Philippines · National Capital Region · Manila
Ermita, Manila — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Ermita is Manila's museum quarter, holding the Rizal Monument and the national collections of fine arts, natural history and anthropology.
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Where to stay in Ermita
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Museums fix the geography here. A room in Ermita leaves the National Museum of Fine Arts, the National Museum of Anthropology and the Rizal Monument inside a walk, which is why visitors who came to Manila for the collections tend to sleep in this district rather than outside it. Manila Ocean Park is close too.
Families weighing the choice will find that one and a half square kilometres carry the museums and the ocean park together.
Few places to stay in Ermita — most visitors book in Manila nearby.
About Ermita
What are the main landmarks in Ermita?
Three national museums stand here. The National Museum of Fine Arts, the National Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of Anthropology occupy one district between them, while the Rizal Monument and the Apolinario Mabini Monument add two commemorations to the same short round of streets. Manila Ocean Park draws a different crowd.
Beyond those, the Cathedral of Praise, the Casino Español de Manila and the University of the Philippines Museum of a History of Ideas complete a list of nine names on one and a half square kilometres.
What is the history of Ermita?
Institutions did the recording here. Ermita carries no founding date in the register, so its past is read from what it accumulated: the National Museum of Fine Arts, the National Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of Anthropology, joined by the University of the Philippines Museum of a History of Ideas. Two men are commemorated.
The Rizal Monument and the Apolinario Mabini Monument carry the names this district chose to keep, while the Casino Español de Manila and the Cathedral of Praise stand for two other kinds of institution altogether.
Where is Ermita?
Ermita takes up about one and a half square kilometres of Manila, ground enough to line up three national museums, the Rizal Monument and Manila Ocean Park.
Common questions
What is the best area to stay in Ermita?
Manila: rooms taken outside the museum district when Ermita itself is full.
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Updated September 2026