Philippines Itineraries: 7, 10, 14-Day Routes Through Palawan and Cebu

The classic first week. Fly into Puerto Princesa, work north to El Nido for the Bacuit Bay lagoons, cross by fast ferry to Coron for wrecks and lakes, and fly out of Busuanga. The route runs south to north so that the long van ride comes early, when you are fresh, and the ferry crossing falls on a morning with no onward connection to miss. If you have six days rather than seven, drop Coron and fly out of El Nido on AirSWIFT; if the Coron-El Nido ferry is cancelled by weather, the fallback is an extra El Nido night and a Puerto Princesa van, so keep day 7 free of fixed bookings.

Pace: two boat days, two travel days, no day with more than one transfer. Cost: ₱28,000-38,000 (US$490-670) on a budget with fan rooms, shared vans and group tours; ₱60,000-85,000 ($1,050-1,500) mid-range with air-con hotels, a private Coron boat and the odd flight instead of the van. Divers add ₱3,500-4,500 per two-tank day in Coron.

The Visayas loop needs no flights after you land. Cebu gives you waterfalls, sardines and lechon; Bohol gives you the Chocolate Hills, tarsiers and Panglao’s beaches; Siquijor gives you an empty island to ride round on a scooter. Every hop is a two-hour ferry or a three-hour bus, English is universal and the distances are short enough that a cancelled sailing costs you an afternoon rather than a day. Fly out from Dumaguete, 50 minutes from Siquijor by ferry, or ferry back to Cebu for an international departure from Mactan.

Pace: one transfer every two or three days, nothing before 7 am except the Pamilacan dolphins. Cost: ₱35,000-48,000 (US$610-840) budget; ₱75,000-105,000 ($1,300-1,850) mid-range. Swap Oslob’s fed whale sharks, which this site does not recommend, for an extra night in Moalboal.

Rice terraces, Spanish Manila, Cebu’s reefs, Bohol and a Palawan finale. This is the route for a once-in-a-lifetime fortnight and it involves two internal flights and one night bus. The order matters: do the Cordillera first while you are fresh and the mountain nights feel like a reward rather than a shock, then let the second week slow down as the beaches get better. Book the night bus and the two flights before you leave home; everything else can be arranged a day ahead.

Pace: brisk in the first week, with one night bus and three early starts, then a beach every second day. Cost: ₱62,000-85,000 (US$1,090-1,490) budget; ₱130,000-185,000 ($2,280-3,250) mid-range including the two or three domestic flights, which eat ₱8,000-15,000 of the total. Bohol-Panglao airport now has direct Cebu Pacific flights to Manila, so a tighter version drops Palawan and flies out of Bohol on day 12.

For surfers and anyone who wants the islands most first-timers skip. Siargao has Cloud 9 and a lagoon-and-sandbar coast; Camiguin is a volcano island with hot springs, a sunken cemetery and a white sandbar, three hours apart by road and ferry via Surigao and Cagayan de Oro. Go from September to November for the surf, or March to June for flatter water and snorkelling.

Pace: slow, with one long transfer day. Cost: ₱30,000-42,000 (US$530-740) budget; ₱65,000-95,000 ($1,140-1,670) mid-range. Siargao’s environmental fee and the island-hopping fees are cash only, and ATMs on both islands run dry at weekends, so arrive with pesos.

The cost lines above assume two people sharing a room and exclude international flights, dive courses and souvenirs; a solo traveller should add 20-30% for single rooms and private tricycles. Rooms are the variable that moves the total most: a fan room with a shared bathroom in El Nido or General Luna costs ₱800-1,500 (US$14-26) a night, an air-conditioned double with breakfast ₱2,500-4,500, and a beachfront resort on Panglao or in Coron ₱6,000-15,000. Island-hopping boats are priced per boat, so two people pay the same as six; join a group tour at ₱1,200-1,500 a head in El Nido or share a private boat if you are four or more. Food is cheap everywhere: ₱150-300 for a carinderia meal, ₱400-800 in a tourist restaurant, ₱80-120 for a beer.

