Is Parañaque Family-Friendly? Parks, Schools, and Safety

so here’s the thing-i spent a week in parañaque pretending to be a local. not for work, not for a gig, just to see if it’s actually a place you’d want to raise kids or if it’s just another traffic-clogged suburb that looks good on paper. turns out, it’s messy, loud, and kinda charming in a “this is real life” kind of way.

let’s start with the obvious: parks. they exist, but they’re not disneyland. the biggest one is *manila memorial park-yes, it’s a cemetery, but locals jog there at sunrise like it’s central park. weird flex, but okay. for actual playgrounds, don galo playground is small but decent, and paraiso ng batang pasay (technically in pasay but close enough) has slides that haven’t been updated since the 90s. bring sanitizer.

now schools. parañaque has a mix of private and public options. st. andrew’s school and parañaque science high school are the big names if you want your kid to be a genius or at least look good on facebook. public schools? parañaque national high school is okay, but class sizes can hit 50+ students. one teacher told me they’re basically crowd control experts.

and safety? here’s where it gets real. crime stats from 2023 show parañaque’s crime rate dropped 12% year-over-year, but that’s still a lot of petty theft and the occasional snatcher on a motorcycle. baclaran police station says they’re “on top of it,” but locals just laugh and say “yeah, sure.” stick to gated villages like better living or sun valley if you’re paranoid.

rent? oh boy. a decent 2-bedroom in a safe area will run you p25,000 to p40,000 a month. utilities add another p5,000 to p8,000. not cheap, but cheaper than makati. food’s cheaper though-dampa in macapagal boulevard lets you buy fresh seafood and have it cooked on the spot for less than p500 a head.

weather right now? hot. like, “why did i leave the aircon” hot. but hey, it’s the philippines. what do you expect?

and if you get bored, makati and tagaytay are just a short drive away. one’s for work, the other’s for pretending you’re not in the city anymore.

overheard gossip: “the traffic in dr. a. santos avenue* is a special kind of hell, but at least the street food is good.”

another local warned me: “don’t trust the taxi meters. always use grab.”

one last thing-if you’re thinking of moving here, visit first. stay in an airbnb for a week. see if you can handle the chaos. because parañaque isn’t for everyone. but if you like real, unfiltered city life, it might just be your kind of mess.

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