The Philippines is one of the most beautiful, raw and welcoming countries I have ever been to. When planning a trip, especially if you are only going for 2 weeks like we did (there are more than 7000 islands!), it can get a bit confusing deciding which islands to visit. Here is the perfect Philippines travel itinerary for island hopping, best hotels, places to snorkel & of course lots of pictures!

But first, lets start with some basic information that everyone always asks me:

• Security: there are parts of Philippines that are NOT safe to travel to, especially the south that’s under martial law at the moment. Before traveling anywhere, I always check the recommendations from the government, that have up to date information on vaccinations, epidemics, terrorism & basic security. This said, the main touristic islands and all the north of Philippines are ABSOLUTELY SAFE to travel to.

• How to travel between islands: everywhere I looked when planning our trip said that flights take long and are expensive. In my opinion this is NOT true, but I guess it depends on what you consider expensive. We moved between islands every 3-4 days, bought the tickets 7 days in advance, and never paid more than 100€ per ticket (always book your flights through Skyscanner!). Flights are between 1-3hours long, and always on time (once our flight departed 40minutes BEFORE scheduled, luckyly we arrived at the airport with plenty of time!).

• Visa for the Philippines: most countries get a 30 day visa on arrival to the airpot. Make sure to check this when planning your Philippines travel itinerary.

• How to have Internet in the Philippines: most of the hotels offer WIFI but it’s terribly slow. We bought a sim card at the airpot from Smart for around 20€ that had 25gb of high speed internet.

• Moving around: in Manila the best option is to use Grab. Its quite cheap compared to Uber in Europe, and safe. In the islands there are few taxi-cars, and they tend to be expensive (maybe 40-60€), so the best thing is to move around in tricycles (4-10€).

• Currency in the Philippines: main hotels accept USD all over the Philippines. We exchanged money at the airpot (the rate was amazingly good!) and used mainly for tricycles, restaurants, shopping, attraction fees, etc. Credit cards are also accepted mainly everywhere.

• How many days to spend in the Philippines: no, 2 weeks is not enough. Philippines is HUGE and there is so much to do and see! I wish we could have had a month. But, 2 weeks its better than nothing, so I put together this Philippines travel itinerary to help you decide which islands to visit.

METRO-MANILA

How to get cheap flights to the Philippines: we flew with Turkish Airlines from Malaga to Istanbul and to Metro Manila. I personally love flying with Turkish! The service is good, planes are always clean and food & entertainment are better than any other airline. As always, I use Skyscanner to find cheap flights.

Where to stay in Manila: we are not big fans of cities, so we landed at 9pm and went straight to the hotel. We stayed at City Garden Grand Hotel Makati. A friend of mine recommended this place, its a safe neighbohood and it has an amazing pool & restaurant with views. One of the things that surprised me is the menu at the restaurant, offering Chipirones and gambas al ajillo, felt like we never left Spain 🤣

Our flight to Coron was the next morning at 6am so we asked the hotel to organice a transfer for us.

CORON, PALAWAN

Coron was our absolute favourite place we visited during this trip. We stayed here for 4 nights, but I would recommend staying a bit longer. It is still not over developed, there are not so many people, and Coron island is absolute MAGIC. Make sure to add it to your Philippines travel itinerary!

How to get to Coron: we took an early flight from Manila straight to Coron, which takes around 1h. We paid around 100€ for each of us (one way), and bought it 1 week before our trip through Skyscanner.

Where to stay in Coron: Our first day, we booked Hotel Corto del Mar and they organised a free transfer from the airport. The airpot is in the north of the island, and the hotel and all places of interest are in the south. The ride takes around 40 minutes. We arrived to the hotel around 9am, checked in and went straight to do this snorkeling boat tour of Coron.

What to do in Coron: there are 3 island hopping tours in Coron, and I recommend doing all of them. Its important to consider that Coron doesn’t have a pretty beach at all. Check out my full guide for island hopping in Coron.

Our second day on the island we visited Kayangan Lake at sunrise, and Barracuda Lake. We were completely alone for half an hour or so, and it was pure magic. There is a silence that’s difficult to explain. Everything is so peaceful, the water is so clear that makes it unreal, underwater is like a moonscape. It’s easy to believe all the stories the locals tell about the lakes.

You can book this tour to Coron Island here.

Private Island in Coron: for the next 3 nights, we decided to book something a bit more luxurious and went to Club Paradise Palawan. The hotel it’s the only “luxury hotel” and it’s in the North of the island, which means far away from all the touristic spots. Make sure you have done all the tours before heading here. Your previous hotel will drop you back at the airpot for free and they will pick you up from the airport, and put you on a boat for around 30minutes to get to the island.

