The Philippines has always been one of the options when choosing our trip destination for the last couple of years, and finally, we did it! We visited the Philippines!
Islands and breathtaking lagoons are the code words to describe the Philippines.. Over 7,000 islands! The best way to visit them is by boat; there are plenty of small businesses that organize group and private tours, and you can choose which destinations you prefer to see depending on your interests; obviously, we want to make sure you know which ones are the best.
Don't worry, we will highlight them all!
We organized our trip in February; that's when the summer starts, so from February onwards until April, you will most likely find good weather. As per our experience, we found sunny days every day, apart from two days during our last week, and we had so much fun!
Little tip: we flew from London and bought a flight with an 8-hour stop in Singapore so that we had the time to explore the airport's main attractions, like the Jewel and the different gardens. I described Singapore airport as the most beautiful airport; well, we confirm! So if you have the time and your connection flight gives you enough time, check out the Singapore airport website, where you can get a better idea of where all the attractions are by following the map.
On our way back to London, we had enough time to spend one night in Singapore. We arrived during the night, though, so we just had a quick tour of the famous Marina Bay area, the gardens, and a food market.
With that said, our itinerary for 20 days was:
5 days in El Nido
6 days in Coron
5 days in Bohol
2 days in Cebu
1 day in Singapore
-Flight from London to Manila Once in Manila, we took an internal flight to El Nido Island. Book your internal flights in advance as the seats are limited and the prices tend to rise quickly. We are talking about a £30 flight that will end up costing £400. We met a few people who said they had to change plans because of that, so plan your flights!
In El Nido, we stayed for five days.
-Very interesting and busy day exploring the different islands. Five to six days are needed to visit these islands, and then it really all depends on how long your holiday will be.
-We took a 5-hour ferry ride from El Nido to Coron Island. Again, make sure you buy your ferry tickets days before as the ferries are limited and most likely to sell out, which, by the way, is what happened to us and we had to leave one day earlier as it was the only slot available.
-Coron island, we stayed 6 days. On this beautiful island, 5 days were enough to see the best spots.
-We took a 2-hour flight from Coron to Cebu. From Cebu, we took a ferry and reached Panglao, where we stayed for 4 days.
-From Panglao, we went back to Cebu and stayed 1 night and 1 day there before flying back to Singapore where we spent the night and then London.
El Nido
If I had to summarize it in one word, it would be "WOW"; everything during our stay was simply perfect, from the Airbnb to the people we met who guided us to discover this natural paradise.
The expectations we had were definitely reached and surpassed by what we saw!
For our first day on the island, we took it easy.
We were exhausted from such a long trip, and we also arrived around 2:30 in the afternoon, so we didn't really have anything planned for the day as it would have been too late for any kind of tour.
The city centre is tiny but lovely, with lots of restaurants and bars, super cute shops, and markets! Very easy to move around the island; we used mainly the tricycles and we rented a motorbike for a day; both options work depending on what you'd like to visit. As always, we will tell you all about it at the end, so I won't spend too much time on this matter for now.
That said, we went down to the beach Las Cabanas Beach which is very nice and easy to reach.
There are lots of nice bars and restaurants if you'd like to enjoy happy hour by watching the sunset.
Let me be honest though, this is nothing compared to what El Nido offers; just wait for it.
From the second day onwards, we went full immersion with the tours, and our mission was to see and enjoy as much as possible of what this island has to offer.
TOUR A and C were our first and second tours, both organized by Palawan Optimal Adventur Both were group tours, and the reason why I would recommend you reach out to them is that the tours were not crowded at all; even though we were in a group of 13, we had the possibility to enjoy ourselves and meet people, plus, the team that took care of us was very pleasant and funny! very nice experience!
I want to specify that for the majority of the locations in El Nido, you will need water shoes as the underwater terrain is very rocky and full of corals and sea urchins. You can buy them on the island if, like us, you don't have enough space in your luggage.
Tour A
First place, Shimizu Island Great location mainly to see the cave and to take some nice
pictures by the beach. The water is kind of low, so it's not really ideal to swim. Please don't expect to find a desert beach. Tours A and C are the main tours offered to tourists; clearly, you will find other boats and groups visiting this location.
