Getting Around Makati
Makati is the Philippines' leading center for finance, commerce, business, and diplomacy, and its daytime population swells enormously as workers pour into the central business district. For a visitor, that means a compact, dense, and generally well-connected city — but one where the choice of transport mode matters a great deal. The good news is that most of the options you'll need are clustered around the same few corridors: EDSA, Ayala Avenue, and Gil Puyat Avenue (still commonly called Buendia).
Rail: MRT Line 3
The backbone of any visitor's transport plan is MRT-3, an elevated train that runs along EDSA and is a quick and inexpensive way to get into and across the city. Within Makati it stops at Guadalupe, Buendia, Ayala, and Magallanes. Tickets are cheap, and the system is best thought of as a fast trunk line rather than a door-to-door service.
- Ayala Station is the most useful stop for visitors: it puts you in the middle of the Ayala Center, a complex of shopping malls and restaurants. The station is linked by overhead walkways to One Ayala, the BGC Bus Ayala terminal, and SM Makati, and there are food kiosks before the turnstiles.
- Buendia Station, at EDSA corner Gil Puyat Avenue, connects with the Buendia stop on the EDSA Carousel and with jeepneys heading for the CBD from a terminal outside the Bel-Air gated community. There are escalators and stairs, and a nearby Shell station with a Jollibee and Mercury Drug serves as a handy landmark.
- Guadalupe Station connects with the Guadalupe stop of the EDSA Carousel, located under the MRT bridge just north of the station. Jeepneys to Poblacion leave from nearby terminals at Guadalupe Market (known locally as "Guadalupe ABC") and on Bernardino Street.
Buses and the EDSA Carousel
Frequent city buses from around Metro Manila, as well as from suburban Laguna, serve Makati. Most ply either EDSA or Gil Puyat; buses terminating in Makati usually loop through Gil Puyat and Ayala Avenue via the CBD. The BRT service known as the EDSA Carousel runs from Parañaque to Caloocan and uses median bus stops that connect to the MRT — a useful way to combine bus and rail on one trip.
The main bus hub is One Ayala, a three-story city bus station at EDSA corner Ayala Avenue. It serves as a connecting hub for several city bus lines terminating in the CBD, with a direct connection to the EDSA Carousel southbound and to the MRT. To reach the EDSA Carousel northbound or the BGC Bus, you cross through MRT Ayala station.
Metro Manila's Premium Point-to-Point (P2P) bus network also largely terminates in Makati, with common termini at Greenbelt, Glorietta, The Circuit, and Trasierra. Operators and their routes include:
- RRCG Transport: Alabang Town Center–Greenbelt 1, Ayala Malls South Park–Greenbelt 5, Robinsons Cainta–Trasierra, SM Cherry Antipolo–Greenbelt 5, SM City Masinag–Greenbelt 5
- DNS Transport (Delta Neosolutions): Eastwood City–Makati CBD, Sucat Exit–Greenbelt 5, UP Town Center–Glorietta 3
- San Agustin: Noveleta–Trasierra, SM Southmall–Circuit Lane
- HM Transport: Robinsons Galleria–Glorietta 3
- MetroExpress Connect: Camella Homes Dasmariñas–San Lorenzo Place, Robinsons Place Dasmariñas–Trasierra, Vista Mall Daang Hari–Trasierra, Vista Mall Daang Hari–San Lorenzo Place
Jeepneys
Jeepneys — both traditional and modern — prowl Makati's inner-city roads outside Ayala Center, notably Chino Roces Avenue, Kalayaan Avenue, and J.P. Rizal Avenue. Even before modern jeepneys arrived, Makati had traditional-styled air-conditioned jeepneys, mostly plying Gil Puyat Avenue. Rides within the city are very cheap, usually not exceeding ₱5, making them a good option for short hops that the rail line doesn't cover.
Taxis and Ride-Hailing
Taxis are abundant, especially around the malls, and are a straightforward way to cover ground when you don't want to navigate transfers. Fares are metered: the flat rate is ₱40, and a ride across town runs roughly ₱100–150. Taxis also come from across the metro, including the airport — expect around ₱200–300 from Ninoy Aquino International Airport, or ₱200–250 from Ermita.
Walking
The Central Business District is genuinely walkable. You can get around by way of the sidewalks or the pedestrian underpasses, and some areas of the CBD are connected by overpasses that let pedestrians walk above the streets. This is often the fastest way to move between offices, malls, and the MRT stations in the Ayala Center area. Outside the CBD, walking is less pleasant and less practical.
Ferry
The Pasig River Ferry stops at one station in Makati: Guadalupe, near Guadalupe Bridge. It's in a convenient spot for tourists, though the service is far less convenient than simply hailing a taxi. It's worth keeping in mind as an alternative way into Makati from other riverside districts such as Manila's Intramuros.
Driving
Driving in Makati is inadvisable. The city has some of the strictest traffic rules in Metro Manila, and traffic marshals actively enforce them. The metro-wide road space rationing scheme ("number coding" or "color coding") is active all day here, unlike in neighboring cities where it applies only during rush hour. Traffic jams are a headache, one-way streets are common, and left turns are less common than rights. Parking fees are steep, especially in the CBD, and enforcement is draconian, with clamping or towing for violations.
Getting In from the Airport
Ninoy Aquino International Airport sits just outside Makati, and taxis from the airport are the simplest option, typically costing around ₱200–300 for the trip. If you'd rather use public transport, the MRT-3 along EDSA is a quick and inexpensive way into the city, and the EDSA Carousel bus connects to the same corridor. Once you're in the Ayala Center area, the overhead walkways link the MRT station directly to the malls and to One Ayala, where you can pick up onward buses.
Practical Tips
- Anchor your plans on the EDSA corridor: MRT-3 and the EDSA Carousel share stops, so you can switch between rail and bus without straying far.
- Use Ayala Station as your default entry point to the CBD — it drops you into the middle of the malls and connects to onward transport.
- Keep small bills and coins handy for jeepney fares, which are very cheap.
- For short trips within the CBD, walk; for cross-town trips, take a taxi or the train rather than driving.
- If you're arriving from a riverside district like Intramuros, the Guadalupe ferry stop is a scenic but limited alternative to road transport.