After traveling for almost a decade now (I’m not that old, I just started young) and setting foot on each of the 80 provinces of the Philippines on a budget, I guess it would be of great help to suggest some backpacking routes for those who are just starting out. I made it plain and simple with some suggestions on each route. I also don’t want to give a detailed itinerary for most of the places below as I want the traveler to be excited in his/her journey. Please do your best to make your own adventure and not copy mine.
Let this Philippine map guide you where the places are. This is especially helpful for foreigners:
1. Central Visayas Loop: Cebu-Bohol-Dumaguete-Siquijor
Highlights: Chocolate Hills (If you want to take a different shot, go to Sagbayan Peak) and Apo Island
Add to your itinerary: Cebu City Heritage tour, Osmena Peak, Tumalog Falls, Boljoon, Chocolate Hills, Tarsier at Corella, Panglao island, Silliman University, Apo island, Salagdoong Beach and Cambughay Falls.
Related Posts: An Unexpected Trip to Cebu City. Watch my 2 videos featuring southern Cebu- Oslob and Boljoon, Dalaguete and Argao
Accommodations: Cebu City Cheap Accommodations, Dumaguete: Harold’s Mansion has Php250/night (dorm-type, AC), Siquijor: I stayed at JJ Backpacker’s Inn in San Juan, rented a tent for only Php150/night
Tumalog Falls, Oslob, Cebu
2. Bicolandia: Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Albay and Sorsogon
Highlights: Calaguas Island, Mt. Mayon and Whaleshark Watching
Add to your itinerary: CWC in Pili, CamSur, Food Trip in Naga City, Albay Tour, Whaleshark Encounter, Daraga Church and Bulusan Lake
Related blogs: 10 Things I Want to Experience in Bicol, Close Encounter with the Whalesharks, Calaguas Islands Trip Guide, 10 Food Destinations in Naga City
Accommodations: Naga City- Old Sampaguita Inn (as low as Php150/night, common CR, fanroom), Beach Camping in Calaguas island.
Mayon Volcano, Albay
3. Diver’s Paradise: Coron, Palawan
Highlights: Wreck dive and Kayangan Lake
Add to your itinerary: Mt. Tapyas, Banana Island, Maquinit hotspring, Siete Pecados, Kayangan Lake and Calawit Safari Park.
Cheap Accommodations: Seadive, Coron Bay Lodge.
Kayangan Lake, Coron
4. The Heritage of Ilocandia: Vigan-Paoay-Batac-Laoag-Pagudpud-Adams
Highlights: UNESCO-Stamped Heritage Village in Vigan and Paoay Church
Add to your itinerary: Sta. Maria Church in Ilocos Sur, Kalesa Tour in Vigan, Bangui Windmills, Saud Beach, Kapurpurawan Rock Formations and Adams waterfalls.
Related Blog: Astonishing Adams, UNESCO-Stamped Churches and Heritage Village.
Cheap Accommodations: Vigan- Grandpa’s inn. Pagudpud- Edu’s Homestay (0920-2504858, Php500/night). Adams- Log Cabin and winery (Php150/night).
Paoay Church, Ilocos Norte
5. Busy to Beach: Iloilo City to Boracay (via Antique)
Highlights: River-kayaking in Tibiao, Antique, Puka Beach and Party in Boracay
Add to your itinerary: 7 Things to do in Tibiao, Iloilo & Guimaras too, Visita Iglesia in Southern Iloilo.
Related Blog: Not Your Ordinary Boracay,
Cheap Accommodations: Boracay Cheap Accommodations
Puka Beach, Boracay
6. Rice Terraces Overload: Ifugao Rice Terraces
Highlight: Trekking from Batad to Bangaan Rice Terraces (5-6 hours trek, local guide needed)
If you want to explore the UNESCO-inscribed terraced mountains, read this:
The five inscribed clusters are; (i) the Nagacadan terrace cluster in the municipality of Kiangan, a rice terrace cluster manifested in two distinct ascending rows of terraces bisected by a river; (ii) the Hungduan terrace cluster that uniquely emerges into a spider web; (iii) the central Mayoyao terrace cluster which is characterized by terraces interspersed with traditional farmers’ bale (houses) and alang (granaries); (iv) the Bangaan terrace cluster in the municipality of Banaue that backdrops a typical Ifugao traditional village; and (v) the Batad terrace cluster of the municipality of Banaue that is nestled in amphitheatre-like semi-circular terraces with a village at its base. (lifted from UNESCO website)
Related blog: Batad, What Happened to Your Charm?
