The Philippines is one of my favorite countries in Southeast Asia. With over 7,000 islands, there is so much to explore here. From rice fields and volcanoes to beaches and waterfalls, and did you know that the Philippines is home to one of the smallest primates in the world? Follow this Philippines itinerary and visit all the best that the Philippines has to offer in only 2 weeks!
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Table of Contents - Two weeks in the Philippines itinerary
- How to get to the Philippines
- When to visit the Philippines
- A 2-week Philippines itinerary from Cebu to Palawan
- Day 1: Fly to Cebu and travel to Moalboal
- Day 2: The Sardine run
- Day 3: Visit waterfalls
- Day 4: Take the ferry to Bohol
- Day 5: Visit Bohol’s highlights
- Day 6: Fly to Puerto Princesa
- Day 7: Underground River tour
- Day 8: Travel to Port Barton
- Day 9: Kayak or hike to White Beach and Coconut Beach
- Day 10: Travel to El Nido
- Day 11: Visit beaches
- Day 12: Travel to Coron
- Day 13: Do the Super ultimate tour
- Day 14: Fly to Manila or Cebu
How to get to the Philippines
The best way to get to the Philippines is by flying to either Manila or Cebu. They receive the most international flights. I have chosen to start this 2-week Philippines itinerary in Cebu and finish with some beach time, but if you find a better flight to Manila, you can easily change the itinerary around.
When to visit the Philippines
Weatherwise, the best time of year to visit the Philippines is at the start of the dry season. The dry season lasts roughly from December to May. Towards the end of the dry season temperatures and humidity levels rise, however, so the best months to travel to the Philippines are December to February. Do note that this is also the high season, so prices of accommodation rise and some of the most popular places in the Philippines like El Nido can get very crowded. So you might want to opt for the shoulder season instead.
A 2-week Philippines itinerary from Cebu to Palawan
Day 1: Fly to Cebu and travel to Moalboal
From Cebu Airport you can take a bus to the SM City Mall. You’ll either need to get a jeepney (the public transport in the Philippines) or a taxi to the South Bus Terminal from here. This is where the direct busses to Moalboal are leaving from. The trip takes about 3 hours.
As you will have spent most of the day traveling today, spend the rest of your day relaxing. If you arrive super early you can rent a scooter or take a taxi to White Beach. If not, just grab a drink and dinner at the beach for sunset.
Day 2: The Sardine run
Moalboal’s highlight is the Sardine run. Here thousands, if not millions of sardines group together, and snorkeling with them is an incredible experience. There is no need to join a tour. You can just rent snorkeling gear in town and head to the beach. Look for “Sardine Run” on Google maps, and enter the water from the beach next to Chili Bar. Swim to the edge of the corals, and here you will find them. They are most active in the morning, and this is also when visibility is best, so get up early today for the best experience. While it’s not necessary to rent fins in order to reach the sardines, it is recommended if you want to dive down. It’s really difficult to dive without flippers. So if you want that photo swimming up going through the sardines, make sure to rent flippers too (the bigger the better).
The rest of the day you can spend on the beach, or rent a scooter and drive to a waterfall if you can’t wait until tomorrow.
Swimming with whale sharks – Cebu is also famous as a destination where you can swim with whale sharks. While these animals are not captured and are technically wild and free, they are being fed to guarantee their presence in the bay for tourism purposes. This interferes a lot with their natural behavior, stopping them from migrating. Therefore, it is not recommended to swim with them here and support this. There are other places in the world where you can snorkel with them, where they are better protected, like Australia’s East Coast and La Paz in Mexico.
Day 3: Visit waterfalls
Rent a scooter and visit some of Cebu’s many incredible waterfalls. We opted for Dao Falls and nearby Inambakan Falls. But there are many more you can visit. Kasawan is the most famous one, but it was closed when we were here. This waterfall is very popular for canyoning tours too.
I especially loved Dao, as the hike there is really beautiful too. It’s not far or difficult, and you will go with a mandatory guide included in your entrance fee. You will walk through a beautiful green canyon with a blue stream, until reaching the waterfall where you can swim.
Inambakan Falls consists of several layers. As there was a storm coming, we decided to just stay on the first level, so it would be easy to get out and leave if the clouds were coming too close. For the first level, you don’t need a guide. If you want to hike further and/or go canyoning, you will need to hire a guide at the entrance.
