The Philippines is the hardest country on our route to make a list for, and that is down to geography. More than seven thousand islands, split into three island groups that are each a flight apart, and something worth seeing on every one of them. You are not going to see this country in one trip.
So this list is not about what is most beautiful, it is about what is most worth the journey to get there. Four of the five are under or on the water, because that is what this country is about: the coastline is thirty six thousand kilometres long and the best spots can only be reached by boat.
Reckon on about €35 a day, because the flights and ferries between the islands add up. These are the five experiences we think stay with you longest, each with the island you need to be on for it.
1. Island hopping through the lagoons of El Nido
This is the picture most travellers come to the Philippines for: limestone cliffs rising straight out of turquoise water, with lagoons behind them that you can only get into by boat or by paddling. Bacuit Bay, off the coast of El Nido, holds forty five of those islands.
It works with four set tours, A to D. Tour A takes you to the Big and Small Lagoon, Tour C to the hidden beaches and the best snorkelling. If you do two, do those two. And if you want the Big Lagoon without the crowds, hire your own kayak and paddle in at your own pace instead of arriving with the fleet.
On land it is just as good. Nacpan Beach runs for four kilometres outside town and is about forty five minutes away by scooter, ideally in the morning. Las Cabanas is where everyone sits in the sand with a beer at sunset. It is all in our El Nido highlights.
Our verdict: unmissable, and three to four days is the minimum here
Our own pick
Diving with Palawan Divers
Everybody sees El Nido from above the water. Palawan Divers takes you to the other half of Bacuit Bay, with two students per instructor. From your first breath underwater through to divemaster, in a bay most people only ever photograph.
Reader discount with the code REBELSONTHEROAD. Mention it when you book, because nobody applies it for you.
See Palawan DiversOur partner in El Nido
2. The wrecks and lakes of Coron
Four hours by boat north of El Nido lies an island with the same landscape and something extra on top: ten Japanese shipwrecks from 1944, lying on the seabed where they went down. Some of them are so shallow you can see them with just a snorkel.
Above the water, Kayangan Lake is the most famous picture in the country: a lake between steep rock walls, with water you can see twenty metres down through. Be there on the first boat and up the steps before nine, because after that it is a queue on a staircase. Twin Lagoon works the same way, with a passage under the rock wall into the second lagoon.
And then there is Mount Tapyas: 721 steps, starting at half past four in the afternoon, and at the top you look out over the whole bay as the sun goes down. It is the cheapest thing on this list and one of the best. There is more in our Coron highlights.
Our verdict: three days, and book the wrecks even if you only snorkel
Our own pick
Four days between Coron and El Nido
The expedition runs in both directions, Coron to El Nido and back again. Four days and three nights past islands with no promenade and no wifi, sleeping in a beach hut or a glamping tent, snorkelling over coral, and a chef on board who cooks three times a day.
See the expeditionOur partner on this route
3. Underwater: the sardines of Moalboal and the thresher sharks of Malapascua
The Philippines sits right in the middle of the Coral Triangle, and that is why divers spend their holidays here. Two places on Cebu stand out, and both are a few hours from Cebu City.
In Moalboal the reef starts five metres off the beach, and a shoal of millions of sardines hangs there all year round, moving past you like one dark cloud. You do not need a dive certificate: you walk into the water at Panagsama Beach with a snorkel and it comes to you. Sea turtles graze on the seagrass right next to it. Got time left over? Canyoneering down the gorge to Kawasan Falls is the best wet day in the Visayas.
Malapascua is the other extreme: an island two and a half kilometres long where you get up before five to take the boat out to Monad Shoal. At first light thresher sharks rise up from the deep to be cleaned there, and it is one of the few places in the world where you can reliably see them. The dive goes to just under thirty metres, so this one is for people with the right certification. More on the diving across the whole country is on our Philippines page.
