The First-Timer’s Travel Guide to Manila, Philippines (from a Local)

It’s been over two years since I wrote the first edition of this Manila travel guide. I decided to write it after hearing more than one foreigner describe Manila as the scariest city they’ve ever visited. I don’t know where they stayed or what happened that made them say that, but it inspired me to write a travel guide that put traveler safety first. I certainly didn’t want anyone visiting my home city and having a negative or even traumatic experience.

But the thing is, focusing so much on safety inadvertently put my city in a negative light. Without meaning to, I may have made it seem worse than it actually was. Sure, we have our share of taxi scammers and purse snatchers, but don’t many destinations around the world have those too? Surely Manila isn’t worse than any other third world metropolis? I wanted tourists to have fun in Manila but I realized after some time that putting so much emphasis on traveler safety wasn’t the right approach. It shed…