How to Plan a Philippines Trip?

If you are wondering if the Philippines is a beautiful place or if a Philippines vacation is for me, I recommend you to start with my article THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT PHILIPPINES TRIP. If you are clear about that, you should be careful in choosing a hotel this time. my article will help you.

How to Plan a Philippines Trip?

I reserved 16 nights for the Philippines trip, excluding the time spent on the plane, that is, 16 nights I made a hotel stay. I can’t say, of course, that I’ve seen and done everything.. Travelers like us, who want to explore the natural beauty and culture of the country in the limited time possible, usually follow the same route, I will tell you the route of these most known places and the minimum stay in each of them.

This was the first image that came to my mind when the Philippines was mentioned.

If you have more time, what else can you add to your route or where can you stay longer? It would be wise to do additional research.. Conversely, if you have less than 16 nights, you’ll have to eliminate some of the places I’ve listed, and decide based on your interests and what’s more important to you.

Important Preliminary Information

• Since the Philippines is a country made up of islands, there will be situations where you will need to use planes and ferries for domestic transportation.. If you do not plan the domestic flights in advance, the prices will increase at the last minute, so I bought all of them as soon as I made my plan (4 domestic flights in total). I heard that since typhoon alerts are often issued in the Philippines, if there is a situation that requires you to make changes in your plan, they do not cause any problems with the typhoon-induced changes.. However, the typhoon event fortunately did not happen while I was there, so I cannot say for sure about it.. Still, my advice is to take domestic flights as soon as possible.. Also, since things are not punctual in the Philippines, you run the risk of being delayed up to 5 hours on domestic flights, so avoid programs with no flexibility like “I’ll get there at this hour, I’ll do this right after”.

Assure yourself that transports are not punctual and don’t background too much.

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• If I want to change my plan for some reason when I go there, I didn’t buy the transportation tickets other than the plane (such as ferry and bus) in advance so that there is some flexibility.. I heard that sometimes there is no place, but even though I went in the high season, January – February, such a situation did not happen.. I think your general strategy should be to go to the agencies there the day before (there are agencies everywhere), do not buy before you go on a trip, but do not leave it to the last minute.
• Philippines trip often takes boat tours, you will need to take daily tours such as city tour. These are sold on the internet and of course, they emphasized ‘if you don’t buy it, it will run out’ everywhere so as not to miss the customer.. I did not take any of the tours in advance and when I went, I arranged them from the hotel I stayed in or from an agency in the center.. Since it is a poor country and tourism is a great source of income for the local people, everyone will try to sell you these tours anyway, I think you don’t need to panic like I should buy them beforehand.

I don’t think you need to take daily tours such as boat tours before you go.

• The days you will tour are between 8 am and 6 pm ( It may take shorter, but this is the widest interval) you should not have any other work, we can say that this is the time period when you will leave your hotel and come back. In other words, if you are going to make a program such as “I will arrive there today and then I will go to the hotel and join the tour”, you should pay attention to the hours accordingly (it is not a realistic idea in general), anyway, so the total duration of the Philippines trip increases a bit.. When I explain the content of the days below, you will see that some of them are just ‘arrival from one place to another and free time’, the reason is not being able to catch the tour times

NOTE: What I wrote above and especially what I said ‘I don’t think you need to take it up front’ are purely advisory opinions based on my own experience. If you have any problems later, I am not responsible.. Get them all ahead if you feel like it.. Similarly, you buy plane tickets in advance, then luckily, I don’t know how much the price of those tickets will decrease at the last minute, the final decision is yours

Now, let’s examine the regions that travelers visit the most, one by one, like i said i went to all of them. I recommend you to take a pen and paper, write it down or work on the excel document.. At the end of the article, I will share the summary of the table in the form of day-activity-accommodation that I shared in this article and as an example, you should try to come up with a similar table for your Philippines travel plan with the changes you want to make.

MANILA

After a long journey from your first departure point, your destination will probably be the capital city Manila.. If you have started to read blog posts about the Philippines, you must have seen that those who left slammed Manila on the ground, my opinion is no different on this matter.. Unless you’re in the mood to find cluttered Asian cities great or have a strong interest in prostitutes, use Manila for transfer only, that’s what I did. It would be nice to take it, you will see the Globe and Smart operators’ stands where you get off.. I bought a Globe 4 GB internet line, but both prices and quality were similar.. If you want minutes to talk, add that too, the internet was enough for me.

