A Whirlwind 10-Day Philippines Travel Guide
Are you like us, where almost every country in the world is on your bucket list? If so, how do you prioritize where to travel first?
When we’re lucky enough to get a travel opportunity, a big part of our answer comes down to local connections. If we know a close friend who has extensive experience in another country, we often prioritize traveling with them, which we find lends towards more authentic local experiences.
That was the case with our Philippines trip. Our frequent travel buddy (and soon-to-be wedding officiant!) Hector had lived in Manila for a year, but didn’t get the chance to travel around The Philippines much while working there. When he decided to go back for a quick trip to visit friends and do some island hopping, we were 100% down to join along for the ride.
The full trip was 12 days, with two of those fully dedicated to travel back and forth from the U.S. To be honest, 10 days is barely enough to hit four different locations in The Philippines like we did, so what you’re about to read is an absolute whirlwind itinerary.
If you have more time, our number one recommendation is to extend your time in the locations listed below, and to explore more remote reaches of this beautiful island nation.
When we went: Early-mid November. Rainy season wraps up in October, so November is officially shoulder season. We enjoyed lighter crowds than you’d see during the December - April tourist season, and only a couple intermittent rain showers that didn’t affect our plans for the most part (despite a slight mishap in Siargao you can read about below).
What we listened to: The soundtrack to our oceanside lounging can be found here.
Use the table of contents to jump around and dive into our Philippines itinerary!
GETTING TO & AROUND THE PHILIPPINES
This trip involved 12 — COUNT’ EM…12!! — flights in 12 days. Three to get out there, three to get back to Denver, and six within The Philippines itself. Because The Philippines is comprised of 7,000+ islands, you’ll most likely have to take short flights...and sometimes multiple in a day...to get from place to place.
We flew into Manila where we spent one night at an Airbnb in Bonifacio Global City before heading out on the next leg of our adventure.
Pro tips: Manila is the most densely-populated city in the world, and is notorious for its terrible traffic.
Download the Grab app to book rideshare rides within the city.
Always leave lots of extra time for yourself when heading to the airport.
Make sure to look up which terminal your flight is out of, and then instruct your Grab driver to the correct terminal. If you get it wrong, it can take a long time just to drive between the terminals in traffic.
Ask your driver if the skyway is a faster route when heading to the airport, and ask them to take it if it’ll save time. They’ll have you pay the small toll.
After our one night in Manila, we flew to Cebu City where we spent two nights, then to Siargao where we spent three nights, then to El Nido where we spent another three, and then back to Manila for our final night.
Our 10-day Philippines itinerary map.
PHILIPPINES TRIP BUDGET BREAKDOWN
This is a new section we’ll be adding to our travel guide posts going forward to help you understand the cost breakdown as you plan your perfect trip. Let us know if it’s useful for you or if there’s anything else you’d like to see included!
Conversion rate: At the time of this post, 1 USD = 50.85 Philippines pesos
WHERE TO STAY IN THE PHILIPPINES
We kind of unwittingly roughed it on the accommodations side this trip, and came to the realization that unless the situation absolutely calls for it, we’re just too old for this 😅. Sam was in the mindset of booking lodgings on the cheap side from our 3-month Southeast Asian adventure in 2018, and she subconsciously fell right back into that pattern when it came to this trip. That meant shared rooms with our bestie Hector, and sometimes not in the most comfortable of surroundings. If we never have to see another toilet shower (not sure the real name for these) in our lives we’ll be overjoyed!! Our room in Cebu was so bad we ate the cost ($40 total for three people, two nights) and switched to a nicer hotel. But hey, based on our budget above, we saved a ton of dough by opting for these less than luxury stays!
We’ll list out everywhere we stayed below, but KEEP IN MIND that if we did it all over again, we’d likely opt for higher-end accommodations. These places will do the trick if you’re looking to save some major moolah $$$.
Manila
We stayed in Airbnbs in Bonifacio Global City on the first and last nights of our Philippines trip. The first was much nicer than the second for the same price, so just try to book well in advance and vet the Airbnb photos as much as you can.
Haven’t used Airbnb yet? Use this link for $40 off your first stay.
