Once you start putting together your Philippines itinerary, you’ll begin to realize that there is way more to see and do than you originally thought.
The Philippines is made up of more than 7,000 islands after all, each with their own remarkable beaches, hidden jungles, and colorful waterfalls. Throw in the fact that there is as much to see underwater as on top of it, and you may feel a little lost. So if you’re looking for an itinerary for 10 days in the Philippines, here’s what I did:
This 10 day itinerary for the Philippines includes: El Nido Palawan, Coron Palawan, and Cebu.
(Note: my original trip included Boracay, but due to the island being shut down for the next year, I’ll revert to my second itinerary. More info on the Boracay shut down here.)
Day 1: Manila to El Nido
If you are flying into the Philippines internationally, chances are you will be flying into Manila. Manila is usually the easiest and cheapest option. Since I was limited by time and there are so many other places to see in the Philippines, I decided not to stay in Manila and to head straight to the islands. I would recommend doing the same, especially if you are only spending 10 days in the Philippines.
El Nido was my favorite spot in this entire itinerary. It has tons of pristine beaches and remote islands and isn’t ruined by too much commercialization (yet). This is because it’s sort of difficult to get to. You have two options in getting to El Nido. 1.) You can fly into Puerto Princessa and catch a 6 hour bus or 2.) You can get a seat on the only airline that flies from Manila to El Nido (Air Swift). I chose the ladder out of convenience and I’d advise you to do that same (if you aren’t a budget backpacker).
Once you arrive in El Nido, you will either have a shuttle arranged by your hotel or you can catch a tricycle. I of course chose the tricycle (which by the way is a motorbike attached to a metal carriage.. I was also envisioning a three wheeled pedal bike like the one in SAW).
There are a few different places to stay on the island. I stayed near the town of El Nido, which I liked because of the large variety of shops, bars and restaurants. The downside to the town is the beach isn’t as nice.. which was okay with me since the main activity to do in El Nido is island hopping. You can also opt to stay on other beaches on the island, like Corong-Corong. The tricycles between the town and Carong Carong are around 10 minutes.
Hostels: Outpost Beach Hostel, Spin, Where 2 Next – All of these places looked amazing, I was bummed I booked late and couldn’t stay
Budget Hotels: There are a lot of hotels in this area that are very affordable. I stayed at the golden monkey cottages, which were ~10 minute walk from town. They cottages were really cute and free breakfast was included. The cost for our stay was $324.52 for 5 nights.
For dinner, we grabbed seafood on the beach for our first night at a place with live music.
Day 2: Los Cabanas Zipline and Nacpan Beach
Grab a tricycle and head to the zipline on Los Cabanas Beach. The zipline stretches from a hill on Las Cabanas Beach to Depeldet Island and it only costs 500 Php. Afterwards you can sunbathe and grab drinks or food on Los Cabanas beach. Although it’s short, this is one of the coolest ziplines I’ve ever been on.
- Tricycle Rate: 150 Pesos/tricycle (one-way)
- Travel Time: 20 minutes (one-way)
After you’re finished at Los Cabanas, take a tricycle to Nacpan Beach which is considered the most beautiful beach in El Nido. The tricycle to Nacpan is a long ride, but worth it. There is also a small restaurant/bar on Nacpan if you would like to eat there. If you walk to the far left, you will be able to see Cailitang Beach as well (Calitang and Nacpan form the twin beaches).
- Tricycle Rate: 1000 Pesos/tricycle (2-way)
- Travel Time: 1 hour (one-way)
For dinner, try Happiness Cafe. Another tip: there is a 2×1 Happy Hour in town every single night at most bars/restaurants.
Day 3: Island Hopping Tour A
When you visit El Nido, you will realize that every single island hopping tour company offers four tours (A,B,C and D). Each one has different routes. A is the most popular, since it visits all of the Lagoons: Small Lagoon, Big Lagoon, Secret Lagoon, Shimizu Island and Seven Commando Beach. The tours leave around 9am so you will want to sign up the day before or early in the morning. There is no alcohol on board, but there is lunch provided. The tours are BYOB, so of course we brought a six pack aboard. The tour is around 7 hours.