In Entalula Beach we had the time to do some snorkelling, and we have been so lucky to see a sea turtle. It's amazing how the sea life in the Philippines is alive and full of corals; I've never seen anything like that. And... lunchtime! Of course, after swimming and exploring hidden caves, it's time to eat! The crew prepared a super healthy meal based on fresh fish, vegetables, and rice. They set the table on the boat, and during the break, you also have time to swim, go sunbathing, or simply relax.
The third spot was definitely our favourite and the most overlooked: the Big Lagoon
You can rent a kayak on your arrival to the location; the prices are super accessible.
Yes, you can also visit the lagoon by swimming, but part of the experience is also given by the kayak, and you can take super nice pictures.
Tour A has some very great spot and beaches that you can't miss out in el Nido
Tour C
Tour C started with a bang: Hidden Beach Absolutely stunning! Beautiful tiny beach, perfect for snorkeling and enjoying the nature around it, it was a bit crowded but still an amazing Beach, probably the best spot in the tour C
The second location was Secret Beach which was a bit crowded but a lovely spot to visit and take nice pictures.
The third location was Matinloc Shrine where we had our lunch and a bit more of relax time, it so here you are given the option to get off the boat and go visit this abandoned church by paying a small fee.
We didn't go, and other members of the tour confirmed it wasn't anything too special, so it's up to you!
Luckily, the island where the church was located had a beautiful sea and a great spot for snorkelling. We also had lunch there, so we had enough time to go explore the crystal-clear water, and the sea life was amazing once again.
Big Horn Travel and Tours
We then went into contact with two different tour guides who provided us with the best service we could have asked for.
Angelo, the owner of Bighorn Travel and Tours specializes in private tours and created for us a perfect and personalised itinerary in order to see the best of the island and avoid the most crowded hours.
Angelo is extremely professional and well-prepared. He asked to meet with us the day before our tour was scheduled to discuss all the details, their office is located here We thought that was very important since he gave us a general briefing regarding his crew and the possibility of having to adapt to the weather and wind conditions.
Also, I personally appreciated the particular love and attention he had when talking about the sealife and wildlife of the islands; no animals are forced to come around the boat, and the crew is super attentive to keeping the islands rubbish-free. Absolutely love it!
The tour Angelo provided was one of the best tours we had on our entire trip. We left the port at 8 to avoid the crowd as the rest of the boats depart at 9. Is it necessary? Absolutely! We have in fact reached our first destination, Small Lagoon And it was just the 2 of us.
The experience was breathtaking, entering this beautiful lagoon with the kayak, and all we could hear was the sound of birds and water. It was simply perfect!
The small lagoon can be visited by kayak or you can also go snorkelling; I recommend both as the corals and the amount of fish before entering the lagoon is incredible! Another plus to private tours is that you can stay as long as you like.
The crew will obviously give you an approximate time considering the whole schedule of the day, but you are definitely freer to enjoy each location for a little longer than during a group tour.
Right next to the small lagoon, there is a small beach that is easily accessible with a kayak or by swimming.
The beach is also beautiful; there are no people there at all, and it's a lovely spot to relax.
Our second stop was Snake Island the name is due to the shape of this very thin sandbar that is long enough to connect two different islands.
This is a very popular spot, but on this occasion, we didn't find too many people, and it was a great experience.
From Snake Island, we then left to go to Cudugnon Cave which was also our lunch location. We took our lunch first on the beach, which was amazing, in order to avoid the crowd in the cave—a very good tip from Marvin, our tour guide. The lunch was lovely, and they set up an amazing table on the beach.
The cave was beautiful. Marvin took us inside and explained what the cave was used for and its history. It was a nice little adventure!
Our third stop, Cathedral Cave there is no beach; it's a great spot for snorkelling, and you can go to discover the cave. It's in the middle of the sea, and personally, we've never seen anything like that before. It was great!
After the cave, we went to Sand Bar in a way it is similar to Snake Island, but it's way smaller and literally in the middle of the sea.
Also here, we had the luck to be alone so that we could enjoy the sea and take some nice pictures.
