In the Philippines nearly everything is island hopping, and the real question is rarely what you do but how early you leave. The boats go out in a convoy, so the one that leaves an hour earlier gets the lagoon to itself for a while. El Nido also works with letters: there are four fixed tours, A to D, and the difference between operators is the boat and the crew, not where you go. Everywhere else, every operator puts together a route of its own.
Manila
Two ways through the same part of the city, at two different speeds. The three hour half day tour covers Intramuros, Binondo and the old centre, with transport in between. The two hour bamboo bike tour stays inside the walls, which happens to be exactly how we like to see Intramuros ourselves. For most backpackers Manila is one night before a dawn flight to the islands, so pick one. Then walk into Binondo, the oldest Chinatown in the world, on your own at lunchtime.
Manila: Intramuros, Chinatown and Old Manila half day tour
Intramuros, Manila: historical bamboo bike tour
Coron
The seven stop day trip takes in Kayangan Lake and Twin Lagoon, which is everything Coron is famous for. One thing matters more than which tour you pick, though: get on the first boat. At eight you have Kayangan almost to yourself. By eleven you are shoulder to shoulder on the platform. Big Dream Boatman is something else entirely: not a day trip but the crossing to El Nido, four days and three nights on remote islands the regular ferry sails straight past. The wreck diving, ten Japanese ships sunk here in 1944 and still at diveable depth, you arrange with a dive shop in town. Still torn between Coron and El Nido? Coron has the lakes, the wrecks and lower prices, El Nido has the lagoons and the big beaches, and most people who do both refuse to pick.
Four days and three nights between Coron and El Nido: snorkelling over coral, sleeping on the beach, a chef on board. Why we recommend it and what it costs.
Coron: ultimate tour of 7 destinations with lunch and transfers
El Nido
Two of the four fixed routes, both good and not the same. Tour A is the famous one: Big Lagoon, Small Lagoon, Secret Lagoon and Shimizu Island. If you only do one tour, do this one, and book a day ahead because it fills up. Tour C goes to Helicopter Island, Matinloc Shrine and Hidden Beach, and it has the better snorkelling. Got two days? A and C together is the combination where you see the least twice. Want the Big Lagoon at your own pace? Hire a kayak and paddle in yourself: the Big Lagoon is kayak and foot access only now, so the boats stop at the entrance. Palawan Divers is your pick for under the water, Big Dream Boatman for the journey to Coron.
The Palawan you never see from an island-hopping boat. Why we recommend Palawan Divers, and our reader discount with the code REBELSONTHEROAD.
Four days and three nights between Coron and El Nido: snorkelling over coral, sleeping on the beach, a chef on board. Why we recommend it and what it costs.
El Nido: island hopping Tour A, lagoons and beaches
El Nido: island hopping Tour C, hidden beaches and shrine
Siargao
One trip of eight hours, and that is the Tri-Island: Naked Island is a sandbar without a single tree on it, Daku has palms and a village, and Guyam is a small green dot in the sea. That is your day on the water. The rest of Siargao belongs on a scooter, and honestly that is the best part of the island: the Coconut Road north, Magpupungko at low tide, Sugba Lagoon. Here to surf? Cloud 9 breaks over shallow reef and is not the wave for your first time, so learn at one of the sandy bottomed beginner breaks nearby and watch Cloud 9 from the tower.
Siargao: Tri-Island tour with drone and mermaid tail
Siquijor
One six hour loop past Cambugahay Falls with its rope swings, the four hundred year old balete tree where small fish clean your feet, and Salagdoong with its diving platforms. That is exactly the ring road, and you can ride it yourself too: Siquijor is small, the road goes all the way round, and you cannot get lost. Take the tour if you would rather not ride a scooter, or if you want somebody else to know where the turn offs are.
Siquijor: the best of Siquijor Island tour
Port Barton
One trip of seven hours over the coral gardens and the sandbars, and the odds of not seeing a sea turtle are small. The water is shallow and clear, which makes this a good place if snorkelling is still new to you. Beyond that, Port Barton is the village people come to in order to do nothing at all, and the evening ends at a campfire on the beach by default. So this is usually the only day you actually plan here.
Port Barton: island hopping to Turtle Spot and the reef with lunch
Puerto Princesa
The Underground River is why most people stop here: over eight kilometres of river inside a limestone mountain, of which you go a kilometre and a half by boat in the dark, under the bats. It runs on a permit system and the crossing is cancelled when the swell is up, so arrange it before anything else and put it early in your stay. Honda Bay is the island hopping, past Luli, Cowrie and Starfish. The four hour firefly cruise is an evening thing, so it fits neatly after a day trip. And about the whale sharks: these are wild animals off the coast, not fed ones like in Oslob on Cebu. That difference is big enough to spell out, and our Moalboal page explains why.
From Puerto Princesa: Underground River full day trip
Puerto Princesa: Honda Bay island hopping with optional massage
Puerto Princesa: swim with whale sharks on a boat cruise
Puerto Princesa: firefly watching bay cruise with dinner
Moalboal
First the most important part, and it costs nothing: you do not book the Sardine Run. You walk into the water at Panagsama Beach, swim about five metres, and you are floating over a wall of millions of sardines. Further along, turtles graze on the seagrass. All you need for that is a snorkel. What you do book is the canyoneering at Kawasan: jumping, sliding and swimming down a gorge of turquoise water, with jumps up to about ten metres, every one of them optional. The tour takes six hours, about three of them in the canyon itself. Do not underestimate it: it is harder than it sounds. The ten hour trip to Oslob is on the list too, with one thing to know first: the whale sharks there are fed from boats to keep them in the bay. That is not a wild encounter, and our destination page says so as well. If wild is what you want, Puerto Princesa has them.
Cebu, Moalboal: Kawasan canyoneering adventure with lunch
Cebu: Oslob whale sharks, Tumalog Falls and sardine snorkelling in Moalboal
Bohol
Three day trips that barely overlap: the Chocolate Hills with the tarsiers is the land, the island hopping with dolphins and turtles is the water, and the waterfall hopping is the jungle. With three days they fit side by side. With one, take the Chocolate Hills. Watch one thing with the tarsiers, and ask about it before you book: go to a sanctuary where the animals live loose in the forest, like the one at Corella, and never to a place where they are tied to a branch for photos. These animals can die of stress.
Dive around Panglao from Alona Beach: Seaquest Dive Center on Bohol, with our reader discount on your PADI course.
Bohol: island hopping with dolphin watching and a sea turtle swim
Bohol: premium Chocolate Hills, tarsiers and river experience
Bohol: waterfall hopping and secret jungle trails with a guide
Malapascua
No day trips here, just a dive school, and that fits exactly why you came. At four in the morning the boat leaves for Monad Shoal, where thresher sharks rise to the cleaning stations at first light almost every morning. It is one of very few places on earth where that happens this reliably, and that is not a marketing line: it is the reason divers travel here specially. It is a dive and not a snorkel trip, though, to about thirty metres in the dark, so you need a certification, and Advanced is strongly recommended. Devocean Divers is our own pick, and they will train you if you are not certified yet.
Boracay
Three short things on a small island. The island hopping trip goes past Crystal Cove and Puka Shell Beach, with snorkelling on the way. The four hour cruise is the party version of that. But if you do one thing on Boracay, make it sunset on a paraw, the traditional outrigger sailing boat. That is the picture you came here for, and it takes about an hour. The helmet dive lasts twenty minutes and is a fun extra, not a day out.