Price: $20
For dinner, there are a number of great restaurants in town. I loved the beach set up at Cafe Athena.
Day 4: Le Boat (El Nido Party Boat)
You can either choose another tour this day, or opt in for Le Boat, El Nido’s only secret booze cruise. Le Boat mixes and matches stops from all of the tours and has unlimited drinks and music on board. There’s also lunch included, and oh, not to mention, there’s a puppy. We felt that this was more appropriate for our age group, and had an amazing time with the crew. I would highly recommend spending a day on Le Boat.
Price: $50
Day 5: El Nido to Coron
As I mentioned previously, I did Boracay instead of Coron on my trip. However, Boracay is no longer an option because of the shut down (and honestly you’re probably better off). If I didn’t do Boracay, I would have headed to Coron.
Coron is also on the island of Palawan, but that doesn’t mean that getting there is fast or easy.
To get from El Nido to Coron, you can take a ferry, a fast craft boat, a cargo ship or your own private boat. The ferry can take a while, the fast craft boat is about 4 hours. A private boat is a great option, since you can make stops and island hop along the way.
Day 6: Island Hopping in Coron
Sign up for one of Coron’s island hopping tours. Make sure to see Kayangan Lake, which is known as the cleanest lake in Asia. I would also recommend a tour that includes diving or snorkeling, as Coron is known as one of the best spots to dive in the Philippines. If you’re not certified, you can still snorkel or take a diving class.
Day 7: Diving or Snorkeling in Coron
I left this day open for wreck diving, which Coron is famous for. As I visited Boracay instead of Coron, I can’t personally recommend a dive to do, but you can view a list of them here.
Day 8: Fly to Cebu
Fly into Cebu and then grab a cab South. You can stay in Cebu city and have a long travel day south to see the whale sharks in Oslob and Kawason falls, but I decided to stay in the South to split this drive up. The place I stayed wasn’t anything special, but I heard of a lot of people staying in Panagsama as their home base. This will be the longest travel day, but it was nice to have some down time.
Day 9: Whale Sharks & Kawasan Falls in Cebu
Arrange for a tricycle or cab to pick you up from your hotel and take you to Oslob at 5am to swim with the whale sharks. While this was one of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced, it is a bit weird how close to the shore they feed the whale sharks, and how many people are out in the water at once.
I do have to write a disclaimer here that I wasn’t aware of until I came back from my trip and found a few articles on Google about the whale shark feeding in Oslob. The whale shark feeding in Oslob leads the whale sharks to lose out on some of the key nutrients they would recieve from hunting naturally. In Oslob, they are fed the same thing every day. This and other issues, such as too much tourist contact, and affecting the migration patterns, may be affecting the sharks in a negative way.
I included this in the article because most of the people visiting Cebu have this activity in mind, and because I myself had a blast. However, I wasn’t aware of this situation prior to heading to Oslob, and if return, I would definitely look into diving with the sharks off the coast of Dumaguete, Donsol, or Pintuyan, which are also known for natural sightings of whale sharks (depending on the season).
After swimming with the whale sharks, take a cab or tricycle to Kawasan Falls for canyoning.
Day 10: the end of your 10 days in the Philippines
Head back to Cebu City to fly back to Manila 🙁
All photos taken with my Sony a6000, portable tripod, Iphone and Go Pro5.
Media Credit: Kayangan Lake (Tuderna)
Have any questions about my Philippines Itinerary? Feel free to comment below!
Hi Martin, it was very well described, can u help me to set our itinerary for 10 days, my arrival & departure is from cebu, want to cover cebu, El Nido, Boracay,Palawan, & back to cebu, tmx
Sorry for the delay in my response Jignesh! Did you already plan your trip?
Amazing thanks for posting all this… I read you booked it all yourself. My question is was everything prebooked well in advance, like hotels flights tours etc?