After the sand bar, Marvin and his crew took us to a beautiful beach. It wasn't part of the tour, but he didn't want to take us to the lagoon. just yet, as he knew we would have found lots of other boats and people. We actually love this beach; it was huge and deserted! The water was amazing, and we had fun swimming and staying on the beach to rest a little.
No need to add that we had an amazing time! The tour Angelo created for us was incredible, and thanks to Marvin and his crew, we collected unforgettable memories. Thank you!
But hey! When a great experience ends, a new one is about to start!
The next day, when the weather was slightly cloudy, we decided to take the day "free" from tours, and after renting a motorbike, we headed to Nacpan Beach The beach is about a 20-minute ride away, and it is one of the main beaches on the island. Quick overview
After seeing the most beautiful sea and islands thanks to the different tours of the previous days, this beach won't take your breath away.
It's a lovely place to relax and see the sunset, plus the view on the way to the beach is absolutely great!
Take a Break Palawan
The day after, we had another private tour planned; we were super excited as this tour turned out to be a very special one as we spent the day discovering the islands with Mark and Rea at Take a Break Palawan
This time it was a Private tour, and to be precise the itinerary was the one of the Tour B
We can't really reccoment enought the importance of having a private tour, even for the classic itinerary, we basically visit all the various stop with almost no crowd at all, and we stay longer in the one we liked the most, an amazing way to fully experience what Philippines can offer.
They made sure that we had everything we needed, and Mark's wife, Rea, prepared the most amazing lunch! Mark is a great tour guide and took us to some amazing spots, making sure to avoid the crowd.
We started our tour by visiting the Small lagoon once again with no other people in it, something that is impossible to experience if you are not doing a private tour. This time we actually went snorkelling and we so some amazing fish and corals, beautiful!
As the second stop Mark took us to a private beach which is the one you see in the picture above, here we had a chance to relax and we were super lucky to meet Mark and Rhea's daughter, she was on the tour with us and we played together on the beach, we all had a great time!
We then visited Helicopter Island called that because from El Nido it has the shape of an Helicopter or Homer Simpson :D
Here you can easily relax on an amazing beach, or have a walk along the beach. Once again we reached the beach and almost no other tourist was there
Our tour continued by visiting the Cadlao Lagoon There weren't many people around, and as with all the lagoons, you could rent a kayak on the spot for a very affordable price. This lagoon has a beach and also a resort; the beach is accessible, but the resort is not. You cannot enter or stop there, but you can see it from the kayak, and it's definitely a unique location for a resort. We actually had our lunch here and the food that Rhea prepared for us was just perfect! There were so many delicious things on the table, everything was super fresh and tasty, thank you, Rhea!
The last stop was Pasandigan Cave Once arrived on the island, Mark took us to visit the cave. It was a beautiful experience, the cave inside is great, especially with the light before the sunset as entered through the rocks and create those amazing colours inside the cave.
Mark and his family took such good care of us; we really enjoyed our tour. Thanks to them we had the possibility to meet some amazing people and discover some more hidden beauties of El Nido. Plus, Mark really took time to explain to us about the different islands we were visiting, about the animals and about their local life.
You can find their contacts on Instagram, and they are super available and happy to answer any kind of questions you may have regarding your El Nido experience.
We highly recommend them, and you have a choice between two amazing private tours and also a group tour if that's what you prefer
Coron
From El Nido, you can easily reach other destinations; both the airport and the port are super close to the city centre, and you can get there by taxi. As mentioned before, keep in mind that if you want to move by sea, there are only 2 ferries leaving the island per day, and the demand is very high, so tend to get sold out very quickly, so if you have a tight schedule, plan ahead.
The ferry from El Nido to Coron was a 5-hour trip, but the ferry was clean and comfortable, so it didn't feel that long.
Coron Island felt a bit less savage compared to El Nido. The city is bigger, but apart from a couple of bars and restaurants that we liked, there is not much as in typical and non-touristic.
Reef and Wreck tour
There is not a main beach where to relax and enjoy the sun, so to see the real beauty of Coron you will have to get on a tour, private or group.
All the boats are leaving from the same place, and on our first day, we joined a group tour that included the wreck and the coral reef.
