Two Weeks Island Hopping in the Philippines
Let’s go to the beach
For our fifth annual girls trip, we headed back to Asia to travel to the beautiful islands of the Philippines. One thing about my friend group is that we are going to see as much of the country as possible when we visit, even if that means taking eight flights in two weeks. If we are traveling 24 hours one way, we are going to make the most of it. This trip was beautiful and well worth the long flight to get there.
Day One: Manila
We left the US at an odd hour of the morning with a layover in Hong Kong, arriving in Manila 24 hours later. We decided to not waste time in Manila as we heard it’s just another city, so we caught yet another flight to Coron. To prepare, we filled out the mandatory arrival ecard up 5 days in advance and looked into how to transfer from the international terminal, terminal 3, to domestic terminal 2. It either requires a shuttle that runs every 30 minutes or taking a taxi 10 minutes down the freeway. We left three hours between flights to ensure enough time to transfer and it was more than enough since customs was a breeze. After finally landing in Coron, we checked into Kokosnuss Garden Resort in Coron Town.
Day Two: Coron, Palawan
Our first full day in the Philippines, we booked an island hopping tour in advance. The Super Ultimate Tour was $32/person and around 8 hours long. The tour includes: Kayangan Lake, Barracuda Lake, Twin Lagoons, Beach 91, Balinsasayaw Reef, Twin Peaks Coral Garden, and CYC Beach. Essentially all the hot spots surrounding Coron. We snorkeled coral gardens and swam in brackish water, looking for barracudas. There were gorgeous beaches, lagoons, and islands. This tour was a great way to kick off our trip. For dinner, we went to a vegan restaurant, Verde Rekado, right as the sun was setting. It’s the kind of place that requires shoes off at the door and patrons sit on little chair cushions on the floor. They served traditional Filipino dishes that were all vegan and we shared a variety of them.
Note: Coron is a smaller island that only takes cash.
Day Three: Coron, Palawan
Unfortunately, I got food poisoning from mindlessly brushing my teeth with the sink water the night before and had to stay back on our planned activity for the day. The other girls went scuba diving with Reggae Dive Center and had a great time. That is until two of them got sick on the boat and ended up having food poisoning as well. I had recovered by dinner time, so the last one standing and I went to the Full Lotus Mindful Kitchen for dinner. We sat outside and watched the sunset with our vegetarian plates inspired from around the world. However, our strongest warrior got sick that night as well, so we all eventually succumbed to the tap water in Coron.
Day Four: El Nido, Palawan
We persevered and got up early to take the 6 am ferry to El Nido. I booked tickets on 12.Go for Judy Ferry Travel on Montenegro Ferry Line, but they’re also available at the port. We got a tricycle to take us to the ferry terminal for $7 and showed them our e-tickets so they could give us physical ones. They checked our small bags, had a good dog sniff our backpacks and sent us off. There was no food for sale on the ferry besides cup-o-noodles and the ferry was decently small given the distance it had to go. The journey from Coron to El Nido is around 5 hours.
Once we arrived in El Nido, we made our way to Nacpan Beach for a night of Glamping. We checked into Nacpan and took a van 40 minutes back into El Nido town to explore a bit. Near the beach, we found Happiness Cafe and stopped for lunch. After walking around town, we stumbled upon a rooftop bar called Oz Rooftop Bar. It was happy hour and we were the only people up there so we got the whole place to ourselves. They have a big net overlooking the ocean and a small pool located in the sun with a floating unicorn. El Nido is a backpacker party destination, but we still weren’t feeling up to drinking much yet, so we got a transfer back to our hotel from one of the many island tour places and sat by the pool. Nacpan Glamping Resort is absolutely beautiful, so we wanted to spend ample time there. Our day ended with a walk on the beach at sunset, dinner at the resort and roasting a marshmallow at the bonfire they host every night.
Day Five: El Nido, Palawan
We booked a private island hopping Tour A in advance, which took us to Small Lagoon, Big Lagoon, Secret Lagoon, Shimizu Beach, and Commando Beach. This tour is wildly popular, so we booked the counterclockwise private tour to try to avoid the crowds. Our guide, Jerick, was phenomenal and we had so much fun with him. We snorkeled, swam in the ocean, and went through openings in the rocks to find hidden lagoons. At big and small lagoon, men come up the boats with double kayaks for rent for 300 pesos. Kayaking is the only way to see these lagoons and it is well worth the rental. The water is crystal clear and the view is gorgeous. That night, we checked into El Nido Mahogany Beach Resort for our final stay in El Nido. We had welcome drinks at the resort bar and made our way down the beach to find another beach bar for dinner.
