Where to go
Palawan
El Nido and Coron for limestone karst, lagoons and wreck diving; the Puerto Princesa underground river is a World Heritage site. Consistently rated among the best islands in the world, and increasingly busy — go outside Holy Week. Five to seven days.
The Banaue and Batad rice terraces
Two thousand years old, carved into the Cordillera mountains and a World Heritage site. Batad is the more spectacular and requires a walk to reach. The bus from Manila is an overnight journey; the reward is a landscape unlike anywhere else in Asia.
Bohol and Cebu
The Chocolate Hills, tarsier sanctuaries, and the diving and whale sharks off Cebu. Well connected and easy to combine, which makes this the standard first-island trip. Five days.
Siargao
Surfing at Cloud 9, lagoons and a slower rhythm, with direct flights from Manila and Cebu. It has grown quickly but remains gentler than Boracay.
Vigan and the north
A World Heritage colonial town with cobbled streets and Spanish-era houses, plus Sagada's hanging coffins and the mountain province. The cultural counterweight to the islands.
Manila
Intramuros, the walled Spanish city, the National Museum complex — free and excellent — and the food. Most visitors transit; a day and a half rewards those who stop.
Building the itinerary
- Three stops a week, no more. Every move costs half a day at minimum, often a whole one, and you see nothing of a place where you sleep one night.
- Alternate the pace. A dense city, then two quiet days: that is what makes travelling as a couple sustainable, especially if one of you lives there and works.
- Keep a buffer day before the flight home, in the departure city. Domestic transport delays are the leading cause of missed flights.
- Ask the person who lives there what they want to show you. Guidebook itineraries and the places that matter to them rarely overlap — and the second list is the better one.
Two reflexes that change a trip
Distances deceive. On a map two points look close; on the ground, road conditions, checkpoints and terrain double or triple the time. Plan fewer stops and more time at each.
Ask before photographing anyone, and never insist. Official buildings, soldiers, airports and bridges are best avoided almost everywhere — the most banal and most avoidable source of trouble.