I'm not gonna lie, it felt a bit chaotic and nothing like what we experienced in El Nido; the tour guide wasn't as professional, and the whole thing was a bit rushed.
As well the ship wreck are very cool, but we do advise to do Scuba Diving if you have the chance, even if we done snorkeling, we felt that going deep and exploring the whole of the ship wreck would've been a different experience.
On the plus side, we discovered the most beautiful island, Pass Island an absolute paradise, where we then decided to arrange an overnight stay. Such a paradise! Also, the coral reef is absolutely beautiful. Aside from the quantity of different fish, you can also admire some beautiful corals.
Super Ultimate Tour
The real adventure started on day 2 with D'Velasco Island Tour and his captain Dante; they organized two private tours for us, both highly recommended, but the first one was something extraordinary, the Super Ultimate Tour.
This tour puts together all the main attractions of Coron.
The plus of going on a private tour is that you can arrange where to stay longer and where to take your lunch break to avoid the most crowded places. These were our stops: Barracuda Lagoon, Twin Lagoon, Skeleton Reef, Sunset Lagoon, Beach Dei Fiori, and Kayankan Lake.
This tour entered our top 3 of the whole trip; everything we saw was stunning.
We started by reaching the Barracuda lagoon we entered the lagoon and we were almost the only tourists in there, the water was super clear and the panorama around us was unique!
The place was not crowded at all, and you really felt like to be in another dimension. You can rent a kayak and explore the lakes as much as you want, if you have time, be careful because in the Philippines when you are doing a tour time flies extremely fast.
Definitely we started on the right foot! So we were even more curious and excited about what was coming next. Second stop didn't disappoint us, not at all! The way to enter Twin Lagoon is breathtaking, looked like a postcard. Dante took us close to the Lagoon entrance and he did tell us that that would be a little busier than the rest of the stops. It was definitely busier but we can't describe the fun we had swimming in the deep water of this lagoon! The water of the lagoons is half salty and half sweet so you can feel the temperature changing when diving deeper, crazy!
We decided not to stay there for too long as more boats were starting to arrive, we then decided to leave for our third stop: Skeleton Wreck. We arrived at this small beautiful beach and we dived to see the wreck. The amount of fish we saw, so many colours and kinds!
The tour was super interesting, and at the same time, we had the time to enjoy every single stop.
After visiting El Nido, our expectations about Coron were really high, and when we reached the Sunset Cove it was love at first sight. The silence around us and the peace we felt are not possible to describe in words.
The water was calm and absolutely clean, and the weather was just perfect—so perfect that we decided to stay there for our lunch.
That is by far our favorite place in the whole world. Sunset Lagoon is a piece of paradise and I love every single moment I spent there.
Not gonna lie, it was hard to say goodbye to Sunset Lagoon but we headed to Banul Beach which is pretty beautiful too.
This beach is normally a lunch spot for all the other group tours, so that's why we decided to go after lunchtime. There were still a couple of boats, but overall the beach is incredibly nice!
The Kayangan Lake was our last stop, it
closes at 4:30, and we arrived just in time! A lovely place to visit, the way to get to the lake is also quite interesting, and the view from the top of the mountain is amazing.
Great experience!
We had another tour planned for the day after, but because of the wind we weren't able to go, so we moved it by 2 days. We had a plan B, and what a plan!
Pass Island Overnight
We rent a motorbike and drive for one hour at Concepcion and from there we rent out a boat to Pass Island
As we absolutely fell in love with Pass Island we found out how to get there again for an overnight stay. We spent the whole day there enjoying the beach and the sea on a deserted island. Right before the sunset, the family that lives there built our tent and prepared a really cosy bed for us.
The sunset was incredible; we watched it from the top of the hill, and the colours were just extremely beautiful.
For us, being able to switch off completely from everything was unique, definitely a one in a lifetime experience.
Escapade Tour
Once back in Coron town, we were able to arrange another breathtaking tour with Dante! So fun! A new adventure!
Remembering the first tour we did with him, our expectations were extremely high, but we were super excited to go for our next tour, which sadly was also our goodbye to Coron as on the next day we flew to Cebu.
