I Visited!
I visited and had a great time, for the most part. Typhoons kept me away from the beaches for the most part. However, I really enjoyed the mountains. I visited Bontoc, Sagada, and I flew to the Batanes Islands at the northern reaches of the island nation. Thank you to everyone who provided me with Phillipines information. It was so helpful!
Original Request:
I’ve never visited the Philippines before. I’ve eaten some Filipino food, but really don’t know much about the country or culture. This is your chance to educate me a little. :-)
Here’s what I want to do. If you or anyone you know has advice, please comment below or email me. And, if you live in the Philippines, I’d love to meet up for a coffee or lunch, if you have time. (I normally use the Couchsurfing.org website for this.)
Please add your advice in the Comment section at the bottom. Thanks a million!
When?
I’ll be in the Philippines from mid-October through mid-November.
Budget
I’ll spend money on a few big things, like SCUBA. However, I typically travel on the cheaper end. I always stay private hotel / guesthouse rooms (no dorms, please). Since I only sleep in a hotel, I don’t like spending a lot of money on accommodation. (I’m up before sunrise and out past dark for food and photography.) I do not plan on staying at a resort. I usually try to use the couchsurfing.org website to find hosts– I really enjoy cultural exchange.
SCUBA
I’m PADI certified Advanced Open Water, and want to swim with whale sharks!!!! I also love coral and all other underwater animals. I hear that the Philippines is amazing, so I’m super excited for this.
Off the Beaten Path
Where should I go? What should I make sure to see? Tell me everything you know! :-)
This is where I do most of my travel photography. I love getting into people’s homes, eating homemade food, and learning about anything to do with food and culture. For a general idea of what I did on my most recent trip, 5 weeks in Myanmar, check out my blog posts on fish or on roaming a village with tattooed faced women.
I also enjoy most outdoor activities– hiking, flying, underground. Are there caves?
(I’ve been told that Palawan and El Nido are great. And, Lonely Planet says that Puerto Galera is beautiful, plus has world-class SCUBA.)
Beaches
I can’t sit on the beach (yeah– my doctor doesn’t want me getting skin cancer), but I still like visiting pretty places. Tell me your favorite beach, and maybe I’ll even post a selfie of me on it.
What Should I Take?
It will be hot. Generally I end up buying some local clothes, so I blend in a bit and better tolerate the weather. I typically travel carryon only or check a backpack, if needed. (Everything needs to fit on a motorbike, since I often rent one for at least a few days.)
Research
This video by Just One Way Ticket is fun to watch.
Thank You!!!
Please let me know your Philippines information + advice in the comments area below, or message me on the Contact page.
Read about Mongolia: In the search tool above, enter ‘Mongolia’, + find all my Mongolia content. Or, you can do the same for Myanmar, Peru, photography, + more. The main Mongolia page is here.
Lonely Planet got one thing absolutely right: Palawan would be the best place to fulfill those that you’ve listed above!
El Nido – it’s like paradise. The limestone cliffs, the white sands and fine beaches of the islands and the lagoons are to die for. When i was there I took the touristy option where we have to finish each itinerary bound by time and we have to be back BEFORE the sun sets. You don’t really have time control and I am sensing you want to have to stay at one of the islands when you do your photography because the sunsets are so gorgeous there.
Coron – still in Palawan and like El Nido offers the similar attraction BUT more laid back. Too, you’d have to be bound by the time stated in the itinerary.
Both places have great diving sites! You’d definitely wanna try that. Now if you want to do the “off-the-beaten-path” style, then you would have to make special arrangements with both the tourist guides and the boat owners and of a different price point too :) Don’t worry i don’t think it’ll burn your pocket.
Now if you want a totally unique adventure then I recommend that you read this website: taophilippines.com. They offer a unique island experience – a boat ride from El Nido to Coron. I was told that the boat ride would take days because they want you to experience what it’s like to live and see and feel and smell the off-the-beaten path islands. You’d not be sleeping hotels or homestay but you’d be sleeping on the shores of whatever island you’d stop by when the night comes. Its a unique experience and i was told it’s great. You’d also get to meet the locals at a more intimate fashion than just say, staying in El Nido or Coron.
Now, Mid-October to mid-November may be good time… now the word is “may” because you may still experience occassional rains and thunderstorm but not as powerful and threatening as the months before so you’d generally have a great experience weather-wise.
There is still another island I have in mind and in case you want me to tell you about it let me know.