Hi David,
You’re welcome 🙂 I had my flights and hotels all prebooked, but I waited until I was there to book the tours. I find that things are cheaper to book once your there instead of booking online.
Have a great trip!
Marteen
Hi,
We are planning to go in Philippines next year in February for exactly 10 days.
For El Nido and Coron I am sure they are very nice, but now I am thinking if I should spend 2 nights in Cebu also.
So, please tell me, is big rush and hustle, for visiting Oslob whale sharks and some waterfalls for 2 nights/ 1 full day? Please tell me how long you wait to see the shark whales?
If you will do some recommendation…do you think are worthing to spend these 2 days in Cebu, or to stay more in Palawan?
Thank you very much
Florian
Hi Florian,
Thanks for reading. Yes, it was sort of rushed to fit Cebu (the whale sharks and Kawasan waterfalls) into our itinerary, but it was also worth it. It’s a long drive from Cebu airport to Oslob, so this will be a long travel day. However, it was the only way to fit the sharks and the falls into our itinerary. The whale shark tour itself doesn’t take long (about an hour?), it’s just getting to and from Oslob that takes long. I found that it was worth it because I’ve been wanting to see whale sharks my entire life. I wasn’t sure if I’d get another chance to see them. However, if you aren’t crazy about marine life, then I would probably recommend staying in Palawan.
Have a good trip!
Marteen
I am planning to go Philippines in 15th to 25th November. Please suggest
Hello,
First of all thank you so much for the amazing post, all the details and recommendations. This is so helpful. I also loved the photos it really made me want to travel there. It seems such an amazing trip.
I was wondering if you could tell us which month of the year you traveled to Philippines. We were thinking of going at the beginning of November. Some of our friends told us it is rainy season in November but then when checking online I found that November is dry seasons:
– The Philippines are most popular during the dry season, between November and April. it’s best to travel during the cooler months of December to February.
http://bit.ly/PhilippinesBestTime
– The Philippines has a hot and humid tropical climate with a wet season (southwest monsoon, or habagat) from May to October and a dry season (northeast monsoon, or amihan) from November to April. http://bit.ly/WhenToGoPhilippines
So not sure if you advise or not going in Early november. I just want to make sure our pics gonna be as amazing as yours XD
Hi Edu,
Thanks for reading the blog, I’m glad that you enjoyed the post! This was really one of my favorite trips, the Philippines are so gorgeous. I went on this trip in March and I didn’t have any rain on the trip at all. Since the dry season starts in November, I would think that you would be okay! I’m not a weather man though!
Thanks and enjoy your trip!
Marteen
Hi Martin,
I read your blog and your itinerary was amazing.
I am planning a trip to Philippines for 10 to 12 days and I am thinking of doing
Manila – 3 nights
El Nido – 3 nights
Cebu – 3 nights
Boracay – 3 nights
What do you reckon? Is it a good itinerary? Should I make any changes?
Thank you.
Hi Prashant,
Thanks for reading, I’m glad you liked the itinerary! You’re itinerary looks good, however I didn’t go to Manila. If I were you, I might leave out Manila and spend more time on the islands, but that’s up to you! I didn’t hear that Manila has much to offer. Also 3 days in El Nido means that two days will be also travel days. You may want more time there.
Thanks for reading and have a great trip!
Marteen
Hey Marteen
Thank you so much for the advice. I have cancelled Manila and flying straight out to El Nido. I will extend my days in El Nido as well.
Again thank you so much.
Hey mate how did you go to Boracay from el Nido?
Hi Amine,
I flew into El Nido from Manila using Swift Air. I then flew to Cebu from el Nido to see the whale sharks, and then flew from Cebu to Boracay.
Thanks!
Marteen
Hi !!
Any recommendations for hostels in Princesa City, el nido and cebu? (just a couple of guys)
P.s. we were confused about which country to go to out of the 3-4 we had narrowed down and thanks to your blog, we zeroed down to Philippines. Loved it!