Day Six: Cebu
After many issues with our original flight from El Nido to Cebu, we had to rebook a separate ticket with Kiwi in order to get us there. There are direct flights some days, but of course not on the day we had planned for. We landed in Cebu at 2 pm and checked into Bai Hotel Cebu in Cebu City for the next two nights. Cebu is a large city and isn’t worth staying in aside from being the hub for various excursions. We got food and drinks at the rooftop pool bar and then ordered a snack on Grab for dinner before bed.
Day Seven: Cebu
Our first helmet activity of the trip was canyoneering at Kawasan Falls. My friends and I love any tour that involves looking dorky, and this was certainly no exception. We booked through this company, it included lunch, and round trip transfer from Cebu City. We were picked up from the lobby at 5 am and arrived in Badian at 8 am. Our guide was the sweetest human and took so many photos and videos of us throughout the day. We hadn’t known what canyoneering really was prior to this, but it involved trekking, swimming, climbing, and cliff jumping. After lunch, they brought us back to our hotel in Cebu. We had dinner near the hotel and found a rooftop bar that let us play our own music since we were the only ones there. Then we headed back to Bai Hotel and had a nightcap overlooking the city at their rooftop bar.
Day Eight: Cebu → Malapascua Island
Another early morning van transfer brought us to a boat to Malapascua Island, where we were staying at Evolution dive resort for the next two nights. The resort has gorgeous white sand beaches, great food with tons of vegetarian options, and excellent dive masters. They arranged the transport from our hotel to the island and back and had a ton of dive offerings. We decided to dive right away when we arrived and got our briefing for the 5 am dive the following morning.
Day Nine: Malapascua Island
Getting up at 4 am is easy when you know you’re about to swim with sharks in the wild. We did two deep dives to 28 meters and ended up seeing about 15+ thresher sharks. These harmless guys have a permanently anxious expression, rendering them cute and non threatening to humans. We were in awe at how many sharks swam right by us and how majestic they were up close. That dive alone was worth the trip to the Philippines. We did two additional dives that day and got happy hour at the resort that night.
Of note, we did not swim or dive with whale sharks in Oslob, Cebu like many blogs and itineraries recommend. After researching what it’s like and reading testimonials from people who have done it, it is clearly unethical tourism and we decided not to participate. According to many marine conservation organizations, they chum the whale sharks and create an unauthentic experience exploiting sharks to generate income. Feeding the sharks like this can cause malnutrition and illness, change their behavior, and impact their migration pattern which will decrease breeding and cause this endangered animal more harm.
Day Ten: Cebu
In the morning, we got on a boat to land to transfer back to Cebu City. We stayed at Dusit Thani Mactan Cebu Resort, an expansive 5-star resort overlooking the ocean. We were just in Cebu for the night as a layover period, so the resort was a nice way to relax. It was pretty inexpensive and we loved watching the sunset from the massive pool.
Day Eleven: Boracay
We took a short flight to our final stop of the trip, Boracay, to see the famous white sand beaches. A tricycle took us from the airport to the ferry terminal, where we had to join the chaotic crowd to buy tickets. There are three separate booths with environmental fees, terminal fees, and boat fees - totaling around $10 a person. We made our way through the stations as efficiently as possible and got on the next boat out. Luckily, boats run very frequently during high time so we left right away. We stayed in a cheap Airbnb in Station 2, the part of the island with the most bars and restaurants. Our only plan for the night was to wander the beach bars and we ended up having a lot of fun.
Day Twelve: Boracay
On our last full day in the Philippines, we took a tricycle about 20 minutes to Puka Beach, the origin place of puka shell necklaces. The vendors pick tiny puka shells off the beach to make into jewelry, and that alone was worth the trip. For lunch, we ventured back to Cha Cha’s Beach Cafe in Station 2. When in southeast Asia, a massage is a necessity and there are tons to choose from. We picked one off the beach for around $22 for a 60 minute massage. My friends surprised me and celebrated my birthday early, so we finished our night with one final dinner at Lemoni Cafe and Restaurant.
Final Day: Flight from Boracay → Manila → America
We returned to Lemoni Cafe for breakfast and to say goodbye to all the kitties that hang around the restaurant. We then got a tricycle to take us to the ferry port, went through a less chaotic system to get tickets to the ferry back to Caticlan, where the airport is. We flew from Caticlan to Manila and got on our flights back to America. That was a wrap on this magical trip to the Philippines! Just don’t brush your teeth with the tap water!