much time to plan in Makati

Makati rewards a focused visit. Pair it with a heritage area only on a separate day. Traffic can eat the hours you hoped to save.

Where to stay and how to get around

Stay in Makati if you want a central high-rise hotel area, short walks to restaurants and easy meetings. Skip it if you want local markets or heritage streets at your door. The BGC Bus terminal for riders arriving from outside BGC is at EDSA Ayala, on the Telus side. The bus connects Ayala, Market! Market! and Uptown, and takes Beep cards or QR tickets.

MRT-3 runs 16.9 km along EDSA with 13 stations. An end-to-end trip takes about 30 minutes. On weekdays trains start at 4:30 AM. On Sundays and holidays they run until 10:40 PM. Fares are distance-based and paid with contactless cards. From the airport, BGC is about 20-30 minutes by car depending on traffic. Allow more time for Makati at rush hour.

Walk between Ayala Center, Greenbelt and Ayala Triangle. Use a taxi or ride-hailing app for Salcedo, Rockwell and Poblacion in rain or heat.

Costs, hours and safety

Prices and hours checked November 2026 for the transit and place facts above. Mall and museum hours change, so read the current listing on Ayala Malls' official site before planning a late evening. Makati sits at the higher end of Metro Manila for hotels and dining, while public transit and street snacks keep a day cheaper. The Makati city portal posts local advisories and events.

Standard big-city habits apply. Keep phones and bags close in crowded stations. Plan indoor backups for typhoon-season rain, since flooding can slow every road.

Common mistakes to avoid in Makati

Treating BGC as part of Makati sends you to the wrong district. Planning a heritage day here leaves you without old streets. Crossing the metro at rush hour wastes the morning. Assuming everything stays open late can leave you at a closed mall, especially on weekdays outside Poblacion.

• Book Intramuros and Binondo as separate heritage days.
• Leave the CBD before the evening commute peaks.
• Check mall and museum hours the day before.