El Nido lagoons
Manila is where you land. The Philippines starts at a jetty.
Which El Nido lagoon tour actually stops long enough to swim. What the Underground River permit involves. Whether Oslob is worth a two in the morning alarm. Reviews of every tour you can book across the country.
Oslob whale sharks
El Nido, the Underground River, Oslob, Bohol, Intramuros.
The five bookings a first Philippine itinerary hangs off. What each one costs, and what the travellers who took it say.
- 01The lagoon dayIsland Hopping Tour A Lagoons and BeachesTour A out of El Nido: the Big Lagoon, the Small Lagoon and a beach lunch off the back of the boat. The one everybody comes to Palawan for.
02The cave riverUnderground River Full-Day TripPaddled into the limestone north of Puerto Princesa, under a ceiling of bats. Permit numbers are capped, so the date is decided long before you arrive.
03The long Cebu dayWhale Shark Swimming & Kawasan Falls CanyoneeringWhale sharks off Oslob at first light, then over the ridge to canyoneer down to Kawasan Falls. Two headline mornings welded into one.
04Bohol in a loopPremium Chocolate Hills, Tarsiers & River ExperienceThe Chocolate Hills viewpoint, the tarsiers at Corella and lunch floating down the Loboc. A full island in a single drive.
05The Manila morningIntramuros, Manila: Historical Bamboo Bike TourIntramuros on a bamboo bicycle, through the Spanish grid and out along the walls before the heat arrives.
Lagoon hop, island hop, or a deck at sunset. Pick the day.
More of this country is reached by hull than by road, and the bangka with its bamboo outriggers is the family car. Three kinds of day afloat, what it costs to board each one, and which island it belongs to.
Choose the island first. The boat timetable decides everything after that.
Cebu for the whale sharks and the canyon, Manila for the walled city and the volcano south of it, Bohol for hills and tarsiers, El Nido and Coron for the lagoons, Boracay for the beach that started the whole industry. Six places, and the best day out in each.
Cebu owns the two best mornings in the country, four hours apart.
Everything in Cebu →
South before dawn to Oslob for the whale sharks, then back over the ridge to Moalboal and the canyon above Kawasan. Plenty of people try to do both in one day, and the buses are built around exactly that. These three carry more travellers than anything else on the island.
Oslob whale sharks, and the two a.m. question
The bus leaves Cebu City in the middle of the night so you reach Tan-awan for one of the first briefings. Interaction slots are capped and run in short turns, and the boats are finished by late morning. Arranging it yourself buys you the same alarm clock.
Canyoneering down to Kawasan Falls
A guided descent of the Matutinao river canyon, sliding and jumping down to the turquoise pools under the falls. Every jump has a walk-around for anyone who would rather not, and the route closes whenever heavy rain puts the river up.
The Moalboal sardine run, straight off the sand
Millions of sardines hold station a few strokes off Panagsama Beach and stay there most of the year. Fins, a mask and a short swim; the turtles graze the same stretch of reef. No early start and no boat fee.
The days out more travellers take than anything else in the Philippines.
Every Philippine tour we have reviewed →What earns each of them the slot, what it costs, and where in the country it happens.
1
Island Hopping Tour A Lagoons and Beaches
Spend eight hours touring Bacuit Bay with a licensed English or Tagalog-speaking guide. Swim, snorkel, and kayak at up to four stops, including the Secret Lagoon, Big Lagoon, Shimizu Island, and Seven Commandos Beach. Guides such as Buddy, Dexter, John, and Mark are praised for helping with photos, safety, and kayaking.
From · $23
Read our review →
2
Underground River Full-Day Trip
from $48
3
Premium Chocolate Hills, Tarsiers & River Experience
from $43
4
Coron Ultimate Tour: 7 Destinations with Lunch & Transfers
from $46
5
Whale Shark Swimming & Kawasan Falls Canyoneering
from $124
6
Private Boat Hire with Guided Tour and Lunch on Beach
7
Cebu Moalboal: Kawasan Canyoneering Adventure with Lunch
from $47
8
El Nido Island Hopping Tour C: Hidden Beaches & Shrine
from $29
Waterfalls are the other half of a Philippine trip.
Canyons you climb down instead of walking to, a river you swim out of, falls with a bamboo raft parked underneath and lunch on it. Cebu runs the famous one above Kawasan, but Bohol, Laguna and Palawan all keep their own.
Whale sharks, a wall of sardines, and reefs you can reach from the sand.
The country sits inside the Coral Triangle, which is why the snorkeling here outclasses the diving almost anywhere else. Start with a mask and fins; the tank can wait until Coron.
Palawan is three separate trips doing an impression of one island.
El Nido sells its boat days by letter, A to D, and they are genuinely different water. Coron dives Japanese wrecks and swims in a lake ringed by karst. Puerto Princesa sits between the two with the cave river. The road joining them is long; the flight is twenty minutes.