The pool at our first Airbnb in Manila. Bonifacio Global City is somewhat like a Truman Show town in the heart of a vast and chaotic metropolitan area.
Cebu City
We initially booked at RedDoorz Plus near Cebu Capital which is a super affordable hostel with a 7.7 rating on Booking.com. When we arrived however, we realized that we had booked one tiny room with two standard sized beds and no windows...and it didn’t look exceptionally clean either. The room was only $20 per night and was giving us a depressing vibe, so we immediately switched to the Best Western right across the street.
Best Western Plus Lex Cebu
Juana Osmeña Extension Road, Lungsod ng Cebu, 6000 Lalawigan ng Cebu, Philippines | Booking.com
The Best Western was like an oasis of luxury compared to the hostel we had just escaped. Clean large rooms. Nice bathrooms. Free buffet breakfast. And even windows in the room…
Nothing against RedDoorz...it has good ratings and is extremely affordable, but if you’re looking for a little more comfort and relaxation, the Best Western is perfect. You can find it on Booking.com and get $25 off when you use our link.
At the Best Western Plus Lex Cebu, so relieved to be out of that hostel life.
Siargao
Melrose Place
dirt road, General Luna, 8419 Surigao del Norte, Philippines | Booking.com
As the address indicates, this collection of bungalow-style accommodations is located off a dirt road in General Luna. It’s in a very central location on Siargao, near the main road that leads to the airport and some of the other popular sites on the other side of the island. General Luna is more of a local experience vs. all the nicer resorts located closer to the more tourist and expat heavy Cloud 9. If we went again we might book a nicer place, but overall we liked Melrose Place and found all the recommended bars, restaurants, and maps left in the rooms super helpful.
Warning: Cock-fighting is sadly a very popular pastime in the Philippines, and we were woken up by prize roosters loudly crowing from the surrounding local homes every morning at Melrose Place, starting at 2:30am! We’re not sure if this happens all year round or is audible from every room, but it was quite the annoyance at the time.
At Melrose Place Siargao…and off to an inauspicious start with the motorbikes.
El Nido
Hidden Garden Pensione
Barangay Buena Suerte, El Nido, Palawan, Philippines | Booking.com
It seems that when it comes to El Nido, the accommodation options are either on the luxury end or the very non luxury end, and we ended up with the latter. Hidden Garden is located right on the main street of town so it’s a short walk from everything. A lot of El Nido is under construction, so it was a little shocking to be surrounded by other buildings that are totally unfinished. We also experienced several power outages while there, which sucked because sometimes our air conditioning would go out at night and it was super hot and humid, but this wasn’t isolated to Hidden Garden. Again, if we went back, we’d probably book a nicer option, but Hidden Garden was totally satisfactory and we did save a bunch of money by somewhat roughin’ it.
Main Street, El Nido
WHERE TO EAT & DRINK IN THE PHILIPPINES
We enjoyed a wide variety of food while in the Philippines, from Filipino specialties (pork, pork, and more pork!) to delicious Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, and other types of global cuisines. Check out our favorite meals and bars by location below.
Manila
Manila is a global city with dining options from all around the world. We only had two days there (the first and final days of our trip), and spent most of that time eating and drinking :)
Din Tai Fung
Taguig, Metro Manila, Philippines | Website
Our first move when we arrived in Manila was to gorge on dozens of soup dumplings from this world-renowned Taiwanese restaurant’s outpost in Bonifacio Global City. We were jetlagged and hungry, and DTF did not disappoint.
Watching dumplings get made at DTF
Mercato Centrale Night Market
34th St, Taguig, Metro Manila, Philippines | Website
Shortly after Din Tai Fung (and several beers), we proceeded to pass out at our building’s pool and then migrated to bed for a “quick nap” that ended up lasting 6 hours! We woke up around 10pm, dazed and confused about how we could have slept for so long, but still feeling extremely groggy. With just one night in Manila before heading to Cebu, we made the decision to rally and hopped on down to the night market which was conveniently located right next to our building. The market features a huge array of cuisines from all over Asia and elsewhere, but we chose to stick to Filipino specialties of sisig and more. The market is a great place to meet other travelers and locals because you sit at community tables. We actually met a crew that we continued hanging out with for the rest of the night!
