Coron

(5 nights or fewer – I would recommend 3 if you do not scuba dive)

Coron is a beautiful town on the Island of Busuanga (not to be confused with Coron Island) that accesses many neat island-hopping trips, saltwater hot springs, beautiful view decks, and amazingly intact Japanese WWII shipwrecks. When I arrived in Coron, I first checked in to Princess of Coron, then I hiked up the 722 stairs to the Mt. Tapyas Viewdeck for amazing sunset views. I joined the Super Ultimate Island-Hopping Tour on my second day in Coron, and then I then spent the next three days scuba diving with Reggae Divers. For my first dive, I did one dive on a coral reef to get my bearings for diving in the Philippines, then spent the next 7 dives on the many Japanese shipwrecks that surround Coron and that were sunk during an aerial raid in 1944.

If you are an Advanced Open Water Diver (or want to complete that certification in Coron) I would absolutely recommend 2-3 days of diving. With three dive days, I was able to dive almost all of the WWII shipwrecks around Coron. If you are not a diver, three nights in Coron would probably be adequate to allow you to hike Mt. Tapyas, do the Super Ultimate Island-Hopping Tour, visit the hot springs (if you are not hot enough already…ha ha), and do another tour like the Reefs and Wrecks snorkeling tour. Coron is also the launching point for the absolutely must do multi-day/multi-night island-hopping tours to El Nido. (Click here for top things to do in Coron)

El Nido

(4-5 nights)

Your time in El Nido might depend on if you did the longer or shorter multi-day island-hopping trip as well as if you are still up for more island-hopping adventures after the multi-day tours. El Nido is an island-hopping hot spot in the Philippines and for good reason. The surrounding islands, beaches, and lagoons are awe-inspiring with towering limestone cliffs, crystal clear water, and white sand beaches. The biggest downside is that they are also awe-inspiring for numerous other travelers. If you are not deterred by crowds, joining one of the island-hopping “joiner” tours will be a fun way to experience the islands with other people, but if solitude is your jam, booking a private tour is commonplace and really not all that expensive (depending on your travel budget).

I did not do the private tours, but they are known to leave earlier than the group tours or visit the sites in reverse order so you can experience much more solitude than all of the group tours that visit all of the destinations in the same order. Ultimately, I ended up doing Tour A and Tour C and enjoyed both of them. I did enjoy Tour A more as Big Lagoon was very impressive, and the destinations were more spread out, which helped keep the crowds dissipated somewhat.

El Nido also has amazing walking streets that are closed to vehicles in the evening, rooftop bars with amazing sunset views, great night life, a jungle canopy tour, and access to the amazing Nacpan, Lio, Corong Corong, and Las Cabañas Beaches for those looking to enjoy a relaxing day on some of the most amazing beaches. (Click here for top things to do in El Nido). I stayed at Amos Pili Tree Inn and enjoyed my stay in that hotel. You can find rates and availability for this hotel here.

Puerto Princesa

(2 nights – If you are not into caves and do not care to visit the Underground River, Puerto Princesa is skippable in my opinion)

Most visitors to El Nido wind up going through Puerto Princesa at some point since it has a large airport. If you are traveling from El Nido to other destinations in the Philippines, get ready for a long 4.5 to 6-hour drive (depending on traffic) to Puerto Princesa to get to the airport (or the reverse if you fly into Puerto Princesa and head to El Nido). The good news is that you can readily get a shared air-conditioned van for very cheap and that the van makes multiple stretch/restroom stops along the way. On my visit, I stayed at Balay Tuko Garden Inn, which is a really neat property where I would absolutely recommend staying.

I very much wanted to see the UNESCO World Heritage Underground River System, so I wound up staying in Puerto Princesa for two nights. I absolutely loved the cave tour, but if that is not high up on your agenda, I would look to spend as little time in Puerto Princesa as possible. There was seemingly very little to do in the area; it was so spread out that a tuk-tuk ride took nearly a half hour to go anywhere, and it did not seem worth the expense to hire one. If you are a history buff, the local Philippines History and WWII Museums are supposed to be quite good and are something I would visit if I ever transited through Puerto Princesa again. (Click here for top things to do in Puerto Princesa)

Moalboal

(3 nights minimum)

Once you fly into Cebu City, get ready for a long taxi/van ride to get to Moalboal depending on the time of day. When I arrived in Cebu, it took 4.5 hours to get to Moalboal and the poor taxi driver had to go back to Cebu City that same evening. Once the long ride is over though, get ready for an absolutely unforgettable time! I loved my time in Moalboal and wish I had booked more days there. On my first full day in Moalboal, I did the Kawasan Falls Canyoneering Expedition and had a wonderful time. This is one of the most popular experiences in Moalboal, and it does live up to the hype. Yes, it is incredibly busy, but that is to be expected of nearly any amazing tourist destination nowadays.

On my second full day in Moalboal, I had an ethical dilemma that wound up resolving itself. I had been debating going to see the whale sharks in Oslob but was wrestling with that decision since the sharks are continuously fed and no longer migrate or behave in a manner consistent with their biology. There are also many waters in the Philippines that are painful to swim in because sea lice are prevalent. These sea lice populations have boomed in areas where whale sharks are fed because the sharks are no longer eating the lice and are just feeding at the stations. My choice was made for me, however; I got bitten by a cat on my multi-day island-hopping adventure and had to seek out my next round of rabies shots and did not have time to go to Oslob.

