Asia
I flew into Cebu straight from Tokyo. If Japan is precision, the Philippines is chaos with a view. I knew what I was walking into and it was exactly that.
Two weeks. Seven stops. One backpack. No plan beyond the flights.
Cebu: Whale Sharks and Waterfalls
Cebu was two nights and one full day of activities, enough to earn its place on the itinerary.
Oslob first. You wake up before dawn, get on a boat and find yourself in the water next to whale sharks. Less than one percent of people will ever experience this in their lifetime. They are huge, unhurried, magical gentle giants moving through the water beside you like they own it, because they do. Nothing prepares you for the scale of them up close.
Oslob has its controversies around the feeding practice and it’s worth knowing that before you go. But the encounter itself is something you carry with you.
Then Kawasan Falls. Turquoise water, layered cascades and a pool at the base that looks too blue to be real. You can do the full canyoneering route through the river to get there but the falls are worth the visit either way.
Cebu is not the headline of the Philippines trip but it’s a strong opening act.
Siargao: The Island That Earns Everything Said About It
Siargao deserves more than being called a favourite. It’s the kind of place that recalibrates everything.
I surfed Cloud 9. Not the main break, the baby waves on the inside, but the water is so transparent you can see the stone reef below through the sun crossing the surface. It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen from a board. Pure fun, the kind of session you don’t want to end.
Then I climbed up to the viewing platform, badly sunburnt, and watched the kids shredding the real wave. That hollow arc breaking over the reef, the one that makes people reroute their entire lives to live here. I understood it completely.
Sugba Lagoon was the other moment. You arrive by boat into water so still and so green it looks edited. Floating platforms, mangroves, silence. Some places are just genuinely beautiful and Siargao keeps delivering them.
The tri-island tour was another highlight. Three islands, one local boat, and Naked Island as the centrepiece: a bare strip of white sand in the middle of the ocean with nothing on it but light. The tour includes a mermaid tail and a drone, so I ended up with aerial shots of myself in a mermaid tail on a deserted island in the Philippines. Not something I planned. Absolutely something I’d do again.
The food was a surprise too. I tried spider shells for the first time, sea grapes that pop slightly when you bite them with a mild ocean flavour, interesting once and glad I tried them. The boodlefight, a traditional communal meal served on banana leaves with rice, meat and seafood all laid out together, everyone eating with their hands, loud and generous and the kind of meal that makes you feel briefly like you’re somewhere real.
Siargao also has a looseness to it that the other islands don’t quite match. The roads are rough, the vibe is relaxed, and everyone you meet is either a local who loves it deeply or a traveler who never quite left.
Boracay: Overhyped, Overcrowded, One Magnificent Sunset
I’ll be honest about Boracay. The beach is stunning, genuinely one of the most beautiful stretches of white sand I’ve seen anywhere. And it is absolutely packed.
I bought pan de coco from a beach bakery, still warm. Sweet and simple and completely satisfying.
Then there’s Coco Mama, a little coconut ice cream house that does exactly what it says and does it well. The kind of place you stumble into and end up staying longer than planned.
The less charming side: the sea turning dark green with algae in stretches, the island seemingly half stuck in abandoned construction projects everywhere you look, the beach vendors every three steps, the tuk tuks, the tourist infrastructure built on top of tourist infrastructure. That’s the Boracay you have to make peace with if you want the beach.
But the sunset. That part is not overhyped at all. The sky goes completely magnificent and for that hour everything else falls away.
Go. Stay for the sunset. Adjust your expectations for the rest.
El Nido and the Big Lagoon
If I had to pick one image from the entire trip it would be entering Big Lagoon.
You arrive by local boat, threading through limestone cliffs that rise straight out of the water like something that should only exist in films. Then the lagoon opens up and you’re inside it, the rock walls on every side, the water shifting from turquoise to deep blue depending on the depth beneath you. It’s completely silent except for the paddles.
I’ve island-hopped in a few places in Southeast Asia. Nothing quite prepares you for the scale of Palawan’s formations. The tours run well, mixing snorkeling, swimming stops and stretches of open water between the cliffs.
After the boat I kayaked through the lagoon with two strangers. By the end we were friends, the kind you make in two hours on the water and still follow on Instagram.
El Nido town itself is small and a little rough around the edges. It works. Rest early and get on the water as soon as you can.
Coron: Underwater and Overhead
Coron has two things going for it and both are exceptional: the snorkeling and the lakes.
Kayangan Lake sits behind a short but steep climb and rewards you immediately at the top, a view across the bay and the surrounding islands that earns every step. It’s a thermocline lake, fresh water sitting over salt water, and the visibility is extraordinary. You can see meters down without a mask.
The snorkeling offshore was not pristine coral but it had its own moments. I spotted a tridacna, a giant clam, and huge spikes of sea urchins covering the rock below. The kind of underwater scene that reminds you the ocean has its own logic entirely.
I spent less time here than I would have liked. If I go back to the Philippines, Coron is where I’d add days.
Manila: Arrive, Do More Than Expected, Leave
Manila is not a destination. It’s a function. But I gave it time and it gave back more than I expected.
The bamboo bike tour through Intramuros was a highlight. The old walled city on two wheels, at your own pace, with the history layered into every street. It works in a way that a walking tour wouldn’t.
Then Art in Island, an immersive art museum where you step into the paintings. I had it almost entirely to myself, which made it feel like a private experience in a city of millions. Genuinely great.
Dense, chaotic and not always easy to navigate. But give it a day rather than treating it as dead time and it surprises you.
The Honest Verdict
The Philippines is overhyped in parts and genuinely extraordinary in others. The gap between the two is wider here than almost anywhere else I’ve been.
Skip the places that are coasting on reputation. Go deep on the ones that earned it. Siargao and El Nido are the real thing and they’re worth every logistical headache to reach them.
Would I go back? Yes, but only to the places I didn’t get enough of. The less touristic side, the islands you reach on a local ferry rather than a speed boat transfer. That version of the Philippines I haven’t seen yet.
Two weeks of island-hopping, group tours, solo evenings and some of the most dramatic landscapes I’ve photographed anywhere. Coming straight from Japan the contrast couldn’t be sharper, but the Philippines doesn’t need Japan as a reference point. It stands completely on its own. Chaotic, gorgeous, occasionally frustrating and absolutely worth it.
