Philippines: Rice Terraces, Palawan and Bohol

1. Day 1: Arrive in Manila, Intramuros at dusk

   Ninoy Aquino International Airport to your hotel near Intramuros, then the walled city

   • Dinner
   • Stay in Manila
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL), where a driver meets you in arrivals for the drive to your hotel near Intramuros. Manila traffic is slow, so allow an hour or more. If you land by early afternoon, rest, then join your See Sight Tours guide for a late-afternoon walk in Intramuros, the walled city the Spanish began in the late 16th century. We walk a stretch of the old walls, pass Manila Cathedral, step into San Agustin Church, said to be the oldest stone church in the country and listed by UNESCO among the Baroque Churches of the Philippines, and end in Fort Santiago as the heat goes out of the day. In the evening a short briefing covers the fifteen days ahead: the long road north tomorrow, the mountain lodges, the four flights and their bag limits, and what to pack for Batad and the boats. Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner of Filipino dishes, from adobo to sinigang. It is an early night; we leave at 6 tomorrow.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)
   • Intramuros walk with your guide: the walls, Manila Cathedral, San Agustin Church and Fort Santiago
   • Welcome briefing and welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the late-afternoon walk

   Activity: If you land after about 3 pm, skip the walk and join us at the briefing; Intramuros is close to the hotel if you stay on in Manila after the trip.

2. Day 2: The long road to Banaue

   Manila to Cabanatuan, Balete Pass and Bayombong, then Lagawe and Banaue

   • Drive about 9 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Banaue
   Day 2 details

   This is the one long road day of the trip, about 380 km and roughly 8 to 10 hours of driving (our estimate; bus timetables give 9 to 10 hours), and we say so plainly: as we understand it, no airport or railway serves the Cordillera, and breaking the road with a night in Baguio would cost a day in the mountains. We leave at 6 am, before Manila's traffic builds, and cut the day into legs of about two hours. The expressway and then the old highway cross the flat rice bowl of central Luzon to a coffee stop near Cabanatuan. The road then climbs to Balete Pass, where one of the hardest battles of the Second World War on Luzon was fought in 1945, now a quiet memorial with a view down two valleys. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Bayombong. The last leg climbs into Ifugao province through Lagawe, and terraces appear on the slopes above the road. We reach Banaue in the late afternoon, in time to see the terraces below the town as the light goes. You stay two nights.

   Included

   • Drive from Manila to Banaue with your guide
   • Balete Pass memorial
   • Sit-down lunch in Bayombong

   Free time: Evening free in Banaue

   Activity: A 6 am start and roughly nine hours (8 to 10) on the road with stops every two hours or so. If you are prone to car sickness, bring tablets and ask for a front seat.

   

3. Day 3: The Batad amphitheatre on foot

   Banaue to the Batad Saddle, then on foot to Batad village and back

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Banaue
   Day 3 details

   An early start, at about 7:30 am, so we walk down before the day-trip vans and the midday heat. Our van, or a local jeepney or tricycle if the road is rough, takes us roughly 45 minutes to the Batad Saddle, where a local Ifugao guide joins us. The trail drops for roughly 40 minutes, then opens onto the view people come for: a bowl of stone-walled terraces climbing the whole valley like the seats of a theatre, part of the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, which we understand UNESCO inscribed in 1995, with Batad reported to be one of the clusters in the listing. We walk along the terrace walls into the village, where the guide explains how water is shared from terrace to terrace and how the work follows the rice year. Lunch is in a village restaurant looking across the amphitheatre. The climb back to the Saddle comes in the cooler afternoon, at your own pace, and we are back in Banaue by late afternoon with the evening free.

   Included

   • Batad walk with a local Ifugao guide; local environmental and guide fees are confirmed at quoting and may be paid in cash on the day
   • Lunch in Batad village

   Optional experiences

   • Porter to carry your day bag on the climb out

   Easier option: Stay at the Saddle viewpoints, or walk only to the first view of the amphitheatre and back, about an hour in all.

   More active option: From the village, carry on down to Tappiyah Falls and swim in the pool, about 2 to 3 more hours with a steep climb back.

   Free time: Evening free in Banaue

   Activity: The hardest walk of the trip: about 3 hours in all on a steep trail, stone steps and narrow terrace walls with drops to one side.

