What it’s really like to plan, fly, island-hop, and survive the Philippines in peak season—without a tour.
This post is for people considering the Philippines for the first time–especially parents traveling with kids, Filipino-Americans returning after a long gap, and anyone trying to plan independently without a comprehensive packaged tour.
Summary
✔️ Worth it? Absolutely. The Philippines is stunning, warm, and unforgettable.
❌ Easy? No. Expect long travel days, flight juggling, and logistical friction.
Best parts:
- Coron & El Nido (Palawan)
- Funny Lion hotels
- Whale sharks + canyoneering in Cebu
- Bambike tour in Intramuros, Manila
Hardest parts:
- Expensive flights in December
- Cash access (ATMs often down)
- Rice terraces logistics/lodging
- Very early mornings for tours
What I’d do differently:
- Spend more time in Manila upfront
- Simplify Cebu logistics
- Skip or rethink the rice terraces unless you’re very motivated
Bottom line: Plan carefully, pack patience, bring extra cash—and go.
Franco (11.5 years old) and I (50.5 years old) went to the Philippines for Christmas from December 16-30, 2025. He wasn’t yet on school break and he missed the mandatory Christmas recital. I was also sad to miss some of our holiday traditions, but tried to pack in as much as possible before we left: Dickens Fair, Mormon Temple in Oakland, Christmas Tree Lane in Alameda, Glowfari at the Oakland Zoo. I’ve decided I don’t want to miss Christmas at home again, but I’m still incredibly glad we made this trip.
December is a really good time weather-wise to go to the Philippines. It’s also extremely expensive when booking flights. When I tell people we spent $4k for direct flights from SFO to Manila on Philippine Airlines, everyone asks if I booked first or business class. Ha! $4k for economy seats!
My parents are from the Philippines. I had only been twice before. When I was 10 years old, I spent a month there with my mom and older sister. I went for a second time when I was in college on a medical mission (I was pre-med). During that time, I got to see Pope John Paul II in his pope-mobile. It feels a little sad, and honestly embarrassing, that I hadn’t been back in 30 years. But I have a lot of Filipino-American friends who are even worse! My sister hasn’t been since we were kids.
I have been saying that I’ve wanted to go for several years and take Franco, then my dad got sick and passed away. I’ve wanted to go with family but there was too much hemming and hawing so I just decided I was going to treat this like any other country on top of my bucket list and book it!
I’m a single mom with a lot on my plate. I would have gladly outsourced this to a travel agent. I couldn’t find anyone. Few travel agents specialize in the Philippines. You won’t find any all-encompassing tours or cruises to the Philippines.
So I did everything on my own. It was frustrating and painful, but I got the job done and everything worked out perfectly. There was only one mishap where I accidentally forgot to cancel a hotel reservation, but they didn’t seem to charge me even though it was supposed to be non-refundable.
I spent a lot of time researching on Google, Tripadvisor, and Klook. This is what I ended up with, but it’s not ideal. I had to resort to this itinerary because flights started booking up and I had to take what I could get. So there’s actually more back and forths than I would have wanted. Would have been best to stay in Manila, spend time there, then do Cebu, end on Palawan, then return home.
Air and Transfer
As I mentioned, our biggest expenses were flights. Direct, round-trip from SFO to Manila (MNL) on Philippine Airlines was $4k. United also flies direct from SFO. Non-direct carriers include Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Korean Air, EVA Air, Singapore Airlines. We had five domestic flights totaling $1500. So we’re at a total of $5500 for flights alone.
I’m a fan of the Amex Platinum card ($895 fee) even though it’s so expensive. So nice to have a place to rest (Centurion Lounges and Priority Pass access), charge your devices, eat, and drink alcohol. I don’t even travel much, but when I do, lounge access is so appreciated.
To get through immigration in the Philippines, you will need to register here either on their website or through the app. I never got it to work. Super frustrating. A lot of people mentioned having similar problems. As a last resort, as you deplane in Manila, there’s a QR code that you can scan to try and register. It finally worked for us, but as we made our way to customs, there was a small group of Filipino-American women who said it still wasn’t working for them. Not sure how they handled it, but luckily it finally worked for us.
You are fast-tracked if you are a senior, disabled, pregnant or traveling with a child. I have no clue what the cut-off age is in the Philippines, but Franco was considered a minor and we had no trouble boarding quickly and getting through immigration. We joked at how in the U.S. you’re considered an adult at 3 years old.