Now, we chose this place because it’s a private island (and we do love private islands) and because it’s a turtle sanctuary! In our 3 night stay, we got to see turtles hatching. And the coral reef is amazing here! Just by the boats on the shore in the picture, there is a field of seagrass, and there are turtles eating 24/7. We even got bored of seeing turtles, can you believe it?! Then all the rest is a huge coral reef full of life and colour. We saw sting rays, small reef sharks, giant clams, more turtles and all kind of fishes, all this just 1 minute away from the shore. Definitely, the best snorkel in Coron, and the place to stay if you are looking to swim with turtles.

The island is also home to monitor lizards and THOUSANDS of fruit bats. It’s super cool! I absolutely recommend staying here, but if you do make sure to book a sunset bungalow. The other rooms are in an ugly building, in an ugly part of the island, full of mosquitoes, so absolutely don’t stay there! They also organise dinner by the beach, which is super romantic. Also if you dive, they have amazing diving trips to Apo Island and swimming trips with dugongs. Make sure to email in advance as when we got there they couldn’t organise it.

EL NIDO, PALAWAN

How to get to El Nido: we flew direct from Coron to El Nido with Air Swift, took around 30 minutes and arrived in the morning around 11am. We booked our flights through Skyscanner. The flight is very scenic so make sure to get window seats! Once we arrived at El Nido Airport, our hotel organised a transfer for us.

Where to stay in El Nido: We stayed at Panorama Resort, which was absolutely awesome. The rooms are shaped like giant coconuts! The decoration is beautiful, and the food was the best we had in the Philippines. Its definitely the best place to stay in El Nido, and their restaurant is perfect to watch the sunset.

What to do in El Nido: pretty much like in Coron, there are a few options of island hopping tours, but here the tour operators and itineraries are absolutely strict, due to the amount of tourists. Also doesn’t matter if you do a private tour, the earliest you can depart is 9am, because they have to get a permit signed at some office. It was all really disappointing! But anyways, island hopping in El Nido is a must for a proper Philippines travel itinerary.

We did Tour A and C (my favourite!), and we asked our guides to try and avoid the crowds, and we were lucky as there wasn’t much people in any of our stops. For lunch they took us a bit further away so we could have a whole beach just to ourselves!

You can book Tour C and others here.

Our last day in El Nido we decided to stay in land and rented a dirt bike. Renting a bike in the Philippines can be a bit tricky. Its best to ask your hotel to recommend a reliable company. We tried getting a cool bike but the best they have is a 125cc, so we rented it and headed up North to Nacpan Beach. It was way prettier than we expected! Long white sand beach with some bars, restaurants and sun beds and completely empty the further away you get from the parking. The water is clear and turquoise, there are thousands of palm trees and we absolutely loved it.

After a having a nap, we headed to Duli Beach, which I can’t recommend enough. It was completely empty, there was a little surf school renting boards and around 5 people in the water. Obviously I spent the rest of the day until it got dark catching waves! And also got a full body massage, it was a perfect day!

CEBU WATERFALLS

How to get to Cebu: we flew directly from El Nido to Cebu Mactan Airport with Cebu Pacific Airlines, and booked our flights through Skyscanner. Depending on where you are going, it might be more convenient to flight to Dumaguete. Most Oslob hotels organice cheap transfers from there, while from Mactan Airport it costs around 80€ for a private car.

Where to stay in Cebu: we stayed for 2 nights at Oslob in Sumilon Bluewater Island Resort, because they have a sandbank and good snorkel. I absolutely DO NOT recommend staying here. We got food poisoning the first night. The island has a ferry bringing daytime-tourists every 30 minutes so there is absolutely no privacy, and prices are high.

We continued our Philippines travel itinerary going to Moalboal. Stayed at Badian Island Wellness Resort (have I already mentioned how much we like private islands? 🤣), which was super relaxing. We got a villa with private pool, because the price difference was not very high and we loved it. They have a boat that takes you to the main island any time you want for free, and they will help you organize bike rentals or activities. They also have a very nice spa with flower baths, but its super expensive. The best thing are the two friendly kittens by the dive center!

What to do in Cebu: there are 3 main attractions that bring tourists to Cebu: the beautiful waterfalls, the sardine run and the whale sharks. We skipped the whale sharks (and I ask everyone to please not support this activity) because they are being fed and kept in a bay for tourists, and this is messing with their migration and reproductive patterns.

There are lots and lots of waterfalls all over the island and all of them are amazingly beautiful. They are the main reason why you should include Cebu in your Philippines travel itinerary. I definitely recommend visiting Kawasan Falls, even though they are very popular and very crowded its absolutely worth it. Its best to visit when you are staying around Moalboal.

The sardine run is also next to Moalboal. It’s basically a snorkel boat trip where you will see some turtles and thousands of millions of sardines going around. Quite interesting to see!

You can book a tour to Kawasan Falls here.

After visiting Kawasan Falls, we ended our Philippines travel itinerary and started our 30h trip to get back home. Would have definitely preferred to stay in the waterfalls!

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask below in the comments.

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