The Casa Manila museum is a replica of a Spanish colonial mansion, representing an idealized look at 19th-century life in the Philippines for its ruling merchant class. Period furniture (from the Philippines, as well as China and Europe) fills the rooms, including an office, multiple living areas, bedrooms and the elegant salon where wealthy families would traditionally play games and enjoy their snacks. There is a small entrance fee.

Set on 152 acres, the Manila American Cemetery is the largest American military cemetery outside of the U.S., with 16,859 graves marked by white crosses and stars. The simple narrow chapel—whose interior is covered in mosaic tiles and flooded by natural light through stone window slits—is flanked by arcades that list the names of army and navy soldiers still missing. There are also mosaic maps of the major Pacific battles in which the soldiers laid to rest here died and those memorialized as missing or disappeared. It is an incredibly beautiful memorial and a reminder of America’s sacrifices in the Pacific battles.

The National Museum of Fine Arts is the country’s main museum devoted to 19th century Filipino master painters, as well as 20th century artists, sculptors and printmakers. The landmark Beaux Arts structure has its own fascinating history: it was originally built in the 1910s to be the national library, but midway through construction changed course to become the national legislature, only to be occupied by Japanese forces during World War II and then heavily bombed by American forces in 1947 and rebuilt in 1949 to be used as government offices for decades.