Fort Santiago

Wow! So much history. And so much walking. I chose to tour myself on foot. It was a good choice. I'm sure I didn't learn anything properly. But I had fun and I enjoyed looking at the various buildings and the gardens and trees. Everything is very beautiful and simultaneously mysterious in its history.

Great Place to visit. I went here while exploring Intramuros and the site was amazing. It really gave you a glimpse of a portion of our past with great exhibits and sites to learn more about our country's history and how the fort played into it. There are plenty of places to look around and explore with placards or signs giving you information about the site. There's also the Jose Rizal Museum inside that's well worth the visit as they showcase a good telling of his life with artefacts relevant to him.

Honestly not too much to see, cause it is mostly ruins. Though the museum is nice (very educational). I feel this place needs some more maintenance honestly, especially because it is such an important historical site. You can still sense the impact of the Spanish troops and how the world changed afterwards. So eventually I still recommend to visit here.

I've been here a number of times but this is the first that I was able to explore other areas of the Fort. We spent some time hanging out at the shops before going to the shrine. I find that the older versions of the Rizal shrine had a better layout. I find this new layout quite narrow and tight that gets crowded easily. However, maybe because the exhibit areas were quite small, I was more moved with what Rizal went through before his execution. Another harrowing experience is visiting the dungeons. This was my first time to see the dungeons and it's not something you'd want to see again. So many people died in this place.

Beautiful old fort full of history and tragedy. I recommend booking a walking tour with “Don’t Skip Manila” in order to make the most of this historic location. The coffee shop inside is also great and has an adorable cat!