In 2025 during our world trip, our next destination was waiting ahead. Starting in China, south to Indonesia, followed by a short stop back home to see our familes (as my father was battling cancer). We spent 10 days together in Italy, with my and Vanessa’s parents. Following that trip, we headed back to Japan (as I’ve already talked about in my last Japan post), and from “Nippon” we moved to a long awaiting untraveled destination: The Philippines.
It was hard to guess, what we’d would expect, as we’d been to most Asian countries already. Would it be a mix of Thailand and Indonesia? Or maybe Laos-like? All we knew, was that the photos we saw online were mesmerizing.
We started our trip with a brief stop in Manilla, where we landed, jumped into a cab, and went straight to the next airport, to move on to El Nido.
It already got off to a bad start. As soon as we were sitting in the cab, the cab driver started talking about the “wealth” and standard of living in European countries. He pointed at luxurious hotels from his seat while driving through Manila. At some point, he entered a gas station and told us “You can pay for my gas now”. The way he acted, I decided to kindly decline his offer. I’m usually very willing to help with tips or donations, however this man seemed very disrespectful. The clerk at the station somehow refused to serve him, as he maybe could tell what all this was about.
Dropping us in front of the next terminal, he asked around 30$ for a 7-minute drive. I told him that I refused to pay that amount and that he should call the cops. He lowered the price until we agreed to pay 12 or 14$, as I wasn’t sure how much taxis would cost in the Philippines. Five minutes later, Vanessa, went to a tiny shop inside the airport to get some water & cookies. She wanted to pay with a higher bill (10$ worth), the cashier just turned his back, and ignored her. No words. Nothing. Just making her understand, they wouldn’t accept a 10$ bill.
All that seemed like a great start in the Philippines.
El Nido.
When we arrived at El Nido’s Airport, it reminded us of Cambodia or Laos. Lots of palm trees, very old vehicles to pick up the passengers. They were driving motorbikes that were transformed into very bad tuk-tuks (rickshaws). We needed two of those to carry our luggage to our accommodation.
After checking in at our rented house, we went for a stroll through the city center. The area looked rough, even though we were right in the city center, very close to the beach. Cockroaches everywhere, constructions around every corner. Almost every restaurant's Google review was talking about “food poisoning”. The first hours were kind of tough, to make us feel at ease.
Renting a motorbike was very easy. As soon as we left the city center, the island started to shine. Beautiful sceneries, beautiful beaches… However, restaurants and bars remained a concern throughout our whole trip. As we really tried to avoid getting sick. Later on, during our travel journey across the Philippines, we witnessed very severe poverty, and were shocked by how some people would live there.
We visited Nacpan Beach, Maremegmeg Beach, and Lio Beach.
Nacpan Beach had the nicest route to visit, you would pass some villages to get there, and you got some drink & food options at the beach.
Maremegmeg was a nice spot for the sunset. And so was Lio Beach. If I had to pick one, I’d choose Lio Beach, the rocky background under a purple sky was quite impressive. And the surroundings look a little bit fancier than the other beaches we visited.
There wasn’t much to do, besides the beach hopping.
The following day, we did an island hopping with a group of other travelers. Usually, I’m not into this kind of activity where you spend half a day with strangers on the same boat, and hopping from island to island. However, this one was worth it, they took us to very beautiful places. You gotta give credit to the Philippines for their pristine beaches.
As a last souvenir of El Nido, we were woken up during the night by a loud cry that sounded like a human scream. We woke up and checked the living room next to our bedroom. We had a visit from a pretty big gecko. 40-60 cm long. Those tiny geckos are cute. However we’d never ever witnessed one with that size before. I wouldn’t dare kick him out of our house. So we let the lights on, and hoped that he would find the way out on his own.
Boracay.
I was happy to leave El Nido, as I wasn’t amused with having all kinds of unwanted visitors in our house . Prior to our travels, I was told that Boracay would have one of the nicest beaches in the world. We couldn’t wait to get there.
It was quite a trip. Two rickshaws to the airport, a short flight, a taxi ride to the ferry station, a little boat ride, and a final van ride to the hotel. Everything went flawlessly; they were very well organized.
It felt great being at a hotel on a higher floor, avoiding all kids of insects and creatures. The staff was super, super friendly. They loved spending time with our daughter.
We went straight to the beach to witness the beauty everybody was talking about. Boracay seemed way cleaner than El Nido, however, very touristic. It didn’t bother us.
To me, Boracay must be the most beautiful beach I’ve ever visited. No joke. It’s very touristy. Lots of people during sunset, hundreds of them. Along the beach are plenty of restaurants, bars, and shops. And of course, the locals who give you a hard time for offering you any kind of service. That part was really annoying.
We spent two or three nights in Boracay. There isn’t really much to do. We enjoyed the hours at the beach. The water is very shallow, which was great for our daughter. No waves. Just beautiful white sand, lots of palm trees, and the blue-green-ish water. Could this be paradise?
Bohol.
Another short flight, and we ended up on a different island. Bohol is well known for its chocolate hills and its tiniest primates on earth, called “Tarsiers”.
