Philippines: Manila, Taal and the Best of Palawan

1. Day 1: Arrive in Manila

   Ninoy Aquino International Airport to your hotel near Manila Bay

   • Dinner
   • Stay in Manila
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL), where a driver meets you in arrivals for the transfer to your hotel near Intramuros and Manila Bay. Manila traffic is slow at most hours, so allow an hour or more. The day is yours to recover from the flight: sleep, swim if the hotel has a pool, or walk out to the bay front, where the sun sets over the water and families come out as the heat goes. You stay three nights in this hotel, so unpack properly. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the trip: how the Manila days run, the flight to Palawan, what to pack for the boats and how the ferry works. Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner of Filipino dishes, from chicken adobo and sinigang, the sour tamarind soup, to grilled pork and halo-halo for dessert.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the early-evening briefing

   Activity: Arrive any time; the briefing and dinner are in the early evening. If you land late, your guide catches up with you at breakfast.

2. Day 2: Intramuros and a Binondo food walk

   Intramuros, then Binondo

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Manila
   Day 2 details

   We start in Intramuros at about 8.30, while the morning is still cool. The walled city was the Spanish capital from the late 16th century, and much of it was rebuilt after the fighting of 1945. We walk a stretch of the walls, then go into Fort Santiago, where the national hero José Rizal was held before his execution in 1896. San Agustin Church, completed in 1607 and listed by UNESCO with the country's Baroque churches, is the oldest stone church in the Philippines, and its cloister museum holds centuries of religious art. Casa Manila shows how a wealthy family lived in the colonial city. Lunch is a sit-down meal inside the walls. The early afternoon is free for a rest out of the heat. At about 4 pm we cross the Pasig River to Binondo, often called the oldest Chinatown in the world, for a food walk that is also dinner: dumplings, hopia pastries, fried noodles and fresh lumpia, shop to shop along Ongpin Street.

   Included

   • Guided walk in Intramuros: the walls, Fort Santiago, Manila Cathedral, San Agustin Church and museum, Casa Manila, with entries
   • Sit-down lunch in Intramuros
   • Binondo food walk with your guide, with Binondo Church and Ongpin Street

   Easier option: Ride the van between the Intramuros stops, and sit the afternoon out at the hotel before joining the food walk.

   More active option: Spend the free afternoon at the National Museum of Fine Arts, a short walk from Intramuros.

   Free time: Early afternoon free

   Activity: About 4 to 6 km on foot over the day in heat and humidity, on flat streets and cobbles. Shoulders and knees covered for the churches. Tell us about food allergies before travel so the food walk can be adjusted.

3. Day 3: Taal Lake and the town of Taal

   Manila to Tagaytay, then Taal town, and back to Manila

   • Drive about 4.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Manila
   Day 3 details

   We leave Manila at 8 am and drive south to Tagaytay, about one and a half to two hours in traffic, on a ridge some 600 m up with a cooler breeze. From the edge of the ridge you look down on Taal Lake, which fills an ancient caldera, and the small active volcano on an island in its middle. We look from here and do not go onto the island, which is closed to visitors. Lunch is a sit-down meal on the ridge with the lake below, and bulalo, a beef bone-marrow soup, is the local dish. In the afternoon we drive down to Taal town, a heritage town of Spanish-era houses. We visit the Basilica of St Martin of Tours, one of the largest churches in Asia, and walk the streets of wooden ancestral houses, including the home of Marcela Agoncillo, who sewed the first Philippine flag. The van is about four and a half hours today, in three legs of under two hours, because Manila traffic makes the short distances slow.

   Included

   • Day trip with your guide in our own van
   • Taal Lake and Taal Volcano from the Tagaytay ridge
   • Sit-down lunch in Tagaytay
   • Taal heritage town: the Basilica of St Martin of Tours and the Agoncillo ancestral house

   Easier option: Stay in the van or a café while the group walks the ancestral-house streets in Taal town.

   Free time: Evening free in Manila

   Activity: Back in Manila in the early evening, depending on traffic. Taal Volcano is at Alert Level 1 after its October 2026 eruption, so the ridge viewpoints are checked against the PHIVOLCS bulletins before the day; if the level is raised or the viewpoints close, we keep Taal town and replace the ridge with a Manila visit.

