Manila airport to city Friday peak hour - how long?

[Jean Prouvaire]

I'll be traveling to Manila in a couple of weeks, arriving on QF19 on a Friday afternoon at 5.30pm Manila time. I need to be at the Solaire Resort, Entertainment City, Parañaque by 7.30pm (or maybe a bit later). When I booked my flight I saw that my destination was only about 4 km from Ninoy Aquino Airport, so I thought that I'd have plenty of time (assuming the flight runs to schedule).

Since then I've been educating myself about Manila Airport (ie googling) and am getting worried. Apparently getting a cab at the airport can take up to an hour, and peak hour can slow traffic to a crawl. I'm also not sure how long it will take to clear customs (even assuming I don't get caught up in infamous the tourist bullet scam).

Can anyone provide some advice about the best way to get to my destination from the airport? How long should I figure on Customs clearance taking? (I'm currently Qantas Platinum, but assume there's no Express card service at Manila.) Can it really take up to an hour to queue for a cab? Should I pre-book a private airport transfer to avoid the queue at the cab rank and shave some time that way? (If so, are there any you can recommend)? Will traffic really be that bad on a Friday night? Am I worried for nothing or was I naive in assuming a couple of hours will be enough time for me to get to Solaire?

Would be very grateful for any advice or assistance.

 

[JohnK]

I am not an expert but apparently that can take a long time.

I just need to go from T3->T1 (~6kms) and have been told that couod be ~3-4 hours if things not going your way.

 

[Simo]

Expect the unexpected in MNL... I normally go up to the departures and get a cab from there quicker and cheaper...

 

[Digger11]

I would allow an hour for every 4 km, a slow walking pace.
Never had any trouble at immigration.
I always book a driver, might be worth you doing the same, Taxis can actually be unsafe.

Manila, Cairo and Mumbai all pretty much the same, overcrowded bursting cities all have the same problems. Lucky the Aussie Govt. is heading down the same path......

 

[Jean Prouvaire]

Thanks for the responses everyone - appreciate it.

Digger11, is there a private car transfer service you recommend?

 

[Melburnian1]

I just need to go from T3->T1 (~6kms) and have been told that couod be ~3-4 hours if things not going your way.

This is an old thread but MNL now has internal shuttle buses between terminals that seem to run about every half an hour. My sole experience was that a trip from one of the four terminals to another took about seven minutes.

There are staff at transfer desks where bags come off the belts, so they can fill you in. Far less stressful than using the overcrowded roads on landside.

 

[JohnK]

This is an old thread but MNL now has internal shuttle buses between terminals that seem to run about every half an hour. My sole experience was that a trip from one of the four terminals to another took about seven minutes.

There are staff at transfer desks where bags come off the belts, so they can fill you in. Far less stressful than using the overcrowded roads on landside.

I was there late March and found the terminal transfer very efficient. There is another thread that has been updated.

The live bullet scam at x-ray scares me.