Hi Shashank,
Thanks for reading, unfortunately I wasn’t in Princesa City since I flew to El Nido from Manila. In El Nido, check out Outpost Beach Hostel, Spin, and Where 2 Next – All of these places looked amazing, I was bummed I booked late and couldn’t stay. In Cebu I stayed way south by Oslob (nowhere special). I’m glad my blog led you to choose the Philippines! It’s incredible, you’ll have a great time!
Have fun!
Marteen
Hi Marteen,
What was your original itinerary including Boracay and how did you spread your time over the different places?
Manillo (straight flight out of there?)
El Nido – how many days?
Cebu – how many days?
Boracay – how many days?
My friend was there recently and said Boracay has improved a lot so considering including this. Would love to hear how you split your time and how that worked. (So many places we want to see in 10 days but need to narrow it down ha!)
Thanks
Keith
Hi Keith,
This was my original itinerary, but I replaced Boracay with Coron since Boracay closed. Therefore, if you took this itinerary and then went from El Nido –>Cebu–>Boracay, that would be what I did. I flew straight out of Manila to El Nido on Swift Air. I did 5 days in El Nido and flew to Cebu on the 5th day. I only spent 3 days in Cebu (flew in on the first day, went to see the whale sharks and falls on the 2nd day, flew to Boracay on the 3rd day). I spent the remaining days in Boracay (4) and flew back to Manila on the last day. Cebu was a bit rushed doing it the way we did (you have to drive far from the airport down to where the whale sharks and falls are), but it was worth it since that’s all I wanted to see on Cebu.
As far as activities on each island, my El Nido activities are in the post, as are the Cebu activities. In Boracay, if I’m honest, we just partied and relaxed. haha!
I hope this helps!
Thanks
Marteen
Thanks a lot for the response, going to do something very similar I think! Cheers
hey! I would love if you could send recommendations for hotels having a hard time seeing what would be good or not, thanks!
Hi Saniya,
Thanks for reading. In El Nido, I stayed at the Golden Monkey Cottages. The place was adorable but also a little walk (~10min) away from town. What kind of accomodation are you looking for? Budget, mid range, higher end? I would either stay in the town of El Nido or in Carong Carong (I met a couple that was staying there and really loved it).
Hope this helps!
Marteen
Hi Marteen,
What was your budget for this trip?
Thanks!
Hi Luisa:
I flew into Vietnam and then to Manila and back to the US for a round trip price of $652.
My flight from Manila to El Nido was $136
My flight from El Nido to Cebu was $107
My flight to Boracay was around $105
My flight to Manila was $161
Our hotel in El Nido was $324.52 for 5 nights
Hotel in Cebu was $78 for 2 nights
Hostel in Boracay was $15/night
The booze cruise in El Nido was $50, and Tour A was $20
Canyoning in Cebu was ~$87
I didn’t price out food or transportation via tricycles but both of those were very cheap. You can definitely find cheaper accomodation as well, but we decided to stay in nicer places in El Nido and Cebu. I would also like to mention that I booked the flights between islands a week out, so you could probably find cheaper prices for those as well.
Thanks for reading and I hope this helps!
Thanks,
Marteen
Hello!
I am going to Philippines with my friends in April 2019. So far we are a group of 4 and we are staying for like 10 days too. At first we thought of visiting a nearby country to benefit but it turned out to be very expensive. So I want to check with you if 10 days are good enough for Philippines or will it get boring? Should we do the same islands that you mentioned or should we replace Coron with Boracay? What about Manila is it worth seeing? Appreciate if you can give us any kind of advice to make the best out of our trip 🙂
Thanks in advance
Hi Kim,
You will have so much to do in 10 days! The Philippines are made up of so many different islands, you could visit for a month and still not see everything. Each place has something different to offer. There are tons of adventurous activities (snorkeling, scuba, zip lines, kayaking, island hopping, canyoning, whale shark viewing, etc.) to keep you busy. Not to mention, plenty of beaches and partying if that’s your thing too. Boracay was just shut down for a few months but I heard they opened it up to visitors again. I’m not sure what to expect since it just opened again, you may want to Google if they made any changes to the atmosphere. It used to be a party island, but it became too dirty and the government shut it down in order to clean. More about that here https://www.lustfortheworld.com/i-went-to-boracay-right-before-it-shut-down-and-this-is-how-i-felt/ Coron is closer to El Nido in culture and also distance wise so it would be easier to visit. What kind of activities are you into? Coron is worth it for diving/snorkeling. They also have different island hopping tours there than El Nido. I wouldn’t bother with Manila, there isn’t much there to see. I would head straight to the islands if I were you.
