The Philippines is the place to be for island hopping lovers and there is plenty of island hopping to do. The country consists of more than 7000 islands of which about 2000 are inhabited. Pretty insane right?
I visited the Philippines in late November 2019 and covered quite a lot of nice spots in 12 days. As this route worked out well for me, I will share it with you below.
Philippines Part 1: Bohol, 3 nights
I flew from Abu Dhabi to Manila and took a domestic flight to Bohol – Panglao International Airport. Bohol is a beautiful green island which is not known for its beaches in particular. Although, there are some amazing beaches Bohol is known for its famous Chocolate Hills and tarsier. A tarsier is a weird animal that you can see in one of the sanctuaries on the island.
The first 2 nights I stayed in Panglao near the beach and then I drove by scooter with my backpack from the Tagbilaran harbour area to Batuan.
After visiting the Chocolate hills for sunrise and sunset, I drove back from Batuan to the harbor. On the way, I made a stop at a nice but somewhat dry waterfall.
I spent 3 nights in Bohol and managed to see most of the highlights. However, I recommend staying at least 1 more night if you have the time because the island is quite big. So you’ll end up spending quite some time on the road. Don’t get me wrong the routes are absolutely amazing as it’s so super green everywhere, but 1 or 2 extra nights would be good.
Accommodations in Bohol
Glamping Alona
Bohol Hammock Hostel
Read more about Bohol in this article.
Philippines Part 2: Moalboal – Cebu, 3 nights
From Bohol you can take the ferry to Cebu City, tickets can be purchased beforehand or at the ticket counter.
Cebu City isn’t supposed to be very special so I took a bus straight to Moalboal.
Moalboal is particularly famous for diving, but that’s not what I went for. I visited Moalboal for canyoneering aka swimming and crawling through rivers and jumping off waterfalls. Ohh how excited I get about these things! They give me so much adrenaline! As a kid, I was already climbing on everything and I still do it, my travel buddies can confirm. There are different places around Moalboal where you can go canyoneering. The most famous one is Kawasan Falls. Although I wanted to do the more challenging one, I eventually chose to join 2 Dutchies on the Kawasan Falls trip. And even though it was crowded, we had so much fun!
Accommodations in Moalboal
Titanic’s Nipa hut
Island Girl Bed & Breakfast
Philippines Part 3: Coron to El Nido, 4 nights
From Cebu I took a flight to Coron, as my island hopping adventure departed from here. The first day in Coron I explored the town and walked up the Coron Peak Tasanay. This viewpoint gives you a 360 view over the island, it’s not spectacular, but worth it for an afternoon. I’m sure sunsets from here can be pretty stunning too! Unfortunately, the weather was a bit weird when I was there.
Accommodations in Coron:
Dayon hostel with awesome rooftop!
Island hopping boat tour, 3 nights 4 days
One of the things I absolutely wanted to do when visiting the Philippines was a multi-day boat trip along different tropical islands. It had been on my bucket list for a few years and although I’d preferred to have done it with my habibi, I had such a good time! It started with a briefing the evening before where we received all the basic information about the trip.
Our group consisted of many Dutchies (of course..) and a group of Portuguese girls. Everyone was very social so it was a great squad!
The island hopping trip started with gorgeous weather, we were all having a good time, visited the most serene little islands, played some beach volleyball, and slept in cute huts on the beach. It was like a dream! Oh, and the food, the food was UNREAL. So many amazing dishes, fresh fruit, veggies and snacks, it was freshly prepared and so tasty! I think I had the best food during these days out of my whole Philippines trip.
Stuck on an island
Sadly the weather changed suddenly and a big storm was on its way. This meant we couldn’t continue to our final destination and were stuck on a nearly uninhabited island with a limited stock of food. Sounds pretty much like an episode of Survivor or Expeditie Robinson for the Dutch readers.. well, that’s also how it felt.
After 2 extra nights on the island we managed to leave and reach the “mainland”. I almost missed my flight because of this adventure. Not stressful, at all.
I went with Buhay Isla and would definitely recommend them. Communication was lacking a bit, but I noticed this in many countries when things go differently than planned. In other countries, they are just not as direct and upfront as many of us are. All in all, you must go on one of these trips. It will be one of the highlights of your trip without a doubt!
Part 4: Palawan back to Abu Dhabi, 1 night
Due to the extra days spent on the island, I had less time than planned in El Nido. On my last day I explored some of the cute shops in the area and I got 2 new tattoos. I planned to get 1 done, but turned my ideas into 2 separate ones. Prices are usually better in Asia and there are some very talented tattoo artists here.
From Puerto Princesa I flew back to Manila for about € 50,-.
Accommodation El Nido
Travelbecks 