4. Day 4: Bontoc, then Sagada's hanging coffins

   Banaue to the Banaue viewpoint, Bontoc, then Sagada and Echo Valley

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Sagada
   Day 4 details

   After a slower breakfast we leave Banaue at 8:30 am and stop first at the viewpoint on the road north, where the terraces fall away in tiers below the road in the morning light. The road to Bontoc climbs over a high pass in cloud forest, about two hours. In Bontoc, once the capital of the old Mountain Province, we visit, subject to its opening days, the Bontoc Museum, a small collection of tools, textiles and old photographs of the Bontoc, Ifugao and Kalinga peoples, then sit down to lunch in town. It is under an hour on to Sagada, a quiet town of pine woods and limestone at about 1,500 m, where we stay two nights. After registering at the tourism office, we walk with a Sagada guide through the churchyard and down into Echo Valley, where coffins have been placed on the cliff face by the Igorot people for centuries. The late-afternoon light is softer then. The evening is free.

   Included

   • Banaue viewpoint
   • Bontoc Museum (subject to opening days)
   • Sit-down lunch in Bontoc
   • Sagada registration and environmental fee (current amounts confirmed at quoting; may be paid in cash on the day)
   • Echo Valley and the hanging coffins with a Sagada guide

   Easier option: Look at the coffins from the top of Echo Valley instead of walking down the path.

   Free time: Evening free in Sagada

   Activity: The coffins are sacred to local families: do not touch them or climb to them, and take photos only where the guide allows. Sagada's tourism office has required registered local guides for the caves and Echo Valley; we confirm the current rules at quoting.

   

5. Day 5: Sumaguing Cave and a free Sagada afternoon

   Sagada to Sumaguing Cave and back to town

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Sagada
   Day 5 details

   We go to Sumaguing Cave first thing, at about 7:45 am, before the queue builds at the guides' office. With a local cave guide and his lantern we climb down into one of Sagada's best-known caves, over smooth, polished limestone into chambers of flowstone and cold, clear pools. Shoes come off for the lower part; the rock grips well barefoot. We are out by late morning and walk back to town for lunch together. The afternoon is free, the first real one of the trip, and Sagada is good for slow time: sit in one of the cafes over Sagada coffee and lemon pie, visit the weaving workshop or the pottery at the edge of town, walk out to the rice fields, or book a massage. As evening falls the town is quiet and the air turns cold, so bring a warm layer for dinner. Pack tonight: tomorrow is an early start for the flight.

   Included

   • Sumaguing Cave with a local cave guide
   • Lunch in Sagada

   Optional experiences

   • The Lumiang to Sumaguing cave connection, about 3 to 4 hours underground
   • Bomod-ok Falls walk
   • Massage

   Easier option: Stay in the upper chamber of the cave with a guide, or skip the cave and walk to the weaving workshop instead.

   More active option: Swap the Sumaguing visit for the longer Lumiang to Sumaguing cave connection, with ropes and some squeezes, as an optional.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Sagada

   Activity: Wear sandals with grip or go barefoot in the cave; the limestone is wet and slippery. Caves close when water is high, and the guide decides on the day.

   

6. Day 6: Out of the mountains by air

   Sagada to Bontoc, Banaue and Bagabag, then Cauayan airport and Manila by air

   • Drive about 6 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Manila
   Day 6 details

   Today we leave the Cordillera. Driving back to Manila would take 10 to 12 hours, so instead we drive about 210 km and six hours east to Cauayan in the Cagayan Valley and fly to Manila in typically about an hour. It is still more road than our four-hour limit, and the reason is the mountains: as we understand it, there is no closer airport with scheduled flights. We leave Sagada at 7 am to make an afternoon flight (as we understand it, Cauayan to Manila is flown by more than one airline, with afternoon departures; the flight and its timing are confirmed at quoting) and break the drive into three legs. The first runs back over the pass through Bontoc to Banaue, with a last look at the terraces. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Banaue. Then the road drops through Lagawe to Bagabag and out into the flat, rice-growing Cagayan Valley to Cauayan. Your guide sees the group through check-in for the included flight, and our Manila van meets us on arrival for the drive to the hotel. Dinner is your choice; bags are repacked for the islands tonight.

   Included

   • Drive from Sagada to Cauayan with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Banaue
   • Flight from Cauayan to Manila, with a checked bag
   • Transfer to your Manila hotel

   Free time: Evening free in Manila

   Activity: A 7 am start and about six hours on the road in three legs. Flight times are set by the airline and confirmed in the written quote.