Saudia Airlines, which I used to fly to Manila, luckily had good food. .

Since you are going to switch from an international flight to a domestic flight in Manila, you need to change terminals and there are free shuttle services for this. When you get off, you ask where the shuttle is.. As I have seen for the first time, this terminal change is not done in or around the airport, and you go out and get involved in the city traffic or something, that was enough for me and I said, ‘I’m glad I missed this place’. >

I arrived in Manila with a connecting flight from Istanbul to Saudi Arabia and I had a waiting time of 5 hours due to the necessity of ‘not planning everything in a row’ as I said above.. While that 5 hours was too long, it was an endless journey when the next Air Asia flight was delayed by 3 hours.. It may be the same for you, get used to the worst case from the beginning so that you don’t lose your mood at the very beginning of the trip.

Your first domestic flight from Manila will be the start of your route.. I will tell you what I did, because on this route I found the most suitable combination of only direct flights on the dates that suit me.. You can change their place and order according to the flight ticket prices, or you can add or remove them according to your time and interests.

Even catering at the Saudia Airlines transfer point He even gave the package.

PALAWAN

Philippines We can easily say that Palawan is the first place that everyone who makes a trip should definitely discover.. There are three main points for the island of Palawan; Puerto Princesa, El Nido and Coron. I’ve explained each stop below and then added the summary information item by item.

In general, it is said that Puerto Princesa can be skipped and El Nido and Coron are sufficient, but El Nido airport is said to be sufficient. flights are very expensive. In addition, Puerto Princesa has the Underground River, which is under UNESCO protection and is considered one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature.. So instead of paying extra money for transportation to fly to El Nido, I chose to start my trip here and did not regret it.

First flight to take (Day 1): To Manila following arrival Manila – Puerto Princesa

One ​​full day is enough to take the Underground River tour in Puerto Princesa.

After arriving in Puerto Princesa, you need a day to do the Underground River tour I mentioned. I arrived in the city in the evening and stayed for one night, made this tour in the morning and when it was finished, I took my belongings from the hotel and set off for El Nido immediately.. It takes about 5 hours by road from Puerto Princesa to El Nido and the road is pretty bad, I don’t usually take medicine but people usually take anti-nausea pills.. When I set off after the tour, I arrived in El Nido in the middle of the night.

The hotel is in Puerto Princesa for day 1.. Click for Puerto Princesa hotels booking page.

To be arranged in Puerto Princesa (Day 2): Underground River tour and van transfer to El Nido after the tour (van transfer) = something like full). Organize both by buying them from the same place and quickly picking up your belongings from your hotel after the tour and then taking them to the van’s departure point.. There are a limited number of visitors to the Underground River every day, so if you’re going during peak season, you can email your hotel in advance and ask them to reserve your place.

The hotel for Day 6, Day 7, Day 8 (3 nights) is in Coron. Click for hotels in Coron.

Tours to be taken in Coron: Super Ultimate Tour for Day 7 (or one of the tours in the same category, they give a brochure there), for Day 8 Bought Island Escapade but don’t buy it instead arrange to go to Malcapuya Island, Firefly Tour for Day 7 or 8 evening.

In Coron one of the most enjoyable moments of my Island Escapade Tour..

Alternative: If one day is missing after planning your trip, you can take Day 8 out, but the islands around Coron and especially the Malcapuya Island that I recommend, do not take it off if you can, as it is a very beautiful place.

Time to leave Palawan after Coron, which is a fascinating island with beautiful beaches and lagoons.. The airport in Coron is called Busuanga or Francisco B with its long name and airport code. Don’t be surprised when Reyes Airport (USU) comes up with this name when searching for tickets.

CEBU – BOHOL

If you want to include Cebu and Bohol in your Philippines itinerary you will most likely have to go back and forth as I did; because although both have airports, it is a bit difficult to find affordable and direct flights from Bohol, personally I could not find it.. First, see if you can find a flight with Tagbilaran Airport (TAG) in Bohol according to the route you want, if you can’t find it, you can copy the route I made.