Day 4: Take the ferry to Bohol
I recommend leaving in the morning, so you have time to enjoy the afternoon at the beach in Bohol.
You have two options to get to Bohol from Moalboal. The first one is by getting a bus to Liloan, from here a ferry to Dumaguete, and from here a ferry to Bohol. This way is quite complicated though, as not all busses to Liloan go to the ferry port. You might need to take a taxi for the last bit, which will most likely rip you off. And then, the ferry to Dumaguete will arrive at a different port than where the ferry to Bohol leaves. It’s possible to get a jeepney, not quite door-to-door, but close enough. Locals will tell you you need to take a taxi though, so best to ask the jeepney drivers if they can drop you off close to the port if you want to travel this way.
A much easier route to Tagbilaran is taking the bus back to Cebu City, and a direct ferry from here though. It may look like a much longer way on the map, and I guess it is, but it saves you a lot of hassle.
You can rent a scooter for cheap from around the ferry port for two days, which I recommend. It is the easiest way to get around the island. Drop your stuff at your accommodation and head off to Dumaluan Beach. The beach is full of resorts, so you’ll need to pay an entrance fee to get to the beach. Unless you want to search for a hidden free entrance. We tried for a little while but then gave up as we’d rather spend our time on the beach. The beach is very beautiful and it’s obvious it gets cleaned regularly, so it’s worth it paying a small contribution.
Day 5: Visit Bohol's highlights
If you have scooter, you can visit all the highlights of Bohol island in one day. It’s possible to get to them by bus as well, but making it all in one day will be difficult, if not impossible. We stayed on Panglao Island, so I will list the places in an order that makes sense from this point of view, but you can of course change the order around as you see fit.
Start your day at one of the Tarsier sanctuaries. Tarsiers are the second smallest primates in the world and incredibly cute with their big eyes. We opted to visit the Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary and enjoyed our experience. The tour was very informative and the tarsiers seem to be looked after well. They are free to leave the protected area as there is no roof and they are excellent at climbing and jumping. So I can recommend this one, although I can’t compare it with the Bohol Tarsier Conservation Area, we didn’t visit this one.
After you’ve visted these incredibly cute little creatures, continue on to Loboc. Loboc is a town on the beautiful and super blue Loboc River. From town, you can take a super cheesy but nice river cruise along the river. The cruise includes a buffet lunch, so best to go here when you’re hungry. But don’t wait too long as the last boat leaves at 2 pm or 2.30 pm depending on the day. After the cruise, continue along the river toward the Chocolate Hills and when you see a nice stop, go for a refreshing dip in the river. We made a stop at Busai Dream Falls, which is private so you have to pay a small fee. But it’s a nice place for a little break.
Lastly, make your way to the famous Chocolate Hills. This might be the most famous attraction of Bohol, I found it the least interesting to be honest. But it would be silly not to go while you’re on the island. So continue driving towards the Chocolate Hills viewpoint. You’ll pass a parking lot, where you will need to park your motorbike, pay your ticket, and hop on the shuttle bus which will take you to the viewpoint. It’s not allowed to drive here yourself, but the shuttle is included in the entrance fee.
Day 6: Fly to Puerto Princesa
Puerto Princesa is the capital city of Palawan and the main transport hub of the island. It’s also the main starting point of the underground river tour, which is the most famous and most special attraction of Puerto Princesa. Once you arrive in Puerto Princesa, contract a tour for tomorrow. We went with Wella Ticketing services, which was the cheapest tour we found: 2000 pesos + entrance fee.
If you’re staying close to the Baywalk, this is a nice place to grab dinner (and lunch as well if you’re arriving early). Another nice option is Isla Fiesta Buffet Restaurant with an extensive all-you-can-eat buffet incl water and (very sweet) juices for 400 pesos (at the time of writing).
Day 7: Underground River tour
The Underground River Tour, or Subterranean River Tour, is an all-day tour. It’s easy to take a tour from Puerto Princesa, but the actual river is about 75 km from Puerto Princesa, in Sabang. It’s also possible to stay here and join a tour, but there are many more accommodation options in Puerto Princesa and it’s easy to travel to the next stop, Port Barton, from here too.