Poblacion
A former red-light district, Manila’s Poblacion neighborhood is now known for backpacker lodgings, hip bars, and late-night street food. We headed over to Poblacion with our newfound friends from the night market and had an amazing time bar hopping at spots like Polilya, The Apartment, and more.
Polilya bar…eager to get our dranks
Wildflour Cafe and Bakery
Ground floor, Net Lima building, 26th St, Taguig, Metro Manila, Philippines | Website
This place has full-on U.S. prices, but it’s a delicious spot for breakfast or brunch. We enjoyed a pre-airport breakkie including coffee, smoothies, mimosas, kimchi and adobo fried rice dishes, and a breakfast BLT sandwich.
Ramen Nagi
L223 2nd Level, One Bonifacio High Street Mall, 5 Avenue cor, 28th St, Taguig, Philippines | Website
Ramen Nagi is another worldwide sensation, originally from Tokyo. They make four signature ramen styles, along with one additional “limited edition” ramen on the menu at any given time. We tried the Red King and the Black King and they were both amazing!
Ray bout to go to town on some Black King ramen.
El Chupacabra
5782 Felipe, Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines | Website
We ventured back to Poblacion in Makati for our final night in Manila, and started out at El Chupacabra — a Mexican restaurant with a Filipino twist — where we enjoyed pitchers of margs and tacos galore.
Kuppa Roastery & Cafe
4th Ave, Taguig, Metro Manila, Philippines - multiple locations | Website
Kuppa may look like a Starbucks or something, but if you take the time to enjoy a sitdown breakfast there, you’re in for a treat! This was our last breakfast in the Philippines, and we made sure we went out on a high note with breakfast entrees featuring rice, roasted garlic, eggs, and adobo pork.
(If we had more time) Chinatown
We simply didn’t have time to venture outside the BGC and Makati areas of Metro Manila, but if we had, we would have done a self-made food tour through Chinatown. This Culture Trip article made our mouths water, and should serve as a good starting point to plan your delicious day.
Siargao
Being a popular expat destination, Siargao boasts many delicious restaurants serving Italian, Spanish, French, and other cuisines. These were a few we got to try.
Kermit
Purok 5, General Luna, Siargao Island Philippines PH, General Luna, 8417, Philippines | Website
Kermit is a resort and a popular hangout spot in Siargao that we quickly began to rely on for all our needs on the island — from BOGO happy hours and delicious meals to helmet rentals and booking tours or surf lessons. Kermit is known for its Italian food, including pastas and wood-fired pizzas. Initially we were skeptical of Italian food in Asia, but after meeting an Italian couple who were staying at Kermit and gave the pizza a resounding two thumbs up, we decided we had to try it — and we were so glad we did! Kermit is a great place to start your night with the daily BOGO happy hour on drinks, and we consumed maybe a few too many margaritas along with our amazing meal there.
La Santa
Tourism Rd, General Luna, Surigao del Norte, Philippines | Website
In Siargao, there’s an “it bar” every night. The bar where the party’s at, and where all tourists and locals alike will be too. La Santa is one of them. We made it there a couple times during our stay — once in the earlier evening to sip on sangria, and again later in the night when the dance floor was full.
Shaka Cafe
Tourism Rd, General Luna, 8419 Surigao del Norte, Philippines | Website
On our second day in Siargao, we were awoken bright and early by roosters crowing BEFORE the break of dawn, so we got an early start on our motorbikes to head up to Cloud 9. Our first stop was Shaka Cafe, known for its gorgeousssss acai bowl breakfasts and even more gorgeous surroundings.
Warning: after coffee and fruit bowls, we all had to...use the bathroom, and the bathroom at Shaka was the most laughably horrible we’ve ever seen. It was an open room without a door in a dilapidated gazebo. No toilet seat, no CHANCE of toilet paper, and brown water filling the toilet bowl and floor. We ran outta there as fast as we could and paid to use a bathroom down the beach near Cloud 9 pier.
Beautiful breakfast bowls and coffee at Shaka Cafe.