To cut costs, travel between mid-June and early September when room rates fall 20-40% and Cebu Pacific runs fare sales, take the bus or van where the table offers a flight as an alternative, and carry cash in ₱500 notes, since island ATMs charge ₱250 a withdrawal and often run empty. Environmental and terminal fees add up: budget ₱1,500-2,500 per person across a two-week trip for El Nido’s eco fee, Siargao’s environmental fee, marine sanctuary charges and port terminal fees, all payable in cash.

Flights. Cebu Pacific has the most routes and the lowest base fares, Philippine Airlines the most reliable schedule, AirAsia Philippines a handful of trunk routes, and AirSWIFT the small planes into El Nido. Base fares include no checked bag; add 15-20 kg for ₱700-1,500 at booking rather than ₱2,000 or more at the airport. Morning flights are cancelled far less often than afternoon ones in the wet season, when Manila’s thunderstorms stack up delays. Allow 3 hours between a domestic arrival and an international departure at NAIA; the terminals are separate buildings linked by a slow shuttle.

Ferries. OceanJet is the main fast-ferry operator in the Visayas (Cebu-Tagbilaran, Tagbilaran-Siquijor, Siquijor-Dumaguete, Cebu-Ormoc), bookable online or at the pier; tourist class is worth the extra ₱200 for the air-conditioning. 2GO runs the big overnight ships from Manila to Cebu (22 hours) and Coron (14 hours), a cheap way to move with luggage if you have the time. Montenegro Lines and Phimal share the Coron-El Nido fast ferry, which runs daily in the dry season and is the first service cancelled when seas get rough; if it is cancelled, the alternative is a flight via Manila or a two-day wait. Every port charges a terminal fee of ₱15-50 in cash and asks for ID.

Land. Shared vans leave when full from each town’s terminal and are faster but more cramped than buses. Ceres buses on Cebu and Negros are air-conditioned and frequent; the Cebu South Bus Terminal serves Moalboal, Oslob and the Liloan ferry to Negros. For Manila-Banaue the night buses are the only sensible option and sell out before holidays. On the islands, a scooter at ₱350-500 a day is the way to move, but you need a valid licence, a helmet and the nerve for unlit roads; tricycle drivers will happily be your driver for the day for ₱1,000-1,500.

First-timers and nervous travellers: do the 7-day Palawan or the 10-day Visayas route exactly as written, stay in El Nido town or Panglao’s Alona Beach where everything is walkable, and book tours through your hotel rather than on the beach. Add one night in Manila at the start to recover from the flight, not at the end.

Families: Bohol and Panglao are the easiest base for children, with shallow beaches, short drives and the tarsiers and Chocolate Hills in one day; Coron’s lakes involve steep steps and Siquijor’s roads are not for small pillion passengers. Cut the 14-day route to Manila, Cebu, Moalboal and Bohol, drop the night bus, and fly rather than ferry where there is a choice. Resorts in Panglao and Moalboal have family rooms from ₱4,000 ($70).

Typhoon season (June to November): keep the itinerary to one island group, favour Palawan or the Cebu-Bohol corridor, which are hit less often than Bicol, Samar or Siargao, and never chain a ferry and a flight on the same day. Build two spare days into any two-week plan and spend them at the end near your departure airport. Davao and Camiguin are good September bases precisely because typhoons rarely reach them.

Slow travel and longer stays: with three or four weeks, give Palawan ten days (add Culion and the Linapacan islands between Coron and El Nido on a multi-day expedition boat), spend a week on Siquijor or Siargao doing nothing in particular, and add Vigan and the Ilocos coast to the Cordillera leg. Nomads and surfers settle into General Luna on Siargao or Moalboal for a month at a time; rooms by the month cost ₱15,000-30,000.

Divers: base in Moalboal (sardines and Pescador), Panglao (Balicasag), Coron (the Japanese wrecks of 1944) or Anilao two hours from Manila, and plan the Tubbataha liveaboard from Puerto Princesa only between mid-March and mid-June. Dumaguete and Dauin are the muck-diving capital and slot into the end of the Visayas route.

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