Every Palawan day out →
Manila keeps its best hour inside a wall.
Intramuros is a Spanish grid of stone and cobbles you can ride round on a bamboo bicycle, with the oldest Chinatown on earth a bridge away and a market lunch in the middle of it. Two hours south the road climbs to Tagaytay, where a volcano sits in a lake inside another volcano.
- 1Intramuros, Manila: Historical Bamboo Bike Tourfrom $27
- 2Experience Intramuros with Bamboo Bicycle – Ecotoursfrom $39
- 3Intramuros, Chinatown, and Old Manila Half-Day Tourfrom $68
What a day out in the Philippines actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by what you pay per head. A good number of the best days here cost less than the hop between the islands to reach them.
Shore snorkeling, city walks, waterfall runs and most of the lettered boat days out of El Nido.
The full-day standards: Oslob and Kawasan combined, the Bohol countryside loop, the Underground River with transfers.
Private bangkas, multi-day island expeditions and the liveaboard end of the diving.
Three things that happen nowhere else on earth.
Beaches and boat trips run the length of Southeast Asia. A navigable river under a mountain, a thousand hills that turn cocoa brown, and a primate that fits in a cupped hand do not.
The Chocolate Hills
More than a thousand limestone mounds stand across the middle of Bohol, evenly spaced enough that people keep insisting somebody planted them. They are green for most of the year and go cocoa brown at the end of the dry season, which is where the name came from. The same loop calls at the sanctuary in Corella, where tarsiers small enough to sit in a cupped hand cling to the undergrowth and object strongly to noise.
- 1Premium Chocolate Hills, Tarsiers & River Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 804 reviews
- 2Bohol Countryside Tour with Loboc Cruise Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 488 reviews
- 3Chocolate Hills and Countryside Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 175 reviews
The Underground River
A navigable river runs more than eight kilometres beneath the limestone north of Puerto Princesa, and paddle boats take visitors into the first stretch of it. Entry is permit-controlled with a daily cap, so the date is settled well before anybody reaches the jetty at Sabang. The guides run the lamp along the ceiling to show you the bats, and everyone goes very quiet.
- 1Underground River Full-Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 1,460 reviews
- 2Underground River Day Trip from Puerto Princesa City★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 261 reviews
- 3Underground River Guided Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 167 reviews
The Sardine Run
A school of sardines deep enough to block out the sun holds station a few strokes off Panagsama Beach in Moalboal. No boat, no crossing, no early start: you walk in from the sand with a mask on. It turns as one animal when you swim into it, and it has stayed put for years, which is rare for anything wild and free.
- 1Oslob Whale Sharks, Tumalog Falls & Sardine Snorkeling★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 343 reviews
- 2Oslob Whale Sharks, Moalboal Sardine Run & Turtles★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 266 reviews
- 3Whale Sharks, Kawasan Falls, & Sardines Run Snorkeling★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 114 reviews
Four Philippine bookings that will not wait.
Most of this country can be arranged over breakfast for the same afternoon. These four run on permits, dawn departures and a coastguard who decides whether the boats sail at all.
- 01Underground River Full-Day TripEntry runs on a permit with a daily visitor cap, issued before you turn up. Without one the jetty at Sabang is the end of the trip.
- 02Oslob Whale Sharks, Tumalog Falls & Sardine SnorkelingInteraction slots are capped and the boats are done by late morning, which is why the bus out of Cebu City leaves in the dark. There is no afternoon version.
- 03Whale Shark Swimming & Kawasan Falls CanyoneeringGuide numbers on the canyon route are limited, and the whole descent closes whenever heavy rain puts the river up.
- 04Island Hopping Tour A Lagoons and BeachesEvery lettered boat tour needs the eco-tourism development certificate, and the coastguard grounds the fleet the moment the swell comes up.
When the coastguard grounds the boats, the day goes inland.
The habagat runs roughly June to October and brings the rain and the typhoons with it. From November the amihan blows cool and hard out of the north-east, which is glorious on a beach and awkward in a small boat. Either way the answer is the same: keep a land day in reserve and take it when the jetty goes quiet.
By place — islands and cities
By kind of day — boat, reef, canyon or city
Manila, Cebu, Bohol, Boracay, then Palawan: the loop almost everybody does first.
The newest Philippine tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Puerto Princesa Honda Bay Island Hopping Shore Excursion
Read our review →
Breathtaking Cultural Experience in Villa Escudero
Read our review →
Skip the Line: Villa Escudero Plantation & Resort Day Pass Ticket
Read our review →
Twin Lagoon and Skeleton Wreck Cruise with Lunch
Read our review →
Kayangan Lake, Twin Lagoon, and Siete Pecados Tour
Read our review →
Island Hopping with Buffet Lunch & ATV Adventure
Read our review →
Private Balicasag Tour with extra snorkeling time
Read our review →