In Manila, use Grab (download the app) which is the equivalent of Uber/Lyft. Cheap, easy, everyone in Manila speaks English so it’s very easy to communicate and know where to go.
If you are anywhere other than Manila, I’d ask the hotel for transportation. It’s such a relief to step off the plane, see your name on a placard, and have a nice, comfortable, air-conditioned ride to your hotel. Cost is approximately $30-65.
Domestic flights can be booked via Cebu Pacific. AirSwift was acquired by Cebu Pacific so you’ll get an error trying to book on the AirSwift website or any other travel site that still shows AirSwift. A final note that if you only plan to take carry-on (like me), the domestic flights are strict on the weight requirement of 7kg. You should pack light because all the hotels will have laundry service.
High-Level Itinerary and Hotels
Coron, Palawan (2 nights) – Funny Lion hotel. Funny Lion is a luxury chain with three hotels in Palawan (Coron, El Nido and Puerto Princesa). The one in Coron had 2 restaurants, 1 rooftop bar, 2 pools, breakfast buffet to-die-for. I could have sat at the breakfast buffet for days. Excellent, welcoming staff.
El Nido, Palawan (3 nights) – Funny Lion hotel. 1 restaurant, 1 pool, buffet breakfast, gym, spa, private island. Kinda funny using a gym when it’s 80 degrees outside, but the gym had AC and everything you needed. We loved the Funny Lion chain so much we told the staff to please build hotels outside of Palawan.
Manila (1 night) – Vrbo in Pasay City. We stayed at a family friend’s condo. It was perfect, cozy, clean, walking distance to the Mall of Asia. Also really nice to be able to leave our belongings there while we toured the rice terraces, then come back.
Banaue (1 night) – Home stay via Vagabond Pinas tour. I can’t find where we stayed, but we had Christmas Eve dinner at Banaue Home Stay and the people were very warm and friendly. Our tour guide said that’s where their clients usually stay, but it was full, so we were at another home stay a few houses down.
Batad (1 night) – Home stay via Vagabond Pinas tour. We stayed at Simon’s Viewpoint Inn and I would AVOID! I had no idea where we were staying since this was part of a package tour, but if I had known, I would have asked to go back to Banaue or try a better accommodation. I don’t know if all the lodging in Batad are bare bones (apparently there are about a dozen home stays), but this one had horribly spotty wifi that they charged extra for, communal bathrooms (no flushing toilets—which I believe is standard in Batad—but there was a hot shower), no outlets in our room, ok food. There was nothing to do after we hiked the rice terraces. I think we went to bed at 8pm! I almost cried at the conditions and was oddly comforted by the gecko hanging out on my bed. Poor Franco felt sorry for me and kept saying it was fine, but I am not used to sub-standard accommodations especially when I had paid $1170 for a 2 night tour of the rice terraces.
Manila (2 nights) – Vrbo in Pasay City
Moalboal, Cebu (2 nights) – Turtle Bay resort. There’s got to be a better way to streamline the Cebu portion of our trip. It took 3 hours from the airport to get to Moalboal, but I felt like this got us closer to the whale shark experience. The Turtle Bay resort was pleasant. There’s a restaurant (decent, not great) and pool. There’s also a spa and dive center, so you’re able to kayak and snorkel from their dock. The water is unbelievably clear.
Recommended Itinerary
After doing the above, I would probably adjust to the following:
- Manila (4 nights)
- Cebu (3 nights)
- Coron (2 nights)
- El Nido (3 nights)
Apps / Resources
- Google Maps – for navigation
- Currency app – for conversion
- Grab – for rides
- e-Travel for immigration into the Philippines
- CPB MPC – for smooth re-entry back into the U.S. and zipping through customs
- Bring plenty of Philippine pesos. I brought $200 which wasn’t enough. Took out another $100 while in the Philippines which wasn’t enough. And had to withdraw an additional $200 to complete the trip.
- Cellular – turn on international roaming, but whenever possible use wifi. My provider Consumer Cellular quoted me $18/gigabyte and said it’s very expensive in the Philippines, compared to cents in Japan.
Coron, Palawan
This is a lot of travel and not recommended, but we flew direct from SFO to MNL, then flew again to Palawan. As I mentioned above, I would spend time in Manila before anywhere else in the Philippines but there were very few flights going to Palawan during the holidays (I think we might have snagged the last seats) and this is what was left.
