Manila Travel Guide: NAIA, Traffic and Costs in 2026

Manila is a gateway first. Ninoy Aquino International Airport handled a record 52.02 million passengers in 2025, nearly 4 per cent above the previous record of 50.1 million in 2024, and January 2026 set a new monthly high of 4.96 million passengers, beating December 2025's 4.86 million. The country recorded 6,484,060 visitor arrivals in 2025, up 0.76 per cent, comprising 5,940,975 foreign visitors and 543,085 returning overseas Filipinos. Nearly all of those people pass through this airport, and how you handle your first ninety minutes in it sets the tone for the trip.

The arrivals scam is the one to plan for. Transport overcharging at NAIA is the most consistently reported tourist scam in Manila. Touts work the curbside outside arrivals at all four terminals, with Terminals 1 and 3 the worst, and they intercept foreign arrivals before they reach the official MIAA-licensed yellow-cab queues. The honest number is the useful defence: the metered fare from NAIA to Makati runs roughly 200 to 300 pesos plus a small terminal surcharge. Anything quoted as a flat fare several times that is a markup, not a service. Either walk to the licensed queue or arrange a ride-hailing pickup at the designated bay before you land.

Budget the fixed costs. Passenger terminal fees rose in September 2025, the first significant adjustment in 24 years, to 390 pesos for domestic flights, about 7 US dollars, and 950 pesos for international, about 17 dollars. On the positive side, NAIA has installed biometric immigration e-gates that can clear a passenger in as little as 20 seconds, expanded UBE Express bus routes, and reconfigured the departure drop-off areas at Terminals 1 and 2 to improve flow.

None of that touches the roads. TomTom's 2025 index ranks Metro Manila as the 14th most congested metropolitan area in the world, with congestion at 57.3 per cent, and the Philippines as the most congested country in Asia; Davao City is actually worse than Manila within the country. What this means practically is that any plan built on map distances is wrong. A 12 km crossing at the wrong hour can take well over an hour. Cluster your days geographically, use the ride-hailing apps rather than trying to drive, consider the LRT and MRT lines for north-south movement inside their corridors, and leave for the airport far earlier than seems reasonable.

Online booking fraud is the newer risk. Fake hotel and tour listings have surged in 2026, typically presented as a better rate through a social media or messaging account. Book accommodation and tours through established platforms with real reviews and payment protection, and treat any request to pay by direct transfer as a refusal.

What to do with the time you have: Intramuros, the walled Spanish colonial city, is the one unmissable thing in Manila, and it is best early in the morning before the heat and the traffic. Fort Santiago and San Agustin Church are inside it. Beyond that, the strength of the city is food and drink: Makati and the Poblacion district have an excellent and inexpensive restaurant and bar scene, and Filipino food is under-rated internationally. English is spoken almost everywhere, which removes a lot of the friction that costs money in other Southeast Asian capitals.

The realistic structure for a Philippines trip is a night or two in Manila, then a domestic flight out to the islands, and a generous buffer on the way back. Domestic flights are cheap and frequent precisely because NAIA moves 52 million people a year. Treat the city as the hinge of the trip rather than the destination and it works well; treat it as a week-long stay and the traffic will spend that week for you.