Miguel’s Taqueria
General Luna, Surigao del Norte, Philippines | Website
Known for bomb tacos and the “coldest beer in town.” We’re not sure how they keep it so cold, but after trying it we lean towards the belief that this is true. Perfect stop after a day spent in the sun at the beach.
(If we had more time) Bravo
Tourism Rd, Barangay 5, General Luna, 8420 Surigao del Norte, Philippines | Website
There’s a strong Spanish expat and tourist presence in Siargao, and Bravo comes highly recommended for its beachfront Mediterranean and Spanish specialties.
Cebu City
Jollibee
Multiple locations
No trip to the Philippines is complete without a visit to Jollibee, the nation’s most-loved fast food chain. Jollibee is known for its fried chicken and sweet spaghetti. While this sounded nasty to Sam, Ray was excited to try it, and we found the perfect opportunity during a layover at the Mactan Cebu Airport. According to Ray’s review, the chicken was comparable to a KFC. We both tried the sweet spaghetti and thought it tasted like Chef Boyardee. While not overly impressed with the food, we were glad to have tried a national staple that all Filipinos mentioned growing up with.
The Jollibee experience.
Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort & Spa - Tides Breakfast Buffet
Punta Engaño Rd, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, 6015 Cebu, Philippines
Faced with a five-hour layover in Cebu on our way from Siargao to El Nido, we decided to hashtag treat ourselves and booked it from the airport to Shangri-La resort to catch the tail-end of the $25/pp breakfast buffet. We arrived seven minutes before the buffet closed down and started prepping for lunch...which we chose to view as a personal challenge, scooping up the last of the breakfast classics (eggs, french toast, potatoes, pastries), Filipino food (rice, adobo meats), Korean kimchi stew, a ramen bar, and more. It was gluttonous but also glorious.
An aggressive spread…
Boat picnic with friends
This one is almost unfair to tell y’all about because it’d be a tough one to replicate. We met up with our travel buddy Hector’s friends who live in Cebu and spent a day out on their boat drinking, cruising, and hanging out at a beautiful sandbar. Anyway, the parents prepared THE NICEST meal for us all to take out on the boat, INCLUDING a lechón (whole spit-roasted suckling pig), along with kinilaw (Filipino ceviche), shrimp, rice, papaya salad, and potato salad. One of the prettiest spreads we’ve ever seen! Watching the handling of the lechón was an experience in itself, as our Filipino friends expertly pulled the pig apart to get to the tastiest pieces of meat. Though you may not be visiting Cebu or taking a boat trip there, lechón and kinilaw are Filipino staples that are worth seeking out anywhere in the country.
Have you ever seen a prettier picnic??
El Nido
Happiness Beach Bar
Serena St, Barangay Buena Suerte, El Nido, Palawan, Philippines | Website
Our favorite spot in El Nido! We came back here multiple times to try happy hour, dinner, and breakfast. The food is mostly vegetarian Israeli and Mediterranean, and everything is presented beautiful and tastes super fresh. The bar is surrounded by swing seats (cute looking and fun at first, but quite uncomfortable for an entire meal), and the margaritas are minty — almost like a mojito / marg mashup that we couldn’t get enough of. Definitely one of the hot spots for dining in El Nido.
Maa’s Grill
Barangay Buena Suerte, El Nido, Palawan, Philippines | Website
A casual spot for local cuisine where we had grilled fish, squid, and sisig.
The sisig sitch.
Boat tour lunches
Since the primary activity in El Nido is all-day boat tours, all of our lunches took place on the boats. Included in your tour, the crew will serve up a beautiful spread of grilled fish and other meats, shrimp, rice, veggies, and fruit.
The photos really can’t do these meals justice, but they were all family style and so delicious!
Pukka Bar
Calle Hama, Zone III, El Nido, 5313 Palawan, Philippines | Website
If you find yourself in El Nido, you will inevitably end up at Pukka at some point in the night since it’s one of the most popular beachfront bars. Stay and watch as the dance floor really turns up as the evening wares on.
