Seven thousand islands. You have ten days.
Which El Nido boat tour actually gets inside the lagoons. What the Oslob whale shark morning costs, and why the van leaves at four. Reviews of every tour you can book across the Philippines.
Four mornings that decide the rest of the trip.
A lagoon boat out of El Nido, a whale shark before breakfast in Cebu, the hills and tarsiers of Bohol, and the river that runs under a mountain. What each costs, and what people say afterward.
01The first boat dayIsland Hopping Tour A Lagoons and BeachesFour lagoons and a hidden beach off El Nido, on the route that fills up first. Take it on your first full morning, before the afternoon wind gets up.
02The four a.m. startWhale Shark Swimming & Kawasan Falls CanyoneeringOslob whale sharks at first light, then the Kawasan gorge after lunch. One very long day that clears both of Cebu’s headline acts.
03The day off the waterPremium Chocolate Hills, Tarsiers & River ExperienceChocolate Hills, a tarsier sanctuary and lunch floating down the Loboc. The inland day nobody comes back complaining about.
04The capped dayUnderground River Full-Day TripA navigable river running miles under a limestone mountain outside Puerto Princesa. Daily entry is capped, so this is the one to lock in early.
Manila lands you. Palawan, Cebu and the Visayas are why you came.
Karst lagoons out west, whale sharks and a gorge in the middle, a walled Spanish town at the top, and a surf island at the far end. Six bases, and the day out each one is known for.
El Nido, Coron, Boracay: the day starts on a wooden outrigger.
El Nido sells its lagoon runs by letter — A through D, each a different set of coves. Coron takes you to a lake inside a crater and a wreck in shallow water. Boracay hops the reef and puts lunch on the sand. Same boat, four completely different days.
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · Island Hopping Tour A Lagoons and Beaches
Island hoppingLettered lagoon routes off El Nido, reef stops off Boracay.
Whole days afloatKayangan Lake, sunken wrecks, sunset decks off White Beach.
SnorkelingGreen turtles at Apo, Balicasag and the Moalboal drop-off.
DivingWall dives at Pescador, Coron wrecks, courses off Boracay.
See all 77 days afloat →
The most-booked days out in the Philippines.
Every Philippine tour, in one list →More travelers take these than anything else in the country, and what earns each one its place.
1
Island Hopping Tour A Lagoons and Beaches
Review of El Nido Tour A, covering lagoons, beaches, snorkeling, lunch, extra fees, crowds, guides, and value at $23.
From · $23
Read the 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
from $142
7
Cebu Moalboal: Kawasan Canyoneering Adventure with Lunch
from $47
8
El Nido Island Hopping Tour C: Hidden Beaches & Shrine
from $29
Cebu keeps the whale sharks, the sardines and the gorge.
Oslob puts you in the water with butanding at sunrise. An hour up the coast a permanent ball of sardines turns over the drop-off at Moalboal. Inland, the Kawasan gorge gets jumped, slid and swum down in a helmet. Most people manage two of the three in one long day.
What a day out in the Philippines actually costs.
Every tour on the site, sorted by price. A surprising number of the best ones come in under the fare for a taxi across Manila.
City walks, lagoon boats, firefly cruises and the short hops out of Puerto Princesa and Boracay.
Full days: Oslob and Kawasan back to back, the Bohol countryside from Cebu, Tagaytay and Taal.
Private bangkas, the multi-day run between El Nido and Coron, dive courses, and the drive north to Banaue.
Palawan is a province doing an impression of a postcard.
El Nido runs boats to lagoons you have to swim into. Coron hides a lake behind a limestone wall and wrecks under forty feet of water. Between them, Port Barton and Honda Bay sell a similar day for about half the money.
Every Palawan day out →
Four things here run out before you land.
Most of this country can be arranged over breakfast. These four run on daily permit caps, sunrise departures and boats that leave whether or not you are on them.
