Manila Hotels: 10 Best Stays in Makati, BGC & Bay City (2026)

Solaire Resort Entertainment City is the flagship casino resort of Bloomberry Resorts, sitting on 8.3 hectares right on Manila Bay. It opened in 2013 and added the Skytower in 2014, for around 793 rooms and suites across two towers. The Skytower is the headliner — it keeps a Forbes Five-Star rating year after year. Rooms start around a generous 52 sqm with soft beds, a marble bathroom that splits the soaking tub from a rain shower, and a west-facing balcony that catches the full sunset over the bay. Inside you get an 18,500 sqm casino, The Theatre at Solaire (1,740 seats, staging West End productions), 12 restaurants led by Finestra Italian Steakhouse and Yakumi, an infinity pool on the bay, and the roughly 3,800 sqm Yi Spa. It is barely 3 km from NAIA airport — a 5-to-10 minute drive — and a 15-minute walk to SM Mall of Asia. Total 8.9/10, a strong pick for couples, gamers, and anyone who wants it all in one place near the airport.

Okada Manila is a Japanese-owned mega-resort in Entertainment City on the edge of Manila Bay, open since 2017 and built by Japan's Okada group on a budget north of US$2 billion. The twin Pearl Wing and Coral Wing towers wrap around The Fountain, the largest choreographed water show in Asia, which runs a light-and-music set every evening. The 990-plus rooms start at 55 square metres — nearly double the typical 5-star room in Manila — and every one has a private balcony facing the bay or the fountain garden. Inside you'll find a Forbes Five-Star casino, the indoor water park Cove Manila (part club, part beach under a giant dome), and more than 20 places to eat, including the Japanese restaurant Misora and the buffet Medley that reviewers rate the best value here. The airport (NAIA) is a 10-minute drive. It suits families and couples who'd rather settle into one resort than head out into the city. Overall score: 8.8/10.

The Peninsula Manila — locals just call it The Pen — is a 5-star landmark that has run since 1976, planted right on the corner of Ayala Avenue and Makati Avenue in the heart of the Makati business district. It belongs to Hong Kong's Peninsula Hotels group, known for some of the best service in the business. The thing everyone talks about is the two-storey glass-dome lobby with its gold-plated Sunburst sculpture by Filipino artist Impé Sacramento, now a city icon. Add daily Afternoon Tea under that dome with a live string quartet, a breakfast buffet many reviewers rank among Manila's best, and staff who greet you by name, and you have a proper classic stay. There are 469 rooms and suites, entry rooms from 42 sqm, an outdoor pool and spa, and an easy walk to Greenbelt and Glorietta. Overall 8.7/10, best for business travelers, couples, and anyone who loves old-school luxury.

Raffles Makati is a 32-suite, 5-star all-suite boutique that quietly stands apart in Manila's CBD. It shares a tower with Fairmont Makati, but Raffles takes the top floors as its own private, exclusive zone. Every room is an oversized suite starting around 65 square metres, with 24-hour butler service on every floor. The look is plush residential — more rich friend's private home than a busy big-box hotel. The centerpiece is the original Long Bar lifted from Raffles Singapore: sip a classic Singapore Sling and toss the peanut shells on the floor, as tradition demands. There is a rooftop pool over the Makati skyline, a Raffles spa that reviewers call the most relaxing in town, and a direct skybridge into Greenbelt Mall. In 2024 it earned a One Michelin Key. The location is dead-center Makati CBD, a 5-minute walk to Glorietta. At 9.1/10, it suits couples, honeymooners, and luxury travelers who value privacy over a big-name address.

Shangri-La The Fort, Manila is the group's modern flagship, opened in 2016 inside a 60-floor tower in the heart of Bonifacio Global City (BGC), the cleanest and most walkable district in town. One building packs in the 576-room hotel, serviced residences, restaurants, the Kerry Sports gym, and CHI spa. Entry rooms run about 42 sq m — noticeably bigger than the city's 5-star norm — and many face the BGC and Makati skyline, which looks great after dark. The sky pool sits on floor 6 with a kids' zone and cabanas, while High Street Café serves a breakfast buffet that a lot of reviewers rate as one of the best mornings in Manila. You can walk to Bonifacio High Street and the Mind Museum in 5 to 7 minutes; Makati CBD is 10 to 15 minutes by car and NAIA airport 25 to 35. It scores 8.9/10 and suits business travelers, families, and couples who want to sleep in a clean, safe, strollable neighborhood.