There’s a nightly 10:30pm flight from SFO to MNL, arriving at 5:35am local time. Then we took another Philippine Airlines flight from MNL to Coron (Busuanga airport) at 11:05am. We could have easily taken an earlier flight, but I had no idea how long it would take to clear customs and get to another terminal. We were fast-tracked because Franco’s a minor, but regardless, it didn’t take long and it was easy to catch the free shuttle to the next terminal.
In Coron, a driver from the Funny Lion hotel picked us up. Probably a 20 minute drive from the airport to the hotel. Quick, scenic drive.
I hadn’t booked any tours and I was told it was best to book after arrival due to the unpredictability of the weather. We booked all day tour A for the following day. We unpacked, swam in the pool, walked to town and back, had happy hour at the hotel, then took a tuktuk to town for dinner. I can’t find where we ate. It got great reviews on Tripadvisor, but wasn’t good. Neither of us finished our food.
Fact: breakfast buffets at luxury hotels in tropical destinations cannot be beat: fresh fruit, juices, cooked to order eggs and omelets, bacon, sausage, seafood, bread, pastries, a cauldron of hot chocolate.
After filling up our tummies, we were picked up for our group tour. The van was completely full. Someone needed to get money at an ATM and had trouble withdrawing. Everyone got impatient. I later learned how hard it is to get cash because the ATMs are consistently down. Once we finally got to the dock, it was complete chaos. Different tour operators, a million tour guides, different tours/routes. Chaos – be prepared!
Tour A
- Kayangan Lake
- Reef Garden
- Sunset Beach
- Las Islas De Coral
- CYC Beach
- Green Lagoon
Once we finally got on our boat, it was smooth sailing. Beautiful, stunning, verdant green water. Toward the end of the day, Franco said he lost the mouthpiece of his snorkel. The tour guides ask where. Franco points in some loosy-goosy direction and these guides–who are expert divers–find it. I was so impressed, I could not believe it. I had been counting up my cash hoping we had enough money to pay for the loss.
Since we didn’t enjoy our dinner in town, we decided to stay at our hotel and had an enjoyable meal and relaxing night before departing the next day.
El Nido, Palawan
Due to rain, our flight from Coron to El Nido was delayed, but not too bad. However, when we landed, our driver said that his previous pickup was seriously delayed because the pilot had circled six times before finally landing.
We got to the Funny Lion hotel and booked the all day tour A for the following day.
Tour A – P1200.00 per pax
- 7 Commando
- Big Lagoon
- Secret Lagoon
- Payong Payong Island
- Simisu Island
El Nido is much more developed than Coron. There are more hotels, restaurants, people, nightlife, just more to do and see. If I had to choose, I would pick El Nido over Coron and that made Franco upset! He said he likes them both.
We spent our second day in El Nido at Funny Lion’s private island, Papaya Beach. There’s a concession stand to buy chips and drinks, otherwise have the restaurant pack you a meal.
I don’t know how they do it since the hotel seems to be at full capacity, but the staff knows your name. Every time we walked by the front desk: “Hello Ms. Catherine and Franco.” What are they doing–taking notes, polaroids?
Hanging out in El Nido made me want to go back with a bunch of friends and party (eat, drink, dance, karaoke). I guess you can do that in Manila too.
Metro Manila
Despite being Filipino, I didn’t realize Metro Manila is actually 16 cities, including:
- Manila – The capital city of the Philippines.
- Quezon City – The most populous city in Metro Manila and a major center of government and business.
- Makati – The main financial and business district of the country.
- Pasay – A major transportation and entertainment hub, where the international airport is located.
- Taguig – Home to Bonifacio Global City, a major business and lifestyle district.
We stayed at a family friend’s condo in Pasay. Easy to get from the airport to anywhere in metro Manila via the Grab app. We were within walking distance to the Mall of Asia (MOA) and spent a lot of time there walking around and eating.
We did this incredible bambike tour of Intramuros, a major historical and cultural district of Manila. Our tour guide Ange was funny and knowledgeable, always asking if we had any questions or reactions, and offering to take pictures. Franco and I have a tradition of doing bike tours whenever we travel. Great way to stay active and see the sites.
After our bike tour, my mom (who is also in the Philippines on vacation) and relatives met up with us for lunch at nearby Barbara’s Heritage Restaurant. It’s a yummy buffet with cultural performances. People, including my mom, got called up to recognize their birthdays and we took pictures with the dancers.