Cheap Accommodations: I stayed at Batad Pension and Guesthouse (choose between regular oom and Ifugao hut), Php200/night. They serve sumptuous food- adobo is FTW! Also check this helpful accommodation guide.
Batad Rice Terraces, Ifugao
7. Adrenaline Rush: CDO-Camiguin-Iligan-Bukidnon
Highlights: Whitewater Rafting and Tinago Falls
Add to your itinerary: CDO-Whitewater rafting; Camiguin- White island, Mantigue island, Sunken Cemetery; Iligan- Maria Cristina Falls, Tinago Falls, Lechon in front of Timoga Falls; Bukidnon- Dahilayan Park, Trek to 2 trees in Malaybalay City.
Related blog: Northern Mindanao Escapade Summary and Expenses
Accommodations: Cheap Accommodations in Camiguin Island
Whitewater Rafting, CDO
8. Southern and Central Mindanao: Davao to Gen. Santos City and Saranggani
Highlights: Tuna Fish Port and Gumasa White Beach
Add to your itinerary: Samal Island, Davao Foodtrip, Drink and Party at MTS, Mt. Apo, Kapatagan, GenSan Tuna Fishport, Gumasa White Beach in Glan, Saranggani.
Related Blog: Samal Island Tour, Gumasa White Beach, Glan
Cheap Accommodations:Green Window and Homitori in Davao City (both less than Php200/night) and Residencia Heneral Traveller’s Inn, General Santos City (Php250/night).
Gumasa White Beach, Glan, Saranggani
9. White Beach Only: Puerto Princesa City and El Nido, Palawan
Highlights: Underground River and El Nido island hopping, Tour C
Add to your itinerary: Not Your Ordinary Palawan, Puerto Princesa City to El Nido Travel Guide, DIY Puerto Princesa City Tour
Cheap Accommodations in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan
Helicopter Island, El Nido, Palawan
10. The Ultimate Dream: Batanes- Batan and Sabtang islands
Highlight: Sabtang Island.
Related blog: Visit Batanes Series
Cheap Accommodations in Batanes.
Chavayan, Sabtang Island, Batanes
NOTE: The following routes are best explored for a week or more. I don’t recommend you cramming it to a 3D/2N holiday.
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GO NOW AND EXPLORE THE PHILIPPINES.
Need extra help? Read: How to Start Your Own Backpacking Trip
Thanks for including our very own “Two Trees” in this list James. I’m planning to do your list # 4 next year.
have fun in ilocos bosing earl!
This is really nice James. Kudos to you and more travels.
..hi james!
..medyo naguguluhan lang ako, yung route mo ba, travel at a time ba yan per destination o tuloy tuloy na travel? kung tuloy tuloy bakit hindi magkakasunod yung magkakalapit na destinations..? sorry for my being so naive, medyo bago kasi ako sa ganito eh..pero “lakwatsera” talaga ako!
..nabuhay lang ang dugong lakwatsera kung nung mabasa ko itong blog mo nung June 26 and then after..
..thanks for the inspiration! GOD bless always..
I salute you on how you put up every bits of information your readers need to know about the places around pinas.. there’s an automatic answer with the questions that would probably come up when their reading this.. husay ng pagkakatagni-tagni ng links ng places and accomodation that we could use as a refference.
thanx for this very informative post! 😀
what’s “pagkakatagni-tagni”?
hope you will be encouraged to travel more of our country jell!
Laking tulong nito James.. Lalo ngaung nakaka-aray na sa pocket ung airline tickets…
yep, better book in advance nlang then road trip nalang.
Ganun na nga plan ko hopefully.. Pa Luzon nman since kaya nman xia ng bus rides.. See you around.. ;D
Hi James! ask ko lang gano katagal travel by boat from santander cebu to dumaguete? 🙂 Thank you.
25minutes or less, boat leaves every 30minutes.
For the Davao-Gensan-Sarangani route, you can also include South Cotabato on the itinerary. It’s less than an hour away from Gensan and it boasts of beautiful lakes (Lake Sebu and Lake Holon), a mountain (Mt. Matutum), waterfalls, and so many delicious ways of cooking tilapia, among other things.
definitely! i did that one a year ago. thanks for adding that option tin!
hmmm…#10 is really an ultimate dream for me! hope to visit it ASAP. haha
everyone wants to visit batanes
items 2, 4, and 6 done! next stop is item #7! sana makisama ang weather! this is very helpful. Thanks, James!
enjoy the whitewater rafting!