Grand Hyatt Manila is a 66-floor skyscraper at the heart of Bonifacio Global City (BGC), Manila's newer business district packed with malls, restaurants and multinational offices. It opened in September 2014 and holds around 461 rooms, all starting from floor 12 and up, so nearly every window frames either the city or the mountains. The headline feature is the floor-60 Sky Park — an open-air pool with 360-degree views that turns into a wall of light at sunset and ends up on a lot of phone cameras. Add 6 restaurants covering every angle, from the international buffet at The Grand Kitchen to Nobu, Hua Yuan and the floor-60 Peak Bar. You can walk to Bonifacio High Street and Uptown Mall in 5 to 10 minutes, rooms start around $157 a night, and it suits couples, business travelers and families who want a modern hotel in the city's safest neighborhood.

Conrad Manila is a 5-star Hilton-group hotel built into a tall, cruise-ship-shaped tower right on Manila Bay, set inside S Maison at the Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay. It opened in 2016 with around 347 rooms and suites. The one thing every review agrees on is the Manila Bay sunset — from the rooms and from the level-7 infinity pool, where the mood gets genuinely romantic. The location puts you a 4-minute walk from SMX Convention Center and 7 minutes from MOA Arena, which makes it a strong pick for Mall of Asia shopping trips, conference-goers, and anyone in town for a concert. The drive from Ninoy Aquino International (NAIA) runs about 25-35 minutes. Staff are friendly and the rooms are clean enough that reviewers single both out. The trade-off: you're far from the old town of Intramuros and there's no train station within walking distance. It scores 8.8/10, best for couples, shopping-focused families, and people here on Mall of Asia business.

Hotel Okura Manila is the first Okura property in the Philippines, opened in late 2019 under the Okura Nikko group — a Japanese hotel name with over 60 years of history. It sits inside the Newport World Resorts complex in Pasay, and a walk through the Runway Manila mall links straight to NAIA Terminal 3 in minutes. The draw is the genuine Japanese Zen design — warm wood and cream tones that feel lifted from Kyoto. There are around 190 rooms and suites, many with a Japanese hinoki cedar soaking tub that fills the bathroom with pine scent, plus a 6th-floor rooftop pool over the Manila skyline. The Japanese restaurant Yamazato serves Michelin-grade kaiseki under master chefs flown in from Japan, and a quiet tea lounge waits for anyone chasing calm. Rates start around $170 a night. It scores 9.0/10 and suits luxury layover travelers, couples who want a Japanese mood in Southeast Asia, and business guests who need quiet near the airport.

The Manila Hotel is the Philippines' first luxury hotel, open since 9 July 1912 — that's 114 years of guests. The all-white California Mission Revival block was originally 5 floors; an 18-storey Bayview wing was added in 1977. It sits right at the tip of Rizal Park, hard against Manila Bay, and has hosted some genuine legends: General Douglas MacArthur, who used the penthouse as his home and office from 1935 to 1941 (the MacArthur Suite still carries his name), plus Ernest Hemingway, The Beatles on their 1966 tour, and President Bill Clinton. There are 411 rooms and 31 suites, with high ceilings, crystal chandeliers and real Narra hardwood floors; some balconies open onto the Intramuros golf course and the bay. Mabuhay Palace serves Cantonese dim sum, the Tap Room is done up like an English pub, and the 5th-floor garden pool looks out over the water. It scores 8.4/10, and it's for people chasing true heritage atmosphere over modern gloss.

The Henry Hotel Manila is not one of the glass towers you see all over the city. It's a cluster of bahay-na-bato colonial houses from the 1940s, carefully restored into a 34-room boutique tucked down a quiet Pasay lane just 10 minutes from NAIA airport. Every room is hung with contemporary Filipino art and furnished in art-deco pieces, so it reads more like walking into a tasteful collector's home than checking into a hotel. The standout is Apartment 1B, the in-house kitchen serving homemade comfort food — its cakes and coffee pull in outside locals often enough that tables can fill up. Rates start around $69 a night, the building sits well away from Makati and Intramuros, and the overall score lands at 8.6/10. Best for design-minded travelers who want a calm place with a story, and anyone needing an airport-adjacent night that isn't a generic chain.