Rooftop Bar
Barangay Buena Suerte, El Nido, Palawan, Philippines | Website
We liked this one better than Pukka, though it has a considerably chiller vibe. It’s located above a clothing store, and you take your shoes off to enter the beachy, thatched-roof, rooftop bar area which is filled with beanbags and comfy places to enjoy a tropical drink or beer.
Republica Sunset Bar
Barangay Buena Suerte, El Nido, Palawan, Philippines | Website
After a day spent out on the water, we hoofed it over to Republica Sunset Bar to catch the best view for sunset, and arrived early enough to get seating right along the edge. Along with one of the most stunning sunsets we’ve ever seen, we got “tinto de verano” (which Sam was overjoyed to see because it reminded her of her time in Seville) and yummy tapas.
The PERFECT place to watch the sunset in El Nido.
Jungle Bar by PIOPIO
Lio Tourism Estate, El Nido, Palawan, Philippines | Website
Because our friend Hector knew the owner of Jungle Bar, we hired a “trike” or tuk tuk over to Lio Beach to check it out. It’s a very cool vibe, right on Lio Beach, with fresh and delicious food as well as our favorite...espresso martinis. Unless you’re staying in Lio Beach, it’s quite the trek to get over there at nighttime, but they had a free shuttle back into town which was awesome at the end of the night.
(If we had more time) Trattoria Altrove
Calle Hamma, Calle Hama, Barangay Buena Suerte, El Nido, Palawan, Philippines | Website
This place is THE spot to be for dinner. So much so that there was a line out the door and onto the street every time we passed by, and we were never willing to wait it out to try what must be some amazing pasta. They have another location around the corner for walk-up woodfired pizza if that’s what you’re more into.
WHAT TO DO IN THE PHILIPPINES
In the Philippines, beautiful beach and nature experiences were the name of the game and our primary reason for going. Check out our experiences broken down by location below.
Manila
Manila was more of a stopover destination on the way to all of the more beachy and beautiful island spots. Since we had limited time there, Manila was really all about eating and going out for us — see the food & drinks section above! If we had more time, we would have explored Intramuros, Manila’s historic walled Spanish city.
Giant liters of Red Horse before we even got out of the first taxi. Really sets the tone for what most of our time in Manila looked like 🤪
Cebu City
Cebu was another stopover destination for us on the way from Manila to Siargao. Cebu City itself is a sprawling, crowded and somewhat chaotic city, and isn’t known for many tourist attractions (other than Magellan’s Cross, the oldest Catholic church in the Philippines, and the Shangri-La Resort, which we found to be an extremely popular getaway for Korean families when we stopped there for brunch). Most tourists who visit Cebu travel 3-4 hours to the southern end of the island to experience activities like swimming with whale sharks and canyoneering at Kawasan Falls.
Since we had friends in Cebu and only had one full day to spend there, our main activity was an amazing outing with our local friend on her family’s boat. We blasted music while speeding out to a tiny sandbar, where we spent most of the day drinking and swimming. Not to mention the incredible lunch our friend’s family prepared for us... see food & drink section above!
Our main activity in Cebu City — boat and sandbar day with friends.
Siargao
Island Hopping and Sugba Lagoon Tours
Both Island Hopping and Sugba Lagoon are popular day tours in Siargao, and we chose the island hopping tour with the one day we had. The island hopping tour covers Naked Island, Daku Island, and Guyam Island. Naked is basically a small sandbar with crystal blue water, but quite a lot of tourists can be there at a time which makes it feel crowded. Daku was our favorite. It’s a bigger island where we had more time to explore, swim, and eat lunch — we couldn’t get over the magic of the peaceful palm groves. Guyam Island is tiny, but covered in “Instagramable” spots — swings, palm trees with hammocks, bean bags, and even a Bali-style hanging nest. Most surprisingly, it also has a beach basketball court where Ray played a pick-up game with locals.
Daku Island — our favorite part of the Siargao Island Hopping tour.
Surfing Lessons or Surfer Spectating
Siargao is world-famous for its killer waves and prime surf conditions. If you’re interested in trying it out, almost every hotel, restaurant and bar doubles as a surf shop where you can book lessons — no matter your level. We didn’t surf ourselves, but made it up to the pier in the morning to watch surfers take on the waves at Cloud 9.
