Friday, 5 June 2026

Manila II Day 1: Makati Shangri-la Hotel & Ayala Malls

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The Eldest had supplementary classes for O-level preparation in the first week of June but the Hubby was not able to take leave after 10 June. That left us with a very short window for our annual mid-year trip so we decided on Manila since the price for our whole family was reasonable. We booked our Singapore Airlines tickets at $322 per adult/child. 

We travelled to Changi Airport Terminal 2 via our usual Jumbo cab and arrived at 6am.

Super excited for our trip!
Our plane departed on time at 7.50am
Having our breakfast on the plane
My meal choice

After a relatively short flight of about 3.5 hours, we arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 at 11.35am (no time difference between Singapore & Philippines).

Glimpse of the airport from our plane

After we had cleared immigration, we walked to the private hire pick point and boarded our 6-seater Grab (cost ₱333) to Makati Shangri-La Hotel. The Hubby and I wanted to stay there again since we liked it previously. 

We checked in at the Horizon Club Lounge and were pleased to discover that our rooms were ready!

Having drinks at the lounge while checking in

We had booked the Horizon Club Deluxe King Rooms again because we found a good deal on Agoda. One room for 2 adults and one for 3 adults cost us S$253 and S$309 per night respectively. This is inclusive of breakfast (details in the next post), afternoon tea, evening cocktails and canapés, all-day lounge access and other Horizon Club benefits. 

The bedroom with an added bed to accommodate 3 adults
The spacious bathroom
Bathtub and other amenities
Left: We managed to get connecting rooms;
Right: I requested for a contour pillow and managed to get one from the housekeeping staff! For a side sleeper like me, this is a necessity!

After checking out our rooms, we returned to the Club Lounge for afternoon tea.

Simple spread of pastries
Yummy bites to go with coffee or tea

We walked to the nearby Ayala Shopping Belt for some shopping. The shopping district was basically made up of many malls connected to each other so that you could keep walking from one end to the other! You can easily clock 10-20k steps without even realising it 😄

As we didn't want to exhaust ourselves on our first day, we decided to only explore the Glorietta Malls.

The Boy found his favourite Kirby at the Nintendo store!
I was surprised none of them caught his eye 😅
We also made mini keyboard fidget keychains as souvenirs

The Hubby bought AquaFlask water bottles during our last trip and has raved about them ever since! It was much cheaper in Manila (about 1/3 the price!), so we bought at least one bottle for each of us! We loved that we could personalise them with our names! 

Engraving our colourful bottles
The Son got his favourite green while the Littlest chose pink

We walked over to The Landmark and grabbed a quick meal at the Jollibee at the food court.

The basement food court was very crowded that day!

We returned to our hotel and dropped off our shopping loot in our rooms before heading to the Horizon Club Lounge for evening canapes.

The variety of food is usually a lot more during evening canapes than afternoon tea
Mocktail and other little bites
Food from the buffet line
(The Son was a big fan of the cheese)

The kids begged to go swimming at the pool but it was drizzling so we told them we'd go the next day. Instead, we went back to our rooms and enjoyed a nice warm bath in the bathtub! 🛀🏻

What a great start to a relaxing trip! 

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P.S: We're proud Shangri-la Circle members; read about our Shangri-La experiences around the world:
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Continue to >> Manila II Day 2-3: SM Mall of Asia & SM by the Bay

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Visit MADPSYCHMUM TRAVELS for the rest of my posts on Manila, Philippines
as well as other travel itineraries!


Please also follow my travel adventures on Instagram via the hashtag #madpsychmumtravels!
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