My advice is to take your flight to Cebu (Mactan – Cebu International Airport and airport code CEB) as early as possible and then continue to Bohol.. Because you missed the early morning hours that day, you will not be able to join any tour anyway, at least take the Bohol transportation on the same day so that you don’t lose the day again.. So I recommend arriving flight to Cebu plus continuing to Bohol on the same day.

For Bohol’s famous Chocolate Hills A one-day tour is enough.

The transportation between Cebu and Bohol is provided by ferry and takes two hours.. As I said at the beginning of the article, I did not buy the ferry tickets in advance and I found them there when I went, you can check the hours on Oceanjet’s site and try to adjust accordingly.. What you should pay attention to; one. Bohol is called Tagbilaran. 2nd. Your arrival time in Cebu should be 2 – 3 hours (or more) before the ferry you think you will board, as you will have to leave Cebu Airport and go to the ferry port and wait in line for tickets there.

After arriving in Bohol, check in to your hotel, have a look at the city and arrange your tour through the hotel for the next day; For Bohol this full day tour should suffice. Unlike in Palawan, there are no group tours here and you travel by yourself with a chauffeured vehicle, the tour content is generally the same.. So let’s continue from the day we left.

Second flight to take, early if possible (Day 9): Busuanga (Coron) – Cebu

Day 9: Morning flight to Cebu, then continue to ferry port and Oceanjet to Cebu – Tagbilaran ferry ride. Evening stroll in Bohol.

You can meet tiny tarsier monkeys in Bohol.

Day 10: Full-day tour of Chocolate Hills and tarsier monkeys in Bohol (Tarsier Sanctuary).

Day 9 and Hotel for day 10 (2 nights) in Tagbilaran, Bohol. Click for Tagbilaran hotels.

Now that we’re done in Bohol, we can go back to Cebu, you can get the Oceanjet ferry ticket for whatever you want in the morning when you return from the tour the previous day.. Since you arrive in Cebu at noon after a two-hour ferry ride, you will not be able to tour that day, so you will visit the area around the place where the explorer Magellan was killed (Macellan’s Cross) in Cebu.

Cebu, which is the second largest city in the Philippines after Manila, has whatever big city problems such as crowd, noise, traffic, air pollution, so I think this half-day trip will be enough.. It was nice that I stopped by the place called Cebu Sky Experience Adventure, which offers plenty of adrenaline, because it caught my attention.. You can do the same.

If you can arrange your time in Cebu, stop by a place called Sky Experience Adventure and save some adrenaline.

Cebu’s main event is swimming with whale sharks (Oslob Whale Shark Watching) and Tumalog and Kawasan Falls () in Oslob, far from the city centre. see strong>Tumalog Waterfall – Kawasan Waterfall. You can do all of them in the same day – even if it’s a bit tiring and you have to start the day at 3 in the morning – you can arrange the chauffeured vehicle for the next day with the help of your hotel, the same as in Bohol.

Day 11: Oceanjet Tagbilaran – Cebu ferry ride and cruise in Cebu. If interested Cebu Sky Experience Adventure

Day 12: Oslob Whale Shark Watching and Tumalog and Kawasan Falls sight seeing tour

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hotel for Day 11 and Day 12 (2 nights) in Cebu. Click for Cebu hotels.

Alternative 1:I counted two nights in Bohol and two nights in Cebu, because we lost days from intermediate transportation. If you wish, you can arrange your Cebu accommodation for 3 nights and try to arrange the day of your tour in Bohol by starting from Cebu and coming back to Cebu.. In other words, there are definitely those in Cebu who organize commuting ferries plus Bohol tour on the same day.. This way, you will make a profit one day and not change hotels, of course, it will be a little more tiring.

Don’t forget to add a little adrenaline while planning your Philippines trip. For swimming with whale sharks, the direction is Cebu-Oslob

Alternative 2: You have to end your trip here and time to Boracay Island, which I will tell next If you can’t find it, forget about the direct drive from Cebu to Bohol.. Travel around Cebu and arrive in Bohol as a final stop, but continue to Panglao Island instead of the Tagbilaran city center hotel I recommended above. Since Panglao Island is the sea sun spot in Bohol, you can stay here and take the Bohol Chocolate Hills and tarsier tour from Panglao Island.. For example, after spending 2 days for the sea-sun concept, you can find a flight to Manila from one of the Tagbilaran or Panglao Airports and complete your trip.. The plan then goes like this:

Day 9 Arrival in Cebu and Cebu hotel for Day 9 to Day 10, full day tour in Cebu at Day 10

Day 11 Cebu – Tagbilaran ferry ride by Oceanjet and continue from Tagbilaran to Panglao Island. The Bohol tour will be held on Day 12.