7. Day 7: Fly to Palawan and the Underground River

   Manila to Puerto Princesa by air, then Sabang and the Underground River and back

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Puerto Princesa
   Day 7 details

   An early start for a morning flight of typically about an hour and twenty minutes, confirmed at quoting to Puerto Princesa, the capital of Palawan. Our van and driver meet the group there, and we head north for about an hour and three quarters through farmland and forest to Sabang, on the west coast. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Sabang. Then a short outrigger boat ride along the shore brings us to the mouth of the Puerto Princesa Underground River, reported to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999. The park admits visitors only with a Visitor Entry Permit, up to a daily cap of 900, between 8 am and 4 pm, so the permit and time slot are booked at quoting and depend on availability; we ask for a quieter later slot. Wearing helmets and life jackets, we glide into the cave in paddle boats, a short stretch of a river that runs about 8 km under the limestone, past chambers of stalactites with swifts and bats overhead. We are back in the city by early evening, and dinner is your choice.

   Included

   • Flight from Manila to Puerto Princesa, with a checked bag
   • Sit-down lunch in Sabang
   • Puerto Princesa Underground River permit, boat and paddle-boat trip into the cave

   Optional experiences

   • Iwahig firefly boat trip in the evening

   Free time: Evening free in Puerto Princesa

   Activity: The permit is for a fixed slot and depends on the park's daily cap; if the flight is badly delayed we ask for a later slot the same day before driving north.

8. Day 8: North through Palawan to El Nido

   Puerto Princesa cathedral, then Roxas and Taytay, then El Nido

   • Drive about 5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in El Nido
   Day 8 details

   Before we leave the city, a short stop at Plaza Cuartel and the Immaculate Conception Cathedral beside it, in the old centre of Puerto Princesa, while the morning is quiet. Then comes the third long road of the trip, about 250 km and five hours of driving, over our four-hour limit because no regular flight links Puerto Princesa and El Nido and a detour through Manila would cost a day. We leave at about 8:30 and break the road about every two hours. The first stop is for coffee in Roxas, about halfway. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Taytay, once the Spanish capital of the province, near Fort Santa Isabel, the small stone fort above the bay. The last stretch runs through forested hills to the first limestone cliffs of the north, and we reach El Nido in the middle of the afternoon. You stay three nights. The evening is free: walk to Corong Corong for sunset over Bacuit Bay.

   Included

   • Plaza Cuartel and the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Puerto Princesa
   • Drive to El Nido with your guide, with a coffee stop in Roxas
   • Sit-down lunch in Taytay, near Fort Santa Isabel

   Free time: Evening free in El Nido

   Activity: About five hours on the road, split by stops every two hours or so.

   

9. Day 9: Bacuit Bay lagoons by private boat

   El Nido to the Big Lagoon, Small Lagoon and Secret Lagoon, Shimizu Island and back

   • By boat
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in El Nido
   Day 9 details

   A private outrigger boat and crew, arranged through a licensed local operator, wait on the beach after breakfast, and we head out early to reach the lagoons before the day builds. El Nido's island tours are, as we understand it, organised into set circuits, so today follows the circuit that includes the lagoons, as the operator confirms. Miniloc Island is the first stop. In the Big Lagoon, sheer limestone walls close around water that turns from green to deep blue, and we paddle in by kayak. In the Small Lagoon you swim or paddle through a low gap in the rock into a hidden pool. At the Secret Lagoon you crawl through a hole in the cliff into a still basin. Lunch is fish, chicken and rice grilled by the crew on a beach, then snorkelling over the coral at Shimizu Island, where reef fish gather in the shallows. The crew adjusts the order to the tide and the crowds within what the rules allow. We are back in town by mid-afternoon, with the evening free.

   Included

   • Private boat and crew for the day
   • El Nido eco-tourism development fee and the Big Lagoon entrance fee, as the rules stand at quoting
   • Kayaks for the Big Lagoon, snorkel gear and life jackets
   • Big Lagoon, Small Lagoon, Secret Lagoon and Shimizu Island
   • Beach lunch grilled by the crew

   Easier option: Stay on the boat or the beach at any stop; nobody has to swim or kayak.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

   Activity: Bring reef-safe sunscreen, a hat and sandals you can wet.

