Getting there and around
An archipelago: fly between the islands, plan around the traffic.
The Philippines is 7,000-plus islands and the calendar is spread across them, so the trips between events are part of the planning: short domestic flights between the regions, ferries where the sea is narrow, and, inside Metro Manila, a traffic problem that decides your hotel more than any map does. Get the gateways straight and the whole calendar opens up.
Arriving
Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL, NAIA) in Pasay and Parañaque is the main gateway: four terminals, with domestic and international flights split between them, so check which terminal your booking uses before you set out, because they are not connected airside and the shuttle ride between them crosses city traffic. The region's other international airports sit right beside event cities: Mactan-Cebu (CEB) for Cebu, Clark (CRK) for Angeles and the Philippine Arena shows, Davao (DVO) and Iloilo (ILO) for their cities. From NAIA, ride-hailing and airport taxis are the practical routes into the metro; allow far longer than the distance suggests.
Between the islands
Domestic flights are the default: Manila to Cebu, Iloilo or Davao is an hour to ninety minutes in the air, on Cebu Pacific, Philippine Airlines and AirAsia, and booking ahead makes them cheap. Ferries still matter where the sea is narrow: 2GO and the fastcraft lines link Cebu with Bohol, Ormoc, Iloilo and Bacolod, and the roll-on roll-off buses cross whole island chains for travellers with time. In the rainy season, build slack into any itinerary that ends in a flight home: storms move sea and air schedules first.
Inside Metro Manila
Three rail lines carry the spine: MRT-3 down EDSA, LRT-1 from Baclaran to Quezon City, and LRT-2 east to west, with the station names you will use most being Taft, Ayala, Cubao and Recto. Beyond the rails it is jeepneys for the short hops, buses along EDSA, and Grab for everything else: ride-hailing is how the city moves after events, and surge pricing after a stadium show is a fact of life. The honest rule of the metro: a trip that takes 25 minutes at noon can take two hours at 6pm, so stay in the district of your event (the hotels page works through it city by city).
The Bocaue run
The Philippine Arena and Philippine Sports Stadium sit beside the North Luzon Expressway in Bocaue, Bulacan, about 30 kilometres north of the metro. On show days the P2P buses run from the big malls and transport hubs, and driving means leaving early and expecting the car park to empty slowly. Most of the crowd bases in Quezon City or Manila and treats the trip as part of the event.
Search airport transfersvia Klook
Search Philippines eSIMsvia KKday
The luggage trick
The big malls, SM above all, run baggage counters that hold suitcases by the day for a small fee, and hotels will hold bags before check-in and after check-out as a matter of course. Travelling light between a morning expo and an evening concert, with the suitcase waiting at the mall beside the venue, is how the city does long days.