8 Best Tourist Spots in Marikina for First Time Visitors

Marikina is a highly urbanized city situated along the eastern border of Metro Manila, Philippines. Famous for its shoe industry, as the Shoe Capital of the Philippines, it produces almost 70% of the shoes manufactured in the country. It is not just a wealthiest city in Philippines, but it also offers a few important places that have a strong influence on the Filipino culture. If you have already booked a flight to Manila, take a look at what you should definitely visit in Marikina. Here are the best tourist spots in Marikina that you must visit:

1)- Cityhood Park

Located in the heart of Marikina city, its signature landmark, Cityhood Park is an open public park with a beautiful fountain at its center.

2)- World’s Largest Pair of Shoes

Check out the largest pair of shoes in the word, as certified by the Guinness Book of World Records, at the Shoe Gallery section of Riverbanks Mall where they’re displayed. The genuine leather shoes at the Shoe Gallery became a popular tourist spot in Marikina.

3)- Riverbanks Center

You must check out the rest of Riverbanks Center too. The commercial complex also offer shopping malls, Philippine’s biggest outdoor cinema theater, food courts, restaurants and other recreational stores.

4)- Marikina Sports Center

Known previously as the Rodriguez Sports Center, Marikina Sports Center is a major sports complex which hosted some of major athletic competitions, and other big private and public events including huge music concerts, TV show finales and live casts. It has the biggest roller skating ring in the Philippines.

5)- Our lady of the Abandoned Church

One of the oldest churches as well as buildings in Marikina, with a history dating back to 16th and 17th centuries when Jesuits and Augustinians were fighting over its control, and housing the shrine of one of Virgin Mary’s avatars is the Our Lady of the Abandoned Parish Chruch. It hosts the Longest Holy Week Processions in Metro Manila and the third largest parade in the Philippines.

6)- Marikina Shoe Museum

It’s not called the Shoe Capital for nothing. As one of the most popular tourist spots in Marikina, the Shoe Museum showcases the shoes of various celebrities including a pair from every Philippine President which are arranged in chronological order. Before its conversion to a shoe museum in 2001, it was initially a rice mill owned by powerful clan members and later served as an American prison for captured Filipino soldiers during the Philippine-American War. The building of Marikina Shoe Museum is a historic monument in and of itself. Witness the poetry in turning a symbol of American atrocities into a shoe museum.

7)- Marikina River Park

Marikina River Park is a set of trails, parks, open spaces and recreational facilities along the Marikina River, the cleanest water body in the Philippines. The 11-km long park offers various fun outdoor activities including jogging, marathons, biking, camping, relaxing on park benches and walking. The park was established in 1993 to tackle flooding problem.

8)- Kapitan Moy Building

Sentrong Pangkultura ng Marikina is also known as the Kapitan Moy Building because it was once owned by the father of shoe industry in the Philippines. This 200-year-old building was declared a national shrine by the National Historical Commission of Philippines. As one of the best tourist spots in Marikina, it is now a doll museum with dioramas featuring the most influential historical events of Marikina.