Quezon City/Cubao

Cubao is the commercial heart of Quezon City, at the intersection of EDSA and Aurora Boulevard. While long overshadowed by North EDSA with its large malls, the districts's status as the traditional shopping center of Quezon City refuses to die; the Araneta family, who owns Araneta City, has begun a redevelopment project for the area to return it to its former glory.

Understand


While the Triangle and Scout Area is the government, entertainment and nightlife hub, Cubao is the grand old commercial heart of Quezon City, with Araneta City, formerly Araneta Center, at its core. This district only developed in the late 1950s, when the Araneta family bought a piece of rural land once owned by RCA and built its first buildings. Cubao started to blossom with the construction of the Araneta Coliseum, which further become famous for the "Thrilla in Manila" boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in 1975. The first shopping mall to open is Ali Mall, named after Muhammad Ali; other buildings followed, like SM Cubao, New Frontier Theatre (Kia Theatre from 2015 until 2018), Fiesta Carnival (formerly a Shopwise supermarket), and Farmers Plaza. The popularity of Cubao slowly declined as larger shopping malls and commercial developments begin to appear outside the area.

Cubao is not limited to Araneta Center, administered as part of barangay Socorro; the district extends into barangays Immaculate Conception, Kaunlaran, San Martin de Porres (Arayat), San Roque, and Silangan, all part of the former barangay until it was divided into smaller barangays. Local addresses continue to utilize Cubao as the barangay.

By public transit
Cubao lies at the intersection of LRT Line 2 (LRT-2) and MRT Line 3 (MRT-3) and is reachable from both of them. The stations of both lines are named Araneta Center-Cubao, though these do not have any physical connection and transferring between the lines would involve walking on local streets. LRT-2 runs above Aurora Avenue west from Manila into Santolan in Pasig. MRT-3 is built at the middle of EDSA and runs from Taft Avenue in Pasay to North Avenue within Quezon City.

By city bus
Cubao is served by three bus routes as of August 2022, which is EDSA Carousel, 3 Antipolo–Quiapo, 51 VGC-Cubao via Mindanao Avenue and 53 Cubao-Pacita. Route 51 and 53 buses terminate at Araneta Center, EDSA Carousel buses stop near P. Tuazon Boulevard, and route 3 buses stop along Aurora Boulevard

By provincial bus


Despite having a centralized bus station, many companies have established their own terminals elsewhere near Araneta Center; most around EDSA. This is going to change however, and those will be closed pending a court order.

For services from South Luzon and interisland trips, there are:

From the north, there are:

For trips roughly within or 2 hours long, there are often no frills, but there will be vendors entering the bus at certain points and selling food and drinks at inflated prices. Longer trips will tend to have meals included on the fare, tickets must be purchased at a counter at the terminal, and on overnight trips and interisland services, there will be complimentary blankets and a ferry and port surcharge, respectively.

By airport bus
From Ninoy Aquino International Airport, you can take the Cubao route of UBE Express to Araneta City Busport, per head. Travel time can over 30 minutes to 1 hour depending on traffic on EDSA.

By jeepney
There are jeepneys to Cubao and from Manila and Antipolo, but as with buses, is hardly suggested due to the traffic. If traveling from the east, beware of "patok" jeepneys, which play fast and loud music and are driven erratically (often when requested by adventurous youth), but you'll hardly find them since police have cracked down on those.

Buy
While it lost its status as the major shopping center in Quezon City over other larger malls built elsewhere, Cubao still retains its malls, supermarkets, and public market, while already dated, still gives the impression of the district's former glory.



Coffee
The area has Starbucks branches at Ali Mall and Araneta Coliseum, a Seattle's Best outside Shopwise, and a Tim Hortons at the New Frontier Theatre.


 * Bengal Brew
 * The Northern Coffee Experience

Splurge


As of 2018, only Novotel is the splurge hotel around Cubao; the second splurge hotel to open is the 24-storey Ibis Styles Hotel, the first hotel in the Philippines under the Ibis brand; construction begun in 2016.

Connect
Gateway has a limited free Wi-Fi service for Globe and Smart subscribers, although it is generally unreliable. The Farmer's Plaza also has some internet cafes.