{"id":41745,"date":"2020-01-09T06:00:38","date_gmt":"2020-01-09T14:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wearetravelgirls.com\/?p=41745"},"modified":"2025-09-12T12:23:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T19:23:25","slug":"philippines-travel-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wearetravelgirls.com\/philippines-travel-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"12 TRAVEL TIPS FOR VISITING THE PHILIPPINES"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently visited the Philippines for a two week trip around a number of the islands. The Philippines had been high on my bucket list for a few years and I had extremely high expectations for the country.<\/p>\n

Whilst I really enjoyed my time in the Philippines, I definitely think there are several things that you need to know and consider when you plan your trip to the country. In this article, I share 12 useful tips, information and things to know before you go to the Philippines.<\/p>\n

\"El<\/p>\n

1) WIFI And Internet<\/h2>\n

If you read up about WiFi in the Philippines you will hear that it\u2019s limited and almost unusable. As my business is mostly run online I was nervous about my trip and not being able to access a reliable internet connection.<\/p>\n

So I made sure everything that must be done was scheduled in advance, blog posts, social media posts, emails all up to date and set an out of office on my email. But I found that actually this wasn\u2019t necessary.<\/p>\n

WiFi in the hotels we stayed at in Donsol, Cebu and Puerto Princesa were all good enough. Once we got to El Nido and Coron it was a lot more challenging to find decent wifi but not it existed which was a positive!<\/p>\n

Use a Local SIM Card<\/h3>\n

My advice, however, would be to buy a local SIM card on arrival at the airport in the Philippines. My husband always researches the best companies in advance of any trip to find the ones that have the widest coverage.<\/p>\n

There are two good providers in the Philippines, Globe and Smart. We each got 8GB of data for 700 Philippines Pesos (~$14) on Globe<\/a> and also bought one extra Smart<\/a> SIM as a back up so we could try out both companies in case one didn\u2019t work in one area. <\/p>\n

At the data stands you will also see they offer portable WiFi hubs. A friend bought one of these and told me it did not work at all so although we didn\u2019t try it ourselves I would advise against it and go for the SIM card instead. You can turn your phone into a wifi hotspot which should give you coverage most places.<\/p>\n

All together this was about US $45 ($15\/each for 8GB), which if your business or work is online is completely worth it. We had coverage everywhere we visited, I was even answering emails whilst on a boat seeing whale sharks! (Yes – I need to switch off more). The cell coverage was great everywhere, except again for El Nido and Coron where it worked but was very slow.<\/p>\n

\"traditional<\/p>\n

2) Book In Advance<\/h2>\n

I read lots of blog posts and advice when we planned our trip, and loads of people said to wait until you are in the Philippines to book hotels and travel, that way you can decide your itinerary as you go, and if you like a particular island, you can stay longer.<\/p>\n

However, unless you are backpacking and have plenty of time on your hands, this is bad advice – at least in my experience. We booked hotels and flights about two weeks in advance and found that we were constrained by hotel choices in many places, especially El Nido and Coron, where we had almost no options within our budget.<\/p>\n

We also found domestic flight prices had increased and in some cases, we were not able to even get a flight on the day we wanted and had to completely alter our original rough itinerary. Additionally, we almost couldn’t return to Manila for our outbound international flight and had to secure the last two seats on a flight that was not even our original choice.<\/p>\n

So I advise you to plan if you want choice, it may remove some of the flexibility in your itinerary, but you will at least get the hotels and flights that you actually want!<\/p>\n

\"Becky<\/p>\n

3) There Are A Lot Of Tourists<\/h2>\n

Last year, I visited Japan and was overwhelmed by the number of people at every place of interest. Honestly, it really spoiled my experience and impression of Japan. Unfortunately, in some parts of the Philippines, I felt the same.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of people and it can really make some activities quite unpleasant. If you don\u2019t like the crowds and would rather have fewer people around, I suggest heading to some lesser-visited islands, such as Siargao and Siquijor.<\/p>\n

Or venturing totally off the beaten path, talking to locals and finding lesser-known places. There are over 7,000 islands in the Philippines, so there are a lot of places to choose from, and I am sure plenty of them are less crowded.<\/p>\n

Kawasan Falls was exceptionally crowded. We made the mistake of visiting Kawasan during a national holiday, which was one of the most crowded days of the year for tourists and locals alike. Make sure to check the local holidays<\/a> and try to visit as early as possible to avoid the crowds!<\/p>\n

\"Boat<\/p>\n

4) Travel Days Can Be Long<\/h2>\n

When you start putting together your Philippines itinerary, you will quickly discover that navigating between each of the places you want to visit is not that easy. With most points of interest being on different islands, you will have to take several domestic flights and boats to get around.<\/p>\n

We initially had a more extensive itinerary, but we removed some places to minimize the number of islands we would visit and the days of our trip that would be spent traveling. We still had to take four internal flights (plus our international flights in and out of Manila), one six-hour car ride, and one four-hour boat.<\/p>\n

Sample Itinerary:<\/h3>\n

Our itinerary was:<\/p>\n