So, the tour Dante took us on was the Beach Escape Tour; the name says it all—we visited 4 islands with some of the most beautiful beaches.
In fact, we started with a bang! The first island and beach we visited were the best of the day! Malcapuya Island looked like a postcard, and the fact that it wasn't crowded at all made it even more special.
The palms, the sand, the water, perfection
Our second stop was Coco Beach where we stayed for lunch. That I have to admit was our least favourite, simply because the water wasn't as beautiful as what we had previously seen and also because that is where other boats stop for a lunch break so it was kind of crowded so we didn't stay there for too long, just the time to enjoy the great food cooked by Dante and his crew, which once again spoiled us.
From Coco Beach we went directly to Ditaytayan Beach That was fun, we took some amazing videos and pics as we were the only ones on the island. Bad side of the story was that the sand flies literally ate us alive, bring mosquitos repellent with you and maybe avoid staying in the heart of the land.
The last destination was Banana island the name refers to the shape of the beach but the fun fact that Dante told us is that there are not any bananas trees on this island! Although the island is super cozy and beautiful; there is a resort on the island so you can easily arrange a overnight stay there or why not deciding to spend a part of your holiday there !
We watched the sunset from the beach and it was such a beautiful moment as the trees all around us were full of butterflies, so beautiful! Our time in Coron ended and we certainly had an amazing time exploring all of its beauty, off to another experience! Our next destination was Cebu and from there we took a ferry to Panglao island, more specifically Bohol.
Bohol Here in Bohol is where we found a bit of cloudy and rainy weather, but we didn't let this ruin our holiday, we still managed to visit the best spots but we obviously had to avoid the beach and any boat tours.
We arrived in Bohol which was already late afternoon so we just left our things in the hotel and we left for dinner and got some rest.
We stayed in Panglao at the beautiufl and relaxing Tamarind Hotel nearby Alona Beach, an hotel that we can't reccomend more, great prices, clean and beautiful with a relaxing swimming pool, the best.
After long day exploring the inland you can simply relax with a cocktail or food in the swimming pool, which was incredibly quiet considering the crazy busy that Panglao is.
The day after we went to see the Chocolate hills this is a hot spot in Bohol and really recommend you to go see them,
On the way there, there are different stops that we recommend you to do, the first one was the Man Made Forest which is great!
Right after you'll find a Tarsier sanctuary which is called Tarsier Conservation Area this we don' recommend because we felt like the tarsiers were placed in strategic places for the tour guides and tourists to see them and knowing that the tarsiers are very sensible animals that didn't feel quite right.
The view from the chocolate Hills is breathtaking and the colours are absolutely stunning, plus personally, we found it to be a very unique landscape.
For the whole Chocolate hills and tarsier tour you can do it with a tour guide or by motorbike like we did, we really enjoyed the view and the experience while driving to get there. To get to the top of the Chocolate hills you have to leave your car or motorbike and there are buses every couple of minutes that depart and take you to the top of the hill.
You can stay as long as you want to, no ticket is required to get to the higher point for the view, only for the bus but the price once again is very affordable.
On our way back to Bohol centre we stopped at another tarsier sanctuary and we really enjoyed it as that really felt like they are respecting the animals and their environment, the Tarsier Sanctuary The day after we woke up and it was raining, fun fun! We felt quite adventurous and we decided to go on the motorbike and drove for 20 mins, not sure where we wanted to go or wanted to do, but we definitely laugh a lot!
Decided to finally go back to the hotel for a warm shower and some rest. It was a pretty relaxed day as the weather didn't get better.
The day after was supposed to be our last day in Bohol but as the weather was finally on our side and it was going to be the same on the day after we decided to stay one day more on the island.
In the morning we had planned to go visit the whale sharks in Lila I honestly don't know what we were expecting from this tour but the fact is that if I knew it before I would certainly avoid it.