10. Day 10: Entalula and the outer islands

    El Nido to Snake Island, Cudugnon Cave, Pinagbuyutan and Entalula Island, then back to town

    • By boat
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in El Nido
    Day 10 details

    A second morning on the private boat, on a different loop to the south and west of the bay. Because El Nido's island tours are, as we understand it, organised into set circuits, the operator confirms which of these islands can be combined on the day; the plan below is the aim, not a promise. At low tide Snake Island shows a curving sandbar that you can walk along, with a short climb to a viewpoint over its shape. Cudugnon Cave is entered through a small gap in the rock and is said to open into a chamber once used by people long before the Spanish came. Pinagbuyutan is a tall limestone island with a pale beach and clear water at its foot for a swim. Lunch is grilled on a beach again. Our last stop is Entalula Island, a strip of white sand at the foot of grey karst cliffs, for a long swim and snorkel before the run back. We are in El Nido by early afternoon, when the sun is fiercest, and the rest of the day is yours: sleep, read, take a massage, or hire a tricycle to Nacpan Beach, about 45 minutes north. Las Cabanas Beach faces west for sunset.

    Included

    • Private boat and crew for the morning
    • Snake Island sandbar, Cudugnon Cave, Pinagbuyutan Island and Entalula Island
    • Snorkel gear and life jackets
    • Beach lunch grilled by the crew

    Optional experiences

    • Kayak or stand-up paddle hire in town

    Easier option: Stay on the boat at the cave and the viewpoint; the beaches are a step off the boat.

    Free time: Afternoon and evening free

    Activity: The crew and the operator set the order by the tide, the crowds and El Nido's circuit rules on the day.

    

11. Day 11: Fly to Bohol

    El Nido airport to Manila by air, then Manila to Bohol-Panglao by air and on to Panglao Island

    • Drive about 45 min
    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Panglao
    Day 11 details

    Today is a flying day, with two short flights through Manila. After an early breakfast our van takes us about 20 minutes to the El Nido airport at Lio, north of town, for a morning flight of typically about an hour and a quarter to Manila, confirmed at quoting. Your guide stays with the group through the connection, and a second flight of typically about the same length takes us south to Bohol-Panglao International Airport (TAG) on Panglao Island, just off Bohol. Our Bohol van meets us for the short drive to the hotel near Alona Beach, where we stay three nights, and we arrive in the afternoon. Lunch is on your own during the connection in Manila. The rest of the day is free. Walk down to Alona for a swim and the sunset, and to the seafood grills along the beach, where you choose your fish from the ice and it is cooked while you wait. Unpack properly: there is no more packing until the last morning on Bohol.

    Included

    • Transfer to El Nido airport
    • Flight from El Nido to Manila and Manila to Bohol-Panglao, with a checked bag
    • Transfer to your hotel on Panglao

    Free time: Afternoon and evening free on Panglao

    Activity: Bag limits on the El Nido flight are tight, often about 10 to 20 kg checked; we confirm the allowance when we book.

12. Day 12: Chocolate Hills, Loboc and the tarsiers

    Panglao to the Chocolate Hills in Carmen, then Bilar, Loboc and the tarsier sanctuary in Corella

    • Drive about 3.5 h
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Panglao
    Day 12 details

    Most Bohol countryside tours see the tarsiers first and reach the Chocolate Hills in the afternoon, so we run the loop the other way. We leave at 8 am and drive about an hour and a half inland to Carmen, where more than 1,200 grassy limestone mounds (estimates vary), most of them 30 to 50 m high, roll away to the horizon. In the dry months the grass turns brown, which gave the hills their name. A stairway climbs to the viewing deck. Heading back, the road runs through the Bilar man-made forest, a stretch of tall planted mahogany that shades the highway. Lunch is on the Loboc River, aboard a floating restaurant that drifts upriver past nipa palms and villages and back. Mid-afternoon we reach the tarsier sanctuary in Corella, run by the Philippine Tarsier Foundation, where these tiny primates live in a patch of protected forest. As we understand it, visits are guided in small groups, in near silence, with no flash and no touching; the sanctuary's current rules are confirmed at quoting. We plan to visit only this kind of conservation sanctuary and avoid venues that let visitors handle tarsiers.

    Included

    • Chocolate Hills viewing deck, Carmen
    • Bilar man-made forest
    • Loboc River lunch cruise
    • Tarsier sanctuary, Corella

    Easier option: Stay at the foot of the viewing-deck stairs; the hills show well from the car park terrace.

    Free time: Evening free on Panglao

    Activity: About 3.5 hours in the van in short stages. Tarsiers are wild and sleep by day, so how many we see varies. Opening hours are set by the sanctuary and confirmed at quoting.

