Entertainment & Nightlife

Entertainment and nightlife in the major cities offer a lot of different options. From the visit to a hot spot discotheque, a life music show, cinema, cabaret, jazz clubs, bars, restaurants or night-clubs; the visitor has plenty to choose from. Common sense and awareness in general should never be left aside when enjoying a "night out". The hotel or resort management can provide useful information and assistance.

Often hotels offer very sparkling entertainment by life bands. The Filipinos are well known for their good voices and talented bands are mostly found throughout Asia in major hotels or entertainment facilities.

The Cultural Center of the Philippines / Manila and the Repertory Philippines / Manila are best places to experience some of the best musicians and artists. Lea Salonga best known for her role in Miss Saigon or the famous pianist Cecile Licad came from these two institutions. The Cultural Center houses The Metropolitan Theater, where operas, ballets and mini concertos are performed, and the Teatro Francico Balagtas best known for its concerts attended in recent years by many international artists like Janet Jackson or Bryan Adams.

Repertory Philippines shows regular performances at their own William J. Shaw Theater at the Shangri-la Plaza mall - Ortigas / Manila. Here original plays from Broadway or west End are performed. It is advised to book tickets in general through ticket agents or concierges of hotels well in advance.

Other places of interest might be the Meralco Theater, Paco Park or the University of Life Auditorium.

Discotheques can be found all over as well as café, music lounges or Karaoke (sing along) bars. A lot of different establishments suiting the taste of everyone can be found for example in Malate / Manila.

Ballroom Dancing is a regular event at some discotheques of hotels and can be found at various dance halls. Usually the hotels and resorts can provide you with recommendations of nearest locations and events.

Sports

Golf

The most famous sport activity in the country is probably golf. It has developed in the past years to a very well established sport with a lot of golf courses all over the country offering everything for the different handicaps. Not only superb greens to tee off in a clean environment can be found here.

Some of these often even offer other sports facilities such as gyms, saunas, tennis and swimming pools. Our directory provides you an overview of various golf clubs as well as country or sports clubs.

Basketball

This sport can be found in every street, on sports fields and halls of municipalities and one can quickly join in a round of basketball with the locals.

Mountain Climbing

Travel offices offer guided tours up the Volcano mountains, like e.g. Mt. Pinatubo, Mt. Apo, Mayon etc. Good condition and a local guide is recommended.

Scuba Diving

For those who want to see the marine flora and fauna this is the sport to go for. Plenty of resorts are geared to offer full services to scuba divers from all over the world. More than 800 species of corals and more than 2000 species of fish can be found in the multifaceted waters of the Philippines.

If you are just starting this sport, you will find plenty of PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) and NAUI (National Association of Underwater Instructors) accredited schools at resorts. Most of these resorts offer full services like e.g. tank re-filling, rent or purchase of weight belts, tanks, regulators etc.

There are even several Nitrox processing centers in key areas like Mindoro, Aklan, Manila and Makati to cover the requirements of the new trend of enriched air nitrox. The Philippine Technical Divers (PTD), being the Philippine franchise of IANTD (international Association of Nitrox Divers inc.) can provide further information on request. For a listing of scuba diving resorts see our directory.

Kayaking

The close clustering of islands are ideal for coastal kayak paddling. A good destination for example is Coron Bay / Northern Palawan, where one can discover and enjoy the picturesque coast line. Several resorts offer kayaks for rent.