First thing first, you get to the meeting point and it's extremely busy, you pay the ticket and then they divide you into groups and you are given a brief on what you are not allowed to do in order to respect the animals and to be in safety. Once we got in the water we clearly saw what was really happening, none of the rules they gave us was followed and even though the shark whale was so beautiful, the whole thing was just so sad, at least for me personally. I thought that seeing such huge and majestic animals following humans around because they were giving them food was just unfair, plus all the people in the water were literally swimming on top of the whale, no security distance no respect for those animals! Once I noticed how this really was I immediately came back on the boat; please avoid doing this kind of activity that is completely unsafe for the animals and their nature.
The beach we went to is the main beach of the city, super accessible and where all the restaurants etc are, again, not sure what we were expecting but once we got there we saw how crowded it was and we decided not to stay and get back to the hotel to enjoy the pool and the quiet.
Last day! We decided to be adventurous and join the beach tour as we didn't get a chance to do in the previous days because of the weather. We had to join the group super early, 6:30 in the morning we were already by the port to get to the boat.
The first stop was Balicasag the experience with the whale sharks we wanted to avoid anything related to animals, especially because we saw how crowded and too organized that was, so no thank you! Instead, we decided to go exploring the long beach on the island and enjoy our last swim in the Philippines. The second stop was Pungtud Island which is a sand bar basically. Not excited about this, the place was super busy and the water was full of sea urchins and jellyfish. The sand bar was the last stop of the tour and we were not 100% convinced but happy to have done it because we really wanted to get to see more of Bohol.
We literally had to run back to the hotel as we were super late for the checkout, ops! We got to the hotel and after lunch, on our favourite spot, we went back to the hotel and stayed in the pool, the last hours of sun before heading to the city. Our taxi came for us around 4:30 pm as we had the ferry at 5:30 Cebu. The boat trip was relaxing and comfortable, we arrived in Cebu at 8:30 pm so we literally run to the hotel and then left to grab some food.
Cebu The next day in Cebu was really our last day of this whole amazing adventure, we had a huge and delicious breakfast and used our last couple of hours in the Philippines to visit the Taoist Temple
It's very close to the city centre so easy to reach by taxi, but always keep in mind that Cebu is super trafficked and so depending on the hour it can take a little longer to reach different destinations.
The temple was nice, unfortunately, the weather was still not great and it rain the whole morning. but we still managed to visit it. After the temple, we got ready for the long trip that was ahead of us. We did the checkout and left the luggage in the hotel so that we could go and have lunch in one of the big malls of Cebu. That was really the last adventure for us and we had a taxi booked that took us from the hotel to the airport, our next stop: Singapore.
The flight from Cebu to Singapore was quite relaxing but we arrived there very late, we took a train to reach the city center and even though it was almost midnight we used the time we had to see the main things of Singapore. We arrived at Marina Bay and saw the craziest and most beautiful hotel we've ever seen in our life the Marina Bay Sands I personally couldn't take my eyes off of it. Next to it, there are the famous Garden by the bay that is open until 2 am but the monuments inside the garden are off so we visited as much as we could.
Even though we stayed in Singapore for only a couple of hours during the night, it really gave us a great impression, the city is extremely clean and we felt super safe wandering around during the night. We read about typical and famous food markets on the web, the Lau Pa Sat so we decided to give it a try, well, most of the restaurants were closed but we found a nice food stand and we tried the famous Chichken Satay Time to go back to the hotel and have some rest, even if for only 3 hours.
The airport is very close to the centre of Singapore and it was super easy to get there by train, we arrived at the airport and it was time for us to say goodbye to Singapore, at least for now!
Did anyone say food or drinks?
Here are our favourite places
The Philippines is a country where you either love or despise its cuisine. There are a few traditional dishes that we really enjoyed, as well as some others that weren't our cup of tea.
Our advice as always is to try it out, make sure to go to places that look nice and clean (that obviously can't always happen), and also try to avoid everything that contains ice because many times the water can be contaminated with bacteria. We must admit that this was the first time in Asia that both of us didn't have an upset stomach, which is actually great.
El Nido
El Nido has plenty of restaurants and bars; even though it is a small village, you can find a vast array of choices when talking about food and drink.
Portos Fiesta and Bulalo Plaza are our best recommendations when talking about traditional food at a good price. You definitely must try their Kare Kare, which is a dish (usually ox or pork) cooked in a peanut sauce with different kinds of vegetables and probably our favourite in Filipino cuisine.