    

13. Day 13: Balicasag reef and a free afternoon

    Panglao to Balicasag Island by private boat, then back to Alona Beach

    • By boat
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Panglao
    Day 13 details

    At about 8 am our own outrigger boat and crew take the group across to Balicasag, a small, flat island about 6 km off Panglao ringed by a marine sanctuary. Close to the island the reef sits in clear, shallow water; a little further out it drops away as a steep wall, and sea turtles are often seen feeding along the edge. We snorkel at two spots with the crew and a local guide, in life jackets, choosing the quieter side when other boats are moored. Back on Panglao around 1 pm, we sit down to lunch by Alona Beach. The afternoon is free, and it is meant to be after twelve busy days: swim and read on the white sand, take a massage, or hire a tricycle to Hinagdanan Cave, a small cave with a freshwater pool lit through holes in its roof, and the old church at Dauis by the bridge. Dinner is your choice.

    Included

    • Private boat to Balicasag Island with a local snorkel guide
    • Balicasag marine sanctuary fee, snorkel gear and life jackets
    • Lunch by Alona Beach

    Optional experiences

    • Scuba diving on the Balicasag wall for certified divers
    • Massage

    Easier option: Snorkel only in the shallows by the island, or stay on the boat.

    More active option: Certified divers can swap the snorkel for two dives on the wall, as an optional.

    Free time: Afternoon and evening free

    Activity: Turtles are wild, so sightings are likely but never promised.

    

14. Day 14: Ferry to Cebu and the old city

    Panglao to the Tagbilaran pier, fast ferry to Cebu City, then the heritage quarter

    • Drive about 1 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Cebu City
    Day 14 details

    A slow morning for a last swim, then a short drive to the Tagbilaran pier for the fast ferry north to Cebu City, about two hours across the Bohol Sea on a fast craft; your guide handles the tickets. Sailing times vary by season and are confirmed close to departure. Our Cebu van meets us at the pier, and lunch is lechon, Cebu's spit-roasted pig with its crackling skin. In the afternoon, as the heat eases, we walk the old quarter: Magellan's Cross, planted by Ferdinand Magellan's expedition in 1521 and kept in a small chapel with a painted ceiling; the Basilica del Santo Niño next door, said to house the oldest Christian relic in the country; and Fort San Pedro, the small triangular stone fort the Spanish built by the harbour. Cebu was the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines, founded in 1565. In the evening the group shares a farewell dinner of Visayan dishes.

    Included

    • Fast ferry from Tagbilaran to Cebu City
    • Lechon lunch in Cebu City
    • Cebu heritage walk: Magellan's Cross, the Basilica del Santo Niño and Fort San Pedro
    • Farewell dinner

    Activity: If the sea is too rough for the ferry, we plan to fly from Bohol-Panglao to Cebu instead, at extra cost.

15. Day 15: Depart from Cebu

    Cebu City to Mactan-Cebu International Airport

    • Drive about 1 h
    • Breakfast
    Day 15 details

    A free morning in Cebu City. Sleep in, take a last coffee, or walk to Colon Street, said to be the oldest street in the country, and the Carbon Market for dried mangoes and danggit, the dried fish Cebu is known for, to take home. Our van then takes you over one of the bridges to Mactan-Cebu International Airport (CEB), on Mactan Island across a narrow channel, about 45 minutes to an hour in traffic. Your guide sees you to the terminal and checks your onward flight before saying goodbye. Cebu has direct flights to several Asian hubs, and connections through Manila for the rest; if you connect through Manila, allow time, because the terminals there are not linked inside. Book a flight leaving after about 12 noon from Cebu, or we can arrange an earlier airport run for a morning flight. To stay on, ask us to add nights in Cebu or on Bohol before you fly.

    Included

    • Drop-off at Mactan-Cebu International Airport (CEB)

    Free time: Morning free in Cebu City

    Activity: Book a flight home leaving after about 12 noon from Cebu.

Wildlife and weather: December to May is the dry season on all three islands. December to February is coolest, with cold highland nights near 10 C and occasional choppy seas on the boat days; March to May is hot and calm. The terraces are green from about March to May and brown or flooded at planting. Tarsiers sleep by day and turtles are wild, so neither is promised. June to November is the wet and typhoon season, when roads and boats can be disrupted, so we plan the trip for December to May.

• Manila1 night
• Banaue2 nights
• Sagada2 nights
• Manila1 night
• Puerto Princesa1 night
• El Nido3 nights
• Panglao3 nights
• Cebu City1 night