While the Underground River is very long, only a small part can be navigated. The rest of the cave is protected and not accessible to tourists. Part of the protection is making as little noise as possible, so boats have no motor, and tourists are given an audioguide with several language options so guides don’t have to speak inside the cave.
Day 8: Travel to Port Barton
As there is not much to do in Puerto Princesa for half a day, I recommend taking a minivan to Port Barton in the morning, so you can enjoy the beach here in the afternoon. The beach in town is very nice to spend an afternoon, no need to travel very far.
Internet in Port Barton – The internet is generally not great in Port Barton, but some places have good internet if you need to connect. I liked Flow a lot, and we spent our evenings here as I needed to work and there was no signal in most places. Food is really nice here too, and you get to use their pool if you eat here. Lunazul is another place with good internet if Flow is not your place.
Day 9: Kayak or hike to White Beach and Coconut Beach
Use your full day in Port Barton to explore the beaches. You can reach them either by kayak or hiking, whatever you prefer. If you rent a kayak, you can also go to Starfish Island, which is a sandbar in front of Port Barton where you find a lot of starfish (hence the name). When we went, we only saw one though. It depends on the tide and current how many there are at a given time. So we continued to explore Coconut Beach and White Beach. We also stopped at Papaya Beach, but it wasn’t as nice as Coconut Beach and White Beach, but as it’s public, it was free, unlike Coconut and White Beach.
Coconut Beach was our favorite, and my overall favorite beach in this 2-week Philippines itinerary. It’s a beautiful beach and the resident pigs give it something special. White Beach is also very beautiful and better for swimming as there are fewer rocks at the shore. There is a restaurant just behind White Beach, so this is a great place to grab lunch.
Day 10 - Travel to El Nido
Take a bus to El Nido, either in the morning or afternoon. If you love Port Barton, spend your morning here. If you’re ready to move on, take a bus in the morning and spend your afternoon in El Nido. You can relax on the beach in town, but it’s not as nice as the one in Port Barton. Better to head to Nacpan Beach, about 20 km north of El Nido. You can get here by scooter or taxi.
Day 11: Visit beaches
Spend your full day in El Nido exploring some of the islands around. The most common way is joining one of the many tours. People we met who did both a tour here and in Coron all said that Coron was much better, so we wanted to do a DIY tour and rent a kayak. I did this back in 2014 when I visited the Philippines for the first time and I remember it was really fun. Unfortunately, a typhoon was passing the Philippines at this time, and we could only visit Naclan Beach in El Nido on our arrival day. The other days we had to stay indoors because of the heavy rains and winds.
Day 12: Travel to Coron
You can either take a ferry or a flight to travel between El Nido and Coron. If you book your flight in advance and have little luggage, a flight can be the same or sometimes even cheaper than the ferry so check what is the best way for you. Note that while the best of Coron is located on Coron Island, it’s not possible to stay here. Your best option if you’re following this Philippines itinerary is staying in Coron Town. If you want to stay longer you can also stay in another town on Busuanga Island.
If you arrive in the morning, you can rent a scooter for the afternoon and drive to Marcilla Beach. The road is really bad in some parts, so it’s not a good place to go for your first drive. Only for experienced and/or confident drivers. The beach is nice though, and at low tide, there is a sandbar. If you don’t want to drive to the beach, another option is hiking to the viewpoint in Coron Town.
Day 13: Do the Super ultimate tour
Opt for the Super Ultimate Tour for your last full day in the Philippines. I think it’s the best value for money and especially Baracuda Lake and Kanyangan Lake are a must, and I loved Twin Lake too. So make sure they are all included in the tour you pick. Most agencies will say snorkeling gear is exclusive, but it’s easy to negotiate and ask them to include it.
Day 14: Fly to Manila or Cebu
Today is the last day of this Philippines itinerary and if this is the last day you have available, a flight out is your only option. Look for flights to Manila and Cebu as these are airports with the best international connections. If you have a spare day, you can also opt for the ferry to Manila. It takes 1.5 days, but it’s relatively cheap and includes food. Not a lot, so bring some snacks as snacks on the ferry are expensive.
This was Two weeks in the Philippines itinerary
Of course there are many more awesome things to do in the Philippines, and if you have time I highly recommend staying longer and taking your time enjoying the places mentioned in this Philippines itinerary, and even add on more if you can.