Hi James! Its my first time to comment but ive been reading your blog quite frequently in the past few months. Thank you for this very informative post! Ill be graduating college soon and i cant wait to try your suggested routes for newbies like me. 🙂 Keep inspiring and happy travels! – lilly
hi lilly! glad you took time to make some comments. i hope you explore the country, aral ka ng mabuti.
GREAT post James!
9/10 for me. No. 10 is indeed an ultimate dream! When are u going to be a real thing for me? The fare alone is much too expensive! (sigh)
Done with all other 9 routes but it seems that i’ve to re-trace my footsteps for #2 (for Camarines Norte), #4 (for the “Astonishing Adams”) and #9 (for El Nido – another ultimate dream!). Im looking forward to revisit these places “your way” (on a backpacker’s budget!)
Cheers to more travels!
hey Ching, that’s nice!
batanes nalng kulang 🙂
go go go
Thank youuuu! 😀
This is great James! #6,7,8,10 looks like andami ko pa pla eksena sa pinas. 🙁 #10 prang ang hirap mahal pamasahe! haha. pero sana matupad na din pangarap q na makapunta sa batanes.Will bookmark and tweet this! thanks for sharing idol! 🙂
thanks for the RT riz! yes, a lot of places to explore here in the country
Thanks for this!! Will probably do #02 on my birthday. <3 Thanks!
enjoy the trip loise and advance happy bday
Hi guys
Im momo …i really like backpacker Then i need to joy …if its ok with u …plzzz add me on facebook …MMo GGran… Salamat
hello.. im a comm. student and our thesis/docu is about back packers.. sino po may plans by dec. or jan. na mag bagpack? please contact us ….jayput05@gmail.com
Hi there! We are coming from cold cold Finland to Philippines on 10th of January and we have to be back in Hongkong on 9th of February. Which islands woud you recommend? We are travelling low budget and we are huge nature fans. Some walking tours in the nature, like hiking would be nice. Any ideas? 🙂 Thanks!
hi noora, welcome to the philippines in advance!
my suggestion would be number 6 and 9
Hi James ,
Im doing a Philippines solo backpack for a month.soon!
could you suggest me few things please?
It would be great if we could talk.
Hi James,
Excellent work. I have been trying to figure out where I want to go in the Philippines (PI) in Dec this year (this would be my first trip to the PI) but so far it has been very confusing considering the PI is so varied geographically and culturally. But your site has really helped me narrow down my choices and make sense of the PI.
If it’s not too much trouble, any suggestions for a backpacking route from
a) Manila back to Manila (Nov 29 to Dec 15,2014) or
b) Cebu to Manila (Nov 29 to Dec 15, 2014)
I want to either fly in and out of Manila or fly into Cebu and fly out from Manila.
If any visitors are reading this, I’d welcome some suggestions from any of you too.
Thanks! Philippines here I come!
Thanks for the great ideas! Headed to the Philippines in 2 weeks and it just looks amazing!
Thanks for the heads up. I’m planning to backpack travel to the Phils this coming September. Will the weather be favorable then?
Tumalog Falls were really cool! i have been there after vising Whale Sharks.
I enjoyed a lot and its not that far. But dont rent a van from travel agency and dont take their tours: expensive and useless. Just rent a motorbike and go there yourself using google map.
I rented from ceburentalmotorbike. com they have their information there. Very cheap and really helped me to get around
I am from Denmark and currently taking my internship in the Philippines, most reason so I can travel in the Philippines. I went to Boracay, it was the most amazing place. Let me guide you with a few things. If you are coming to Kalibo airport, you have to take a bus to come to Caticlan, then you can take a small boat to the island. There are a lot of terminal fees on the way. The most thing I enjoyed on the island is renting a motorcycle. I found a website called: http://book2wheel.com/. This website has a list of all rental shops in the Philippines. The daily rental rate in Boracay is extremely high, but you can rent per hour like 200 pesos per hour. Go around and see the nature of the island.
Hi James,
If I were to take Route 1 (Central Visayas Loop: Cebu-Bohol-Dumaguete-Siquijor), how many days do you think is enough? 🙂 Thanks!
Interesting list! I think the mountaineering activities in Mt. Mayon, Albay is the most exciting one because it provides extreme adventure though it is quite an endless hike and walk, the hardship during the ascent is still worth it when you reach the peak of the mountain and witness its breathtaking view.
Awesome set of list! I think the mountaineering activities in Mt. Mayon, Albay is the most exciting one because it provides extreme adventure though it is quite an endless hike and walk. Thanks for sharing this amazing guide for newbies!
Cebu Safari and Adventure Park
Totally loved your lists of guides for newbies. Thanks for this!