Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Mail
EXCHANGE RATES
At the time of writing the
exchange rate
was around P45 to US$1, P75 to £1 and
P61 to the €1. Rates have remained
relatively stable over the last ten years.
Airmail
letters
from the Philippines (
W
philpost.gov
.ph) take at least five days to reach other countries,
though in many cases it's a lot longer. International
postcards cost P13 while letters up to 20 grams cost
P24-45 depending on the destination. Ordinary
domestic mail costs P9-12 for letters up to 20
grams.
Post o
ces
are open from 9am to 5pm,
Monday to Friday.
If you have to post anything valuable, use registered
mail or pay extra for a
courier
. DHL (
W
dhl.com.ph),
Fedex (
W
fedex.com/ph) and the locally based LBC
(
W
lbcexpress.com) and 2Go (
W
2go.com.ph) have
o
ces throughout the country (listed on their
websites), and can deliver stuff internationally.
Sending documents overseas this way will cost from
around P1325-1500 (to the US and Australia) to P2400
(to the UK) and takes two to three working days.
Money
The Philippine currency is the
peso
. One peso is
divided into 100 centavos, with notes in denomina-
tions of P20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000. Coins come
in values of 25 centavos, P1, P5 and P10.
It's best to arrive with some local currency,
though you can easily withdraw cash at
ATMs
.
These are found in cities and tourist destinations
all over the country, but not in less visited areas
such as the interior of Mindanao, the northern
mountains, parts of Palawan (outside Puerto
Princesa and Coron Town), and in remote areas of
the Visayas. It's best to use ATMs at major banks, and
preferably in big cities, because these machines
tend to be more reliable than provincial ones,
which are often “o
ine” - because there's no cash
in them, the computer has crashed or a power cut
has affected their operation.
Credit cards
are
accepted by most hotels and restaurants in cities
and tourist areas, though the smaller hotels may
levy a surcharge if you pay by card.
Banks
are normally open from 9am to 3pm,
Monday to Friday, and all major branches have ATMs
and currency exchange. The best-established local
banks include BPI (Bank of the Philippine Islands),
DBP (Development Bank of the Philippines), Metro-
bank and BDO (aka Banco de Oro); Citibank and
HSBC also have branches in major cities. Most banks
only change US dollars, and though many hotels will
change other currencies, they offer poor rates. It's
easy to change dollars in Manila, where there are
dozens of small
money changers' kiosks
in Malate
and P. Burgos Street, Makati, offering better rates
than the banks; ask around at a few places and
compare. In rural areas there are few moneychangers
and banks don't always change money, so if you're
heading off the beaten track, be sure to take enough
pesos to last the trip.
Maps
If you want to seek out Philippines maps at home,
you'll probably only find street maps of Manila and
Cebu City, in addition to country maps.
Nelles Verlag
(
W
nelles-verlag.de) publishes two good maps - a
country map with a scale of 1:1,500,000 and a Manila
city map. They are sometimes available in Manila
bookshops, but can be hard to track down. The
1:1,750,000
Hema
map (
W
hemamaps.com.au) of the
Philippines is another to look out for before you arrive.
Road maps and country maps can be bought
at branches of the National Book Store in all major
cities and towns, although supply is unreliable. Many
bookshops sell the
Accu-map
range of atlases
(
W
www.accu-map.com), A-Z-like pocketbooks that
cover the whole of Metro Manila and detailed maps
of Baguio, Subic Bay, Cavite, Angeles City, Puerto
Galera, Boracay and other destinations. United Tourist
Promotions publishes a range of decent maps called
EZ Maps
(
W
ezmaps.ph), covering Manila and the
country's regions, with each sheet featuring a combi-
nation of area and town maps.
The best map offered by the
Philippine Depart-
ment of Tourism (DoT)
locally is the free Tourist
Map of the Philippines, which includes a street
map of Manila, contact numbers for all overseas
and domestic DoT of
ces and listings of hotels,
embassies and bus companies.
For a more varied selection of area maps and sea
charts of the Philippines, try the
National Mapping
and Resources Information Authority
(
T
02 810
5466,
W
namria.gov.ph) in Lawton Avenue, Fort
Bonifacio, ten minutes by taxi from Makati.
Opening hours and public
holidays
Most
government o
ces
are open Monday to
Friday from 8.30am to 5.30pm, but some close
for an hour-long lunch break, usually starting at
noon, so it's best to avoid the middle of the day.