Banaue / Batad (rice terraces)
The rice terraces and the farmers are core to the country’s culture and history. I believed that this would be the highlight of the trip. This may be controversial, but for us, if I had to skip one part of the trip, this would be it. The travel is significant. The tour we took was way overpriced given our very minimal lodging. So many other travelers–given the reviews I read–would disagree with me. Maybe there is a better way.
I booked the rice terraces tour through Vagabond Pinas. The owner JP is extremely responsive and helpful. It takes at least 9 hours to get to Banaue from Manila. It’s very long, but a comfortable ride in an air-conditioned van. We stayed overnight in Banaue, woke up the next day for breakfast, then took a jeepney to Batad. We spent all day hiking the rice terraces. The elevation is intense. I am in phenomenal shape (just coming off of a 5K PR) and was drenched in sweat. I was in disbelief. How do other tourists do this trek? The tour guides said they just go much slower and take more time.
We got to see all the stages of how rice is made and harvested. It was really fascinating, especially how everything is done manually. It’s very labor intensive. No machinery. The rice is organic.
We spent the night in the rice terraces, but our home stay was abysmal. Maybe I wouldn’t have been so disappointed if we hadn’t paid $1170 for the 2 night tour. Ask for a discount, better lodging, or go back for a 2nd night in Banaue.
Cebu
Our last destination in the Philippines was Cebu to see the whale sharks. We woke up at 3:45am for a 4am pickup from our hotel in Moalboal to drive to Oslob (whale shark territory). I thought I was getting us closer to Oslob by choosing a hotel in Moalboal, but it seems like wherever you are in Cebu, the pickup is still going to be at an ungodly hour! I booked this tour. I believe this is the main tour operator in Cebu with a gazillion tours, tour guides, drivers and partnerships.
The driver will drop you off in Oslob where a tour guide (I can’t remember her name, but she was fantastic) will take over and wait in line with you while you get a number. There are mobs of tourists in line. It was the most crowded of any experience we had done. We registered and got #224. Our tour guide said they stop service at around 500. After you get your number, you get safety instructions (mandatory life jacket, do not touch the whale sharks, wash off your sunscreen…). The operation was licensed, tightly managed, and we followed all rules around distance and interaction. Then we went to breakfast at a nearby hotel while we waited for our number to be called. All the tour guides communicate via cell and they’re constantly checking to see what numbers are being called. After breakfast, we went to a waterfall. By the time we returned two hours later, they were calling 200s.
Once your number is called, you get fitted with a life jacket and the tour guide holds all the rest of your belongings. You have the option of renting a GoPro (I highly recommend) and someone manning the boat essentially becomes your deep sea photographer and takes really great shots and videos of you that you don’t even know are happening until afterwards when you transfer everything to your phone. It was a 30 minute experience and the highlight of our trip. Honestly, I thought the whale sharks were smaller than I expected. I kept wondering whether it was going to be worth waking up so unbelievably early. Franco said yes yes, he would have woken up even earlier to see the whale sharks. He was so happy to swim with them.
By this point, I had run out of cash and we went to 3 out-of-service ATMs before finding a 4th one that worked and dispensed cash.
After lunch, we got transitioned to two tour guides for our canyoneering experience which I felt was almost as good as seeing the whale sharks. The canyoneering is several hours of ziplining, hiking and swimming. One of our guides took my phone out of the waterproof cover and took the best photos/videos. I was worried the phone would get wet, but he was like..don’t worry. I’ve got it. We would be swimming in deep water and he’d have my phone raised in his right hand. I was stunned at his agility and balance.
It was a beautiful, exhilarating, exhausting day from 3:45am-6pm.
Our final day in the Philippines was a long travel day. Our driver zipped us from Moalboal to Cebu airport in three hours. The flight from Cebu to MNL was an hour. I don’t know why, but we had trouble locating the free shuttle to take us from the domestic to the international terminal. Several people told us different things and pointed in opposite directions. Just know that there’s a free shuttle bus outside that circles around between the terminals. You do not need to pay for a taxi.
We had several hours to kill before our 11:10pm flight to SFO. Luckily I have the Amex Priority Pass and Franco and I went to two different lounges to eat and drink. It was great!
Traveling through the Philippines requires patience and flexibility, but the rewards are absolutely unreal. It was one of the best trips and countries I have visited. What did I miss? Let me know if you have any questions I can answer.
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