Our verdict: the sardines are for everyone, the thresher sharks for anyone with a dive certificate
Our own pick
Diving with Devocean Divers
The thresher sharks at Monad Shoal are why you are here, and Devocean goes out to them every morning. A PADI 5 Star IDC centre on Bounty Beach, a Green Fins member, a maximum of four students per course, and instructors who have been doing that dawn dive for years.
Reader discount with the code REBELSONTHEROAD. Give it when you book, because without mentioning it you will not get it.
See Devocean DiversOur partner on Malapascua
4. Siargao: surfing, lagoons and the road north
Siargao is known as the surf island, and rightly so, but that is far from all it is. Cloud 9 is the best known break in the country and not one for your first time; if you want to learn, start at Jacking Horse, where the wave is friendlier and the teachers are patient.
For us, the best thing here is the road. Four hundred and thirty seven square kilometres of island, a scooter and the coast road north towards Pacifico and Alegria: coconut palms on both sides, hardly any traffic, and every few kilometres a beach with nobody on it.
On top of that, two things to plan ahead. Sugba Lagoon deserves a full day, with a wooden platform to jump off and water that glows green. And the Magpupungko Rock Pools only work at low tide, so check the tide before you ride out there. See our Siargao highlights.
Our verdict: four to five days, because this is the island where people change their flights
5. Inland Bohol and Siquijor by scooter
After a week on the water, this is the change of pace you need. Bohol has 1,268 hills that turn brown in the dry season and take their name from it, ten centimetre tarsiers living free in the forest at Corella, and an interior full of waterfalls and rice terraces that you can ride round in a day on a €7 scooter.
Siquijor does the same and is even cheaper: €18 a day, the cheapest stop in the country. A 102 kilometre ring road runs all the way round the island, and you ride it in a day with stops at Cambugahay Falls, the four hundred year old balete tree and Paliton Beach for sunset.
What these two have in common is that you can head out on your own without booking anything. No boat leaving at seven, no tour with a schedule: you rent a scooter and go. See our Bohol highlights and our Siquijor highlights.
Our verdict: the cheapest and most relaxed days of your whole trip
Got time to spare?
Port Barton between Puerto Princesa and El Nido. A small village on Palawan with an island trip past the turtles and the coral gardens, and in the evening a campfire on the beach with the people from that day’s boat. Bring cash, because there is no cash machine in the village.
Boracay if you like a lively scene. Walking the full length of White Beach and watching the sunset from a paraw are two things you will not get quite like this anywhere else. At €25 a day it is, together with El Nido, the most expensive stop in the country.
Stay within one island group if time is tight. Every hop between Palawan, the Visayas and Siargao is a flight, and those flights are the biggest item in your budget. Three weeks on just Palawan or just the Visayas costs about the same as three weeks in Thailand. There is more on that in what backpacking the Philippines costs.
Our top five in the Philippines
- Island hopping through the lagoons of El Nido, with Tour A and Tour C
- Kayangan Lake, the wrecks and Mount Tapyas at Coron
- The sardines of Moalboal and the thresher sharks of Malapascua
- Siargao: the coast road north, Sugba Lagoon and your first wave
- Inland Bohol and the Siquijor ring road by scooter
Can you do all five in one trip?
In three weeks, just about, and you will be on the move a lot. El Nido and Coron are both on Palawan and combine easily, and Moalboal, Malapascua and Bohol are all in the Visayas, which works too. But there is a flight between those two groups, and Siargao is another flight on from there. Count on three domestic flights if you want all five.
Our honest recommendation: pick two groups instead of three. Palawan with El Nido, Coron and Port Barton is a complete two week trip. So are the Visayas with Moalboal, Malapascua, Bohol and Siquijor, and then you only have to fly once. Save Siargao for next time, or make it your whole trip, because it is the one island on this list where people routinely stay longer than planned.
Whatever you choose: book those domestic flights as soon as your dates are fixed, and keep a spare day before your flight home. In a typhoon flights get cancelled and boats stay in, and here that is not a theoretical risk. How to string the islands together is in our Philippines itinerary.