While if you move a little bit further south you can go to Nanay's which is another great restaurant serving Filipino food, and nearby the airport you can try Kusina Ni Maya another great restaurant serving traditional food.
Getting a good restaurant is not always that easy, and we had various experiences where the food was not nice at all, so bear this in mind to be careful on that note.
We had two very nice Pad Thai and an amazing mango sticky rice in Big Bad Thai and The Food Truck El Nido both great spots for Thai cuisine.
If you find yourself on a day where Asian Cuisine is not in your cord, you should have a look at the famous Artcafe which serves some good twists on Filipino cuisine.
Obviously, drinking was a very important thing for us. After a long day on a boat exploring an island, you really need a drink afterwards, and remember, if you want to drink a cocktail with ice, try to go to a well-known place that is used by tourists; that should reduce the possibility of feeling sick.
The Scape Skydeck is in the centre of El Nido. It has a beautiful terrace and an amazing happy hour running until 8 p.m.
While Panorama is an amazing place to enjoy the sunset, there is no happy hour here, and cocktails are a bit more pricey but definitely worth it.
Below an amazing sunset at Trival where you can try cusine from all over Asia
And if it is the sunset that you are looking for, then you must head directly to Lime Resort which has one of the best views on the entire island, with an infinite swimming pool, and most importantly an amazing happy hour
Coron
Coron, as previously said, is a beautiful village, but consider that in a way it has fewer things to do compared to El Nido, and that reflects as well on the choice of restaurant and bar.
As a main suggestion for Filipino food, you should head to Manggis Restaurant and Umamikusina which have very down-to-earth cuisine, while Gavin's Kitchen is a little higher standard but still serves amazing Kare Kare. We went there to celebrate St. Valentine's Day.
Then we decided to try some other cuisine, and we went to eat a beautiful ramen at Sakura
Obviously, while staying at the Tag Resort we ate there a few times, and we must say the cuisine is pricy, but the food is amazing.
While for drinks we should not expect too much unfortunately, the main places that we really enjoyed were Catch who offer a happy hour from 7 to 8 as well as an amazing rooftop, and the Bam Bar which is very popular, a bit pricey, but they always play live music, which creates a great vibe.
Bohol
Bohol is a pretty big island, and even if we rented a motorbike and moved around, we mainly stayed in Panglao, which is the other little island to the south of Bohol.
Panglao is flodded with tourists from Korea, so don't be surprised if you see a lot of Korean restaurants, which can actually be nice if you are interested in this type of cuisine.
And nevertheless, we found the best Filipino restaurant we ever tried, Sisa where it kind of elevates the cuisine and makes it more appealing too.
If you fancy spending a bit more, then you must go to Bouquet Restaurant, where the styles remind a little bit of a Greek island, the cuisine is amazing, and their plates are really good. On top of it, you have a happy hour running during the early evening.
Don't get confused by the name Molly Bistro because it actually serves an incredible Kare Kare, which we can't recommend more.
We would advise you to avoid with all your heart the restaurant in the main area, and Alona Beach is a pleasant walk but definitely not the best place to eat.
Bamboo Place is a very cool bar; they serve fusion food but, most importantly, great drinks.
While if you fancy something different then give a try to Dos Locos for Mexican food and Wonder Land for Thai food, unfortunately, we are not big fans of Korean cuisine, so we did not try any of the restaurants in the area.
Cebu
Cebu is a city for all and for all, so either you love it or hate it.
, We spent only one day in Cebu, so surely we are not the most knowledgeable of the area, but we must advise you to try their famous lechon; we had the one from Original Lechon which even our various taxi drivers confirmed was one of the best.
Bintana is the place to go for Filipino food, while the Verified Lounge is a sky bar that looks amazing at night with a great view.
The Philippines is a spectacular country; you probably won't see the same scenic island and sunset anywhere else in the world, so breathe in the experience as much as you can, While their cuisine is relatively simple, it can be bold and strong in flavour. You will surely find dishes that you won't love at first sight, as you will find some amazing combinations of taste, like the Kare Kare and SigSig.
As always, simply explore.
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