We checked in at our hotel, which seemed very nice at first sight. It had a water slide. The hotel was located on the top of a hill, which came with a great view. Our room had a jacuzzi, which we really enjoyed. However, during the next two days, the hotel experience became a nightmare. Directly after the brought our luggage to the room. I headed to the bathroom to freshen up. My girlfriend reacted, “Watch out!”, and I noticed something crawling between my legs. It was a pretty big spider. A big one! And I can’t stand spiders… I think I suffer from arachnophobia. We wouldn’t dare to touch that beast, nor would she. So I went to the lobby and asked for assistance. They wouldn’t understand our concern; however, they gently offered to get rid of the spider. Two young men came to our room and ran after the beast with a soft paper tissue to catch it. I’m not sure if they caught it, but they left the room and told me, “It’s gone, have a good night”.
Ten minutes later… another spider in the bathroom. I called them again. Same story, same procedure. However, this time they showed me the killed spider in the tissue… “Sorry, Sir, this hotel is close to the jungle, now is spiders season.”
The next day… another spider. We suspected that there must have been a nest somewhere. We asked to get a new room, or we would check out, and book a different hotel for the last two nights. They offered us a new room, but still wouldn’t understand how people could be scared of spiders. :)
In the end, we left a day earlier, as Bohol did not have much to offer. At night, the island was dead. There weren’t many options for restaurants. We mostly had dinner at the hotel.
The chocolate hills looked way more impressive in the photos. During our stay, the sky was very cloudy, and the view of the hills was a disappointment. We took some photos around the island, where we would get nicer views. The tarsiers' farm was a tourist trap as well. You get to walk through a tiny forest, where you would witness three to four animals if you were lucky. Most of the time, they were sleeping, so you had to be quiet, not to scare them. Mobile phones off, no talking.
As Bohol didn’t have much to offer, we decided to hop on the Loboc River Cruise for lunch. It was entertaining. The food was ok… nothing too delicious. Worth it? Yes, I’d say so…
Siargao.
Our last destination in the Philippines was an island called Siargao.
It was my favorite among the four places that we visited. Siargao reminded me so much of Bali. The scenery with millions of palm trees, small villages with smiling locals, lots of surfers. The center of Siargao was touristy, but in a good way. It was lively. There were live bands playing on every corner, and lots of food options. Good nightlife. And during the day, it became quieter, more laid back.
Siargao had two nice cocktail bars (we only visited one). Plenities of options for photographs. The scooter rides were amazing, as you could witness so much beauty along the way.
We took a taxi from the airport to the hotel. And I told Vanessa, before getting to Siargao, “no more hotel in a jungle please”. When we arrived at the drop-off location, there was no sight of a hotel. I asked the driver if this would be the correct address. He approved, he got out of the car, and told us, that he would help us carry our luggage, as we would have to walk through a field to get to the hotel. Jungle again! … After a couple of meters, “Watch out! There’s a snake.”
The hotel was also the nicest one we had on our trip. A nice apartment located in a bungalow. Very stylish, and it came with a big room. However, again… one night we woke up with a big cockroach next to our bed. You could hear him crawl, while the lights were off. I decided to kill it, which took me a while, as I didn’t want to wake up our daughter.
In the end… it turned out to be a nice place. Despite the returning creatures in the Philippines. You can’t get rid of them.
In Siargao, we did some beach hopping. On the road, you would make it through the Palm Tree Road, which was quite spectacular, especially with a drone. You could stop at the lagoon and get a boat ride. We stopped at a few villages. People seemed way friendlier than in El Nido.
We also did another Island hopping. Again, very beautiful.
On our last day, we visited the Sugba lagoon by boat, which was a quite unique spot as well. The bonus attraction was a jump spot (dive board) above the lagoon, 3-4 meters high. People were encouraging each other to make the jump.
The evenings were cozy. The village center was way more entertaining than the previous islands. It felt like the usual summer holidays you’d expect while being abroad. Touristic, but in a good way.
There lots of food options in Siargao. From ramen, to thai dishes, to local cuisine… You could choose from street food to fancy hotel restaurants. The architecture of a few hotels was astonishing.
You also had thousands of photo opportunities, there was so much beauty on the island. A real gem for photographers.
So as for myself, I gotta admit that the Philippines have endless beautiful places to offer. They are kind of unique…. However… the locals weren’t as welcoming as in Thailand or Indonesia. The food was by far not as good as in other asian countries. The culture wasn’t as noticeable and obvious as in Thailand, which comes with its temples, statues, donations, dances… We saw a couple of churches, but in daily life, their religion wasn’t as present as in other neighboring countries we visited before.
Cleanliness was different. The unpleasant experiences with roaches, insects, and any other kind of animals were a downside of the trip.
I’m glad that we had the opportunity to visit the Philippines, as it had been overdue for a long time. However, now that I’ve been there, I wouldn’t consider it a destination that I would recommend to my friends. Definitely worth getting there for the nature and beaches. But that’s about it.
My girlfriend loved the place. But also agreed on the facts that bothered me those two weeks.
Who knows, maybe we’ll get back there someday. But not in the near future. :)