Day 11, Day 12 and the hotel will be on Panglao Island as long as you have time. Click for Panglao hotels.

Flight to Manila on the day of departure from Panglo Island and then return home.

If you are wondering about Boracay Island, one of the most famous islands in the world, like me, and you want to add Boracay while you are in the Philippines, I think there is no need for Panglao Island, after all, both are places where you can have a beach holiday with a similar concept.. That’s why I didn’t go to Panglao and continue with the plan without Panglao Island, so alternatively you can forget the part I wrote.

Cebu You will love Kawasan Falls on a full-day tour from .

BORACAY

How to get to Boracay has two answers; first and best is Caticlan Airport (Godofredo P. Ramos Airport), airport code MPH. After the Coron – Busuanga, Bohol – Tagbilaran confusion, as you can see here, Filipinos did not limit themselves to confusing such as choosing airport names differently from the names of cities we know, putting two unrelated names together and getting an even more irrelevant airport code from it I was quite confused on my way to tell you I’m explaining their names in detail.

Caticlan Airport is the closest to Boracay and you can easily reach Boracay Island from here. After looking at your flight ticket like this, try it with Kalibo International Airport (KLO), if there is a significant price difference, you can get it. In this case, your road will take 2-3 hours compared to Caticlan Airport, but since there are many people who do it this way, it is not a problem to go to Boracay from there.. Since I bought my domestic flight tickets two months in advance, I was able to find affordable tickets to Caticlan Airport, which is a better option.

Famous sunsets of Boracay, chosen as the most beautiful island..

If your primary goal for Boracay Island is to discover the famous parties and nightlife, the legendary Boracay You must stay close to White Beach. If, like me, your priority is to get enough of the deep blue waters that make Boracay one of the most beautiful island and best destinations in the world, to lie on its white sands, and more importantly, not to do these in the same place as 54395784895 people, then you should get away from these famous places.

I chose the hotel where I thought I would get tired at the end of my Philippines vacation (as you can see, I had a very busy schedule) and wanted to rest my head and end the holiday like that, as soon as I saw the photos I said ‘I should stay here’ and i am very satisfied. Since there are shuttle services to the center, which includes White Beach, I visited there, I looked at the nightlife, but I think it was a great blessing to be able to spend quiet time on the hotel’s private beach and hang out in the infinity pools that look great.. As a hotel recommendation, I include both this hotel where I stay and the hotels close to White Beach for friends who want to party.

Boracay’s I didn’t choose to stay there since the notorious White Beach looks like this during peak times.

Although there are tours and activities to do in Boracay, I’ve had enough of all of them now, so let’s get on the boat and go to the following: I focused on resting without forcing, as if I would go on a tour and visit this place a bit.. If you want to travel, you will see information about tours around D Mall and White Beach, that is, while you are visiting the center, you can choose the one you want.. I stayed 4 nights in Boracay and I think it’s ideal, of course everyone will plan differently depending on how much time they have.

Third flight to take (Day 13): Cebu – Flight Caticlan or Cebu – Kalibo

Day 13, Day 14 and hotel as long as you have time (great hotel where I stayed and takes up 15 percent of Boracay Island) : Fairways and Bluewater Newcoast Boracay

Click for hotel options close to White Beach (called Station 2).

Fourth flight to be taken (Last day): Caticlan – Manila or Kalibo – Manila flight (again, you choose according to the price situation, if it doesn’t make a big difference, Caticlan should be your priority.

Philippines travel plan, which I explained and made as an example in the article

Then, now the journey back home from Manila. Somehow, if your return journey from Manila is early in the morning or if you risk missing it because it is very consecutive with the return from Boracay, your accommodation close to Manila Airport will be fine. Since there is 6 hours between my return from Boracay and the return, it was enough for me to wait at the airport.

Click to see Manila hotels.

White Beach among Boracay hotels I was very pleased with this hotel, which has a shuttle service to . strong>If you found my article useful, don’t forget to share it on social media and follow Hayat ve Seyahat‘s social media accounts below to be informed about my new articles!

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