MOA Ice Skating Date: How to Plan It

A MOA ice skating date works as a short, active first stop inside SM MOA, with coffee before at Bo's Coffee and dinner after at Café Adriatico or The Aristocrat. The MOA ice skating rink is an indoor rink in the mall, so the whole night stays under one roof.

Before you invite anyone

Check the rink's own page before you go. Look for four things: the session price and how long a session lasts, whether skate rental is included, the last entry time, and what to wear, such as socks. Five minutes of checking turns a first date from a risk into a plan, and nobody wants to learn at the counter that the last session has gone.

Why skating suits a first date

Skating puts two people side by side, not face to face, which is easier for a first conversation. It has a time limit built in, so nobody has to decide when the stop is over. Somebody will wobble, and that is the icebreaker.

It also sorts people quickly. Someone who laughs when they fall is good company for dinner.

The plan, stop by stop

1. Meet at Bo's Coffee. It is a branch of the local coffee chain inside SM MOA, at under ₱500 a head. Coffee only: skating straight after a meal is nobody's best hour.
2. Skate one session. One is enough. Leave while it is still fun.
3. If it is going well, dinner in the mall. Café Adriatico is a bistro serving adobo rice and palabok. The Aristocrat serves chicken barbecue and java rice, and the restaurant dates from 1936. Both cost ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head. For less, Army Navy has burgers and burritos with a Manila Bay view at under ₱500 a head.
4. If it is going very well, the rooftop. MOA Sky is a free rooftop park on the mall with viewing decks and a 1 km track. A slow lap after dinner costs nothing.

If it is not going well, the exit is after the session. You have both returned your skates, the activity has ended, and goodbye is natural.

If the night runs long

On a Friday or Saturday that is going very well, C Lounge at the Conrad is the last stop. It is a hotel bar with a bay panorama and live entertainment, open to midnight and to 1 AM on Fridays and Saturdays. It costs ₱1,500 and up a head, so make it one drink each. It is in the MOA Complex, on Seaside Blvd, so there is no ride to add.

The budget

• Coffee: under ₱500 a head.
• Rink: the ticket goes on top.
• Dinner: ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head, or under ₱500 for burgers.
• Rooftop: free.
• One drink at the Conrad: ₱1,500 and up a head.

A typical night at MOA runs about ₱700 to ₱1,500 a head, so budget ₱1,400 to ₱3,000 for two before the rink.

Rain and timing

Everything in this plan except the rooftop is indoors. Almost everything at MOA is indoors, which makes it the most rain-proof of the four areas. On a wet evening, drop step 4 and nothing else changes.

On timing, work backwards from the rink's last entry. Meet for coffee about an hour before the session, and keep dinner for after.

An active first date that is live now

The planner covers Cubao now, and the Pasay Bay Area is next; see the areas page. Cubao has its own active first stop at Paeng's Gateway Bowl, a bowling alley with 24 lanes and six billiard tables that is open until midnight, at under ₱500 a head. That night is laid out in bowling in Quezon City.

For the shape of a first date in general, read the first date guide. For the rest of the mall, see things to do in MOA.

The planner covers Cubao now. Pasay Bay Area is next, and this post is written from the same kind of checked list.