Thanks for all this information, Pipodj! Yes, please let me know about this other island you mention at the end. :-)
The other island would be Cebu. It’s got a metropolis but when you either south or north of the metropolis, there you get the experience of an island life. Parts of it are urbanized of course and you’d find them to you convenience. I have not experience the North Cebu yet but with your stay in our country for that long, I recommend you tour the entire island to your heart’s content. People there are generally very nice (with the exception of the metropolis folks haha) South Cebu tour will give you waterfalls, canyons, whale sharks, coral reefs sardines oh and you get to climb the highest peak of the island. North Cebu would be endless experience for white sand beaches, more islands etc. You can book a decent hotel or homestay in Cebu.Again the activities in Cebu would be tourist-y in stye. If you want to have your own time, you have to make special arrangements. Now you can haggle the prices of course. When I went there i paid for a packaged tour so i don’t really know if solo traveler style would cost the same or less. I still have contact numbers of the people who took care of us when we were in South Cebu and in case you’re interested i can give them to you.
There’s another island and it’s called Bohol. This one is as you’d expect with another tropical island, beaches, and mountains but you’d get to see the famous Chocolate Hills (look it up in google you’d be surprise) and the beaches are gorgeous. You also have the chance to go dolphin watching in the mornings and saviour the sunsets to your heart’s content. Bohol and Cebu are adjacent islands and you can reach the other island in a 2-3 hour boat ride. There is so much to do in those islands i can’t enumerate them all haha. let me know if you’ve made up your mind on what island you want to visit or what places you want to go.
Ok! I’ll let you know when I decide where exactly to go (probably the day before I arrive there, since I am a terrible planner). Thank you so much for all these details!! I really appreciate it! :)
Hi Jess, we spent a month last December in the Phillipines and we loved it (except Manila we were not too impressed). People in the Phillipines are awesome! You will love it. We feel really welcomed everywhere we went!
We went from Manila to Puerto Galera by bus/boat then stayed in Sabang. If you are keen to go scuba diving go to Sabang- lots of places to dive (Sabang in Mindoro Island). The only issue with Sabang can be the girls bar at night time but it wasn’t as bad as we expected it and we managed to avoid those places during our stay. We also went to white beach, boracay, iliilo, el nido, port barton, puerto princessa, sabang in palawan and donsol. Do not hesitate to ask us if you have any questions about those places.
Regarding the whale shark please do not go to Cebu! Yes it can be very attractive to have a close up selfie with a whale shark but the whale sharks in Cebu are kept close to the shore (nets) and the people feed them. This means that they don’t migrate anymore and there is a big impact on the environment because of it. We decided to ‘boycott’ Cebu whale sharks encounter and choose to go to Donsol instead! It was the best decision ever! In Donsol, only a certain amount of tourist can go everyday and you are there is no guarantee that you will see whale sharks! You get to see them in there NATURAL ENVIRONMENT , we did not feed them, we just looked for them. You get to go for few hours and look, when you get to see one, the boat speeds up and you have to put your snorkelling gears on and jump in the water! The boats are safe for the whale sharks as they have a ‘box’ around the propellers.
Jess, you cannot imagine our joy and the adrenaline that we got during this excursion! Swimming with 2 whale sharks was magical, yes we did not end up with a close selfie as we were in the moment (plus the whale shark were swimming fast) but it was an awesome experience! We did not do it but you can do scuba diving there too!
We recently wrote a post about port barton in Palawan and explained why you should visit this magical place. If you like untouched place you should go there before it gets to developed!
We hope this helps :) Keep up the great work and let us know if you ended up go to the places that we mentioned!
Do not hesitate to contact us or leave a comment on our blog.
Patrick and Cecile from http://www.travel4lifeblog.com
Oh, my gosh! This sounds amazing!!! Thank you so much! I’ll send you my questions as soon as I’ve done a bit more research. Right now I’m wondering about what SIM card I should buy there.
I’ll look on your blog, too!!!
Thanks so much again!
HI! Justina sent me here. I visited PI in the 1990s so my personal experience might be outdated for your visit, but friends recommend Palawan for SCUBA. After a few days in the Manila area, I flew/boated to Boracay which was a sleepy island at the time, now chock full of all-inclusive resorts! The LP guides are usually accurate and I used them for my travels.
I went with a friend, stayed at her relatives’ houses. People LOVE karaoke and are pretty good singers. To get your attention they say “shh shh” so listen for that. And they point with their lips because it’s just too hot and humid to lift an arm and point with a finger that the bus stop is to the left. LOL
If you stay with people or visit them, take a little gift, can be a small bag of candy or cookies from your hometown. Pasalubong they call it. We bought American candy at duty free at the airport and and passed them out everywhere we stayed. People are super friendly, all speak English.
Food is pretty tasty, some items you might try: balut (partially developed duck or chicken egg), lumpia (fried spring roll), sinigang (sour broth meat stew), longanisa (sausage), adobo (yummy braised meat), garlic rice, halo halo (fruit and jelly dessert), and all the awesome tropical fruits! YUM!
I will ask for more info from friends who’ve been more recently and let you know. Have lots of fun!
Thanks so much!! Wow, the food sounds really interesting. And, thanks for all the other info. So helpful!!