- 01Underground River Full-Day TripThe park caps how many people go up the cave each day and the permits are held by operators. Turn up without one and you are looking at the coast instead.
- 02Whale Shark Swimming & Kawasan Falls CanyoneeringOslob runs its interactions in the early morning only. Vans leave Cebu City around four, and the later you book the further back in the queue you swim.
- 03Island Hopping Tour A Lagoons and BeachesEl Nido caps the boats on each lettered route, so Tour A goes first in the dry season. A rough sea cancels the lot with no notice.
- 04Small-Group Weekend Hiking Tour to Banaue-Ifugao from ManilaThe rice terraces are nine hours north of Manila on a night bus, on a fixed departure. Not a decision you make the same week.
When the habagat blows, the bangkas stay on the beach.
From June to November the southwest monsoon sits over the west coast, and a storm can shut every boat in a province for two days at a stretch. The answer is always the same: go inland, or go under a roof. Walled streets, a river cruise with a canopy, a kitchen, a market hall.
Three things you can only do in the Philippines.
Beaches and reefs are everywhere in Southeast Asia. Fifteen hundred identical hills that turn brown in April, a river running for miles under a mountain, and a permanent wall of sardines you swim to from the sand are not.
The Chocolate Hills
Around fifteen hundred near-identical limestone mounds sit in the middle of Bohol, under grass that burns brown at the end of the dry season and gives the range its name. Geologists still argue about how they formed. Every countryside tour stops at the same viewing deck above them, generally before lunch on the Loboc river.
- 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 River Under the Mountain
Outside Puerto Princesa a river runs several miles into a limestone karst and back out to the sea, and you go up it in a paddled boat with a lamp. The cave is full of swiftlets and bats, the guide keeps the light low, and the whole thing runs on a daily visitor cap that operators hold on your behalf.
- 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 Moalboal Sardine Run
Twenty yards off the Moalboal shoreline the reef drops away and a ball of sardines turns in the current — millions of them, resident all year. You swim out from the beach. No boat, no tank, no season to wait for. Green turtles work the same drop-off, largely unimpressed.
- 1Oslob Whale Sharks, Tumalog Falls & Sardine Snorkeling★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 343 reviews
- 2Oslob Whale Sharks, Moalboal Sardine Run & Turtles★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 266 reviews
- 3Whale Shark & Tumalog Falls & Sumilon Sandbar & Pescador Island with Sardines★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 223 reviews
Manila is a walled Spanish town inside a city of fourteen million.
Intramuros came through four centuries and one catastrophic month in 1945, and what is left gets walked, cycled or pedaled through on a bamboo bike. Past the walls: the oldest Chinatown anywhere, a street-food crawl through Binondo, and Taal’s crater lake ninety minutes south.
- 1Intramuros, Manila: Historical Bamboo Bike Tourfrom $27
- 2Experience Intramuros with Bamboo Bicycle – Ecotoursfrom $39
- 3Intramuros, Chinatown, and Old Manila Half-Day Tourfrom $68
By island — where you will actually be
By kind of day — boat, reef, gorge or old town
Manila, Palawan, Cebu, Bohol, Boracay: the route most first trips take.
The latest reviews, from Manila down to Siargao.
Further back →
Embark on a 7-Day Banaue-Sagada Adventure of a Lifetime
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Philippines Intro 3 days 2 nights Tour Best of Manila and Beyond
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Private Boracay Helicopter Tour with Hotel Pick Up
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Sohoton Cove: Swim with Jellyfish & Explore Hidden Lagoons
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Siquijor Mountain Day Tour From Dumaguete (Private Tour)
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Oslob Whale Shark, Sumilon, Ruins, Simala Church
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Oslob Whale Shark, Simala Church & Ka Treasure Argao
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Pagsanjan Falls Adventure with Lunch and Rapids Experience
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Moalboal Island Hopping & Kawasan Falls Adventure
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