Thanks
Marteen
Hello again Marteen,
Thank you so much for the quick and detailed response.
To be honest, I am not really into diving/sea life.. I am just going there to see the beautiful scenery and swim in the clear waters, and do some fun water sports.
I was also hoping of catching some of the culture in Philippines by going to the Taoist temple in Cebu then visiting the chocolate hills in Bohol. Are they worth visiting?
As for Manila, we will only be sleeping there for 1 night to relax after the 18 hrs flight and move in the morning to the island. The thing is, we are not finding it very easy to plan the sequence of the trip and the means of transportation.
Should we follow the same order that you did? Manila – El Nido – Coron – Cebu – Manila?
Also, what about the rest of Palawan should we only worry about El Nido or consider visiting other areas?
One last question, how many days should we stay in each? which one is the nicest to give it more time.. If you think we should change the destinations, please feel free to suggest cause we still have a lot of time.
Thanks again! 🙂
Hi Kim,
You’ll definitely find beautiful scenery, clear waters and water sports in both El Nido and Coron. I didn’t go to the Taoist temple or chocolate hills in Bohol, I did the waterfalls/whalesharks down south instead. It sounds like that would be a good idea if you’re interested in the culture. I didn’t have time to fit those in during my trip.
Yes, transportation could be tricky. I would definitely recommend flying into El Nido, instead of taking the 6 hour bus from Puerto Princessa. I did my route based on flight availability on Swift Air (the only airline flying into el nido). So you may want to check those flights first before deciding on the route. I chose flying over buses/ferries in order to save time. I liked the order of my trip if you decide to do the same.
When I was doing research, it seemed like El Nido and Coron were the two top places to visit in Palawan. The only reason people don’t visit El Nido seems to be if they don’t want to take the 6 hour bus or have the money to fly there from Manila. However, Puerto Princessa does have the underground river which is a new 7 wonder of Nature. You may want to look into that too if you have time.
Hard to say where to spend the most time. El Nido and Coron are both small, but both have 4 different island hopping tours,so if you wanted to see different stuff every day for 4 days on each island, that would be possible. Nacpan beach in El Nido will also take about a day (it takes an hour to get to). I was in El Nido for 4 days and had time to do two island hopping tours, see Nacpan, and go ziplining.This was my favorite island. There are a lot of adventurous things to do in Cebu too. I did canyoning the waterfalls and the whalesharks both in one day which was tiring. It also takes a long time to drive south to the waterfalls from Cebu city. I believe there’s also island tours from here too. Each place has a lot to do (other than Manila which I just used as a hub).
Hope this helps!
Marteen
I really couldn’t thank you enough for this help Marteen!
Thank you so much really. I will let you know in case I needed anything later on.
Stay safe, and enjoy your trips around the world! If you ever decided to come to Lebanon I will be happy to assist you 🙂
Hi Marteen,
We are just starting to plan and hopefully we can make it to the Philippines in December. Any and all assistance would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Kurt
Hi! Your trip to the Philippines looked amazing! Would like to use your itinerary, did you book through a website or put it together yourself?
Thanks!
Hi Kurt,
Thanks for reading! The Philippines was definitely one of my favorite trips. I booked it myself! Let me know if you need help planning!
Thanks
Marteen
Hi Marteen
Your itinerary and trip to the Philippines looked amazing! could you please suggest me the itinerary for Philippines for 8 nights?
Thanks!
Amit
Hi Amit,
Thanks for reading, I would probably head to El Nido and Coron or El Nido and Cebu if I were you! You can use my itinerary here to plan 🙂
Thanks!
Marteen