Cutest lil’ surfer we saw all day.
(If we had more time) Magpupungko Tide Pools and Pacifico Beach
About a 50 minute motorbike ride from General Luna are the gorgeous Magpupungko Tide Pools. You can time your trip around low tide to experience the crystal clear pools with tons of fascinating sea life.
Another 15 minute ride from there lies Pacifico, a sleepy surf town with a vast, palm-lined, and uncrowded beach.
Unfortunately, it started raining while we were motorbiking to Magpupungko on our first day in Siargao, and we were unsure how long the rain would last so we turned back to town and never made it back. Had we had more time, these are two of the primary spots in Siargao we would have loved to hit!
We did make it as far as Tayangban Caves however, and found it a bit underwhelming. The local owners at the front told us that the cave tour involved wading through waist-deep water, which we weren’t feeling at the moment, so we chose to head to the cave pools instead. This was just a small walled grotto filled and other tourists, so we ended up not even taking a swim. Maybe the cave tour is actually really cool, but it seemed a little gimmicky upfront. If you’ve been and have an experience to share, please drop us a comment and let us know what you think!
Doot Beach
Despite the weird name, our day spent at Doot Beach was one of our favorites of the trip. Since we didn’t have time to venture all the way back to Pacifico, we ended up scootering over to a beach closer to General Luna. It’s labeled as Doot Beach on the map and is located at the very end of Malinao Road on the tip of the peninsula. The beach is surrounded by resorts that are under construction and not yet open, so you can tell this will become a poppin’ area in no time. But for us, it was a deserted wonderland. We saw almost no other people the whole day, and lounged for hours under the sea of palms sipping beer and fresh coconuts. It’s not the best sand beach because it has a somewhat rocky coastline, but it does have a sandbar that you can venture out on to get in the water and enjoy a swim.
A Polaroid recap of our day at our own private beach.
El Nido
Island Hopping Tours A, B, C, and D
That’s right, there are four highly-regulated and thus generically-named tours in El Nido that every single tour company provides. Each of the four day tours has a set itinerary, but you can be sure that all of them feature beautiful islands, clear lagoons, white sand beaches, palm groves, stunning snorkeling spots, and a delicious homemade lunch.
Tours A and C are the most popular, and those are the ones we did. Tour A took us to Secret Lagoon, Big Lagoon, 7 Commando Beach, and some other spots that we don’t remember the name of because we strayed slightly from the typical schedule due to crowds. All of the spots were absolutely stunning, but very crowded which left us slightly disappointed.
With Tour C on the other hand, every location was breathtakingly beautiful and much less packed, making for a more enjoyable day. We visited Helicopter Island, a lunch spot near Matinloc Shrine (but not the actual shrine), Secret Beach, and Hidden Beach which were all amazing. More and more of these spots are becoming private beaches on a regular basis, so get there while you can!
A small sample of the scenery you’ll experience while island hopping in El Nido.
PHILIPPINES TIPS & TRICKS
As you can tell from our crazy itinerary, our number one suggestion is to spend more than just 10 days in the Philippines. Because it’s a country comprised of islands, getting from destination to destination takes time. We’ve always been fast travelers who like to pack a lot into our days, but there was literally not one day in the Philippines that we slept in because we were either embarking on an early adventure or heading to the airport for our next location. There are tons of other islands we would have liked to visit, and even parts of the islands we did visit that we didn’t get to explore.
Our other tip is to book further in advance than we did so you can have your pick of nicer accommodations. While we’re very experienced with traveling Southeast Asia on the cheap, we’d definitely treat ourselves to a bit nicer lodging if we were to do The Philippines over again.
To wrap things up, The Philippines is still a little less touched by tourist crowds than some of the other Southeast Asian destinations, but it’s going to get to that same level quickly — the signs of a rapidly burgeoning tourist economy are already everywhere.
We visited some of the most heavily-touristed parts of the country, but since it was shoulder season we found that you’re still able to find some pretty remote and special experiences if you seek them out. We can only imagine the beauty that lies more off the beaten path.
Questions? Philippines experiences of your own? Comment here or on our latest IG post.
Happy travels!