After visiting the health clinic (that ended up not having the rabies vaccine), I ended up snorkeling the breathtaking sardine run, which was the main reason I traveled to Moalboal in the first place. The sardine run was so amazing from above, that I walked to the closest dive center and booked a shore dive to experience the sardine run from below as well. The sardine run is an absolutely mesmerizing experience that is available to everyone and is just a short swim from the beach. Moalboal also had some of the best sunsets that I experienced my entire time in the Philippines.

After my third night’s stay, I got a private taxi back to Cebu City. This taxi was able to swing by one of the Cebu City Rabies Busters Clinics for me to get my final rabies shot, before dropping me off at the Cebu Ferry Terminal for my 1.5-hour ferry ride to Tagbilaran Ferry Terminal in Bohol. (Click here for top things to do in Moalboal)

Bohol

(2+ nights depending on your interests – maybe even entirely skippable)

Bohol is an interesting island in that it seems like visitors either absolutely love it or consider it skippable compared to other islands in the Philippines. I would consider myself leaning more towards the skippable crowd. The main reasons I decided to visit Bohol were for the Chocolate Hills and the Tarsier Sanctuary. Although the Chocolate Hills are neat, I’m not sure the in-person visitation is any more incredible than images you can find online. When I went there, Bohol had been getting early rains, so only a few of the 1,700+ hills were even chocolate colored, and they were so far away from the viewing area that a camera with a telephoto lens would have been necessary to get truly decent photos.

Although the tarsiers were adorable, they are all sleeping during the day, you only get 30 minutes in the sanctuary, and there are mobs of people all crowding to get photos of the few tarsiers that are visible within the tour limits. The man-made forest that the tours go to next is also really neat, but you basically just hop out of the van, get a photo in the middle of the street, then hop back into the van to continue to the Loboc River Lunch Cruise. The Loboc River Cruise, ended up being one of my favorite things in Bohol. The buffet lunch was really good, but the river scenery and onboard live music was incredible and made for a great time.

The tour then visits the oldest church in Bohol, which is quite impressive. It then stops at a souvenir gallery before dropping participants back off at their hotels. On my next full day, I walked to White Beach and Dumaluan Beach, which were both beautiful white sand beaches. The day I was there, however, was cloudy and threatening to rain, so I did not spend a lot of time there. There are also some amazing resorts along these stretches of shorefront. If you are looking for more of a luxurious stay in Bohol, this area seems hard to beat (click here for top things to do in Bohol).

Siquijor

(4 nights minimum)

Siquijor was one of my favorite islands in the Philippines. I did get robbed of what I hear are some of the most amazing sunsets in the Philippines due to cloudy weather, but the visit to this island was still amazing. I would absolutely recommend four or more nights to experience the amazing things Siquijor has to offer. On one of the days of your visit, you should absolutely take the Siquijor Island Shared Tour to visit many of the hot spots of the island. On your other days, you should visit Salagdoong Beach for some epic cliff diving at heights up to 11 meters and for lounging on white sand beaches.

You can also visit Tulapos Marine Sanctuary for a chance to snorkel with blacktip reef sharks and also visit Paliton Beach or Little Boracay Beach for epic sunsets if the clouds do not steal your sunset experience like they did mine. Siquijor is probably also one of the best/safest locations you can learn to operate a motor scooter if you have not operated a scooter before and are looking to rent one for the increased flexibility they provide. This was the first place I ever operated a motor scooter, and the low levels of traffic and fairly simple travel routes made me glad I learned to ride a scooter here as opposed to the much busier islands I had previously visited. (Click here for top things to do in Siquijor).

Siargao

(3 nights minimum)

Siargao also seems to be one of those islands in the Philippines that has a take-or-leave reputation. I had gone back and forth on my itinerary trying to decide if I even wanted to add the additional expense of flying to Siargao when I saw many reviews claiming there was nothing to do in Siargao if you are not a big surfer. Ultimately, I decided to visit since I have no idea if I will ever make it back to the Philippines again. I am so glad I made that decision and wish I had scheduled more days in Siargao than I did. I have only every tried surfing once, and due to a recurring SI joint injury, I was not able to try surfing in Siargao, but I still found so much else to do.

Instead of surfing myself, I spent a morning/early afternoon lounging on the beach at Cloud 9 watching surfing competitions and listening to the waves crash. I took in the sunset at Sunset Bridge, took a scooter for a partial circumnavigation of the island, visited the coconut plantation viewpoint, and checked out the tide pools at low tide. The dining and night life in General Luna is also amazing, and I managed to see some pretty neat odes to Star Wars on Star Wars Day (May 4th). All in all, I would absolutely recommend visiting Siargao, and I am a little bummed I only ended up being able to spend 3 nights on this island. In retrospect, I would have shortened my stay in Bohol to add an additional day to Siargao. (Click here for top things to do in Siargao).

Manila

(1-2 nights)

I had to return to Manila form Siargao in order to fly back to the US before my 30-day visa expired. I technically had 1 day in Manila but booked 2 nights at the hotel since my flight out of Manila was at 11:50pm. In the end, I this day as a rest day to use the gym, sauna, and pool at my hotel, but in retrospect, I would have visited the old town area of Intramuros if I had known about it ahead of time. This was my final stop in the Philippines and the end of an amazing trip.