4. Day 4: 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 4 details

   An early start today, to get through Manila's traffic to the airport for a morning flight of about an hour and twenty minutes to Puerto Princesa, the capital of Palawan. Our van and driver meet the group on arrival, and we drive 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, listed by UNESCO in 1999. Most day trips from the city arrive in the morning; our permit slot is in the early afternoon. Wearing helmets and life jackets, we glide into the cave in paddle boats, for about 45 minutes in the cave, 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
   • Underground River permit, outrigger boat from Sabang and the paddle-boat trip into the cave
   • Sit-down lunch in Sabang

   Optional experiences

   • Iwahig River firefly boat trip after dark, about 30 minutes from the city (price shown at booking)

   Free time: Evening free in Puerto Princesa

   Activity: The cave ride is seated and about 45 minutes; the landing at the river mouth is on a beach, so expect wet feet. If a delayed flight costs us the slot, we ask the park for a later one; if none is free, the cave moves to early on day 5 and we drive north from Sabang, which adds about an hour to day 5.

   

5. Day 5: 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 5 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, a ten-minute look while the morning is quiet. Then today is the longest drive of the trip, about 250 km and five hours on the road, because no regular flight links Puerto Princesa and El Nido and the detour through Manila would cost a day. We leave at about 8.30 and break the road about every two and a half 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, a small stone fort above the bay from the 17th century. The last stretch runs through forested hills and 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 in Puerto Princesa
   • Drive from Puerto Princesa to El Nido with your guide, with a coffee stop in Roxas
   • Fort Santa Isabel in Taytay
   • Sit-down lunch in Taytay

   Free time: Evening free in El Nido

   Activity: About five hours of driving in our air-conditioned van, with a coffee break in Roxas about halfway and lunch in Taytay, so you are never more than about two and a half hours in the van at a stretch.

   

6. Day 6: Bacuit Bay lagoons by private boat

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

   • By boat
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in El Nido
   Day 6 details

   Our own outrigger boat and crew wait on the beach after breakfast, and we head out to reach the lagoons as early as we can, before the shared tour boats crowd the entrances. Miniloc Island comes first. 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. Snorkelling at Shimizu Island follows, where reef fish gather over the coral in the shallows. Lunch is fish, chicken and rice grilled by the crew on a beach. In the afternoon we cross to Entalula Island, a strip of white sand at the foot of grey karst cliffs, for a long swim before the run back. Entalula usually sits on a different loop, so the crew sets the order on the day by the sea and the crowds, and if the time or the water does not allow it we swim at a closer beach instead. Because the boat is ours, we stay longer where it is quiet and skip what is crowded. We are back in town by mid-afternoon, with the evening free.

   Included

   • Full day on a private boat for the group with your guide and crew
   • Big Lagoon and Small Lagoon by kayak, Shimizu Island and Entalula Island
   • El Nido eco-tourism fee, lagoon fees, kayaks, snorkel gear and life jackets
   • Lunch grilled on the beach

   Easier option: Stay on the boat or the beach at any stop; the crew can paddle a kayak for you in the Big Lagoon.

   More active option: Take a kayak the long way round the Big Lagoon and snorkel at every stop.

   Free time: Evening free in El Nido

   Activity: Swimming in a life jacket; the Small Lagoon involves a short swim or paddle over sharp rock. Water shoes help.

   

7. Day 7: Hidden beaches, then a free afternoon

   El Nido to Hidden Beach, Matinloc Shrine and Helicopter Island, then back to town

   • By boat
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in El Nido
   Day 7 details

   A second morning on our private boat, on a different loop to the west of the bay. Hidden Beach is a strip of white sand closed in by limestone walls, which you reach by wading or swimming through a gap in the rocks. On Matinloc Island a small shrine to the Virgin Mary stands on a ridge, and a short scramble on the rocks behind it looks out over the open sea. Helicopter Island, named for its shape seen from the water, has a long beach for a swim and snorkelling along its edge. Lunch is grilled on a beach again, and we head back to El Nido by early afternoon, when the sun is strongest. The rest of the day is yours: sleep, read, book a massage in town, or take a tricycle to Nacpan Beach, a long curve of sand about 45 minutes north. For sunset, Las Cabanas Beach south of town faces west over the islands.

   Included

   • Morning on a private boat for the group: Hidden Beach, Matinloc Shrine and Helicopter Island
   • Snorkel gear, kayaks and life jackets
   • Lunch grilled on the beach

   Optional experiences

   • Kayak or stand-up paddle board hire in El Nido (price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Skip the boat and keep the whole day free at the hotel or on the beach.

   More active option: In the late afternoon, a guided climb of Taraw Peak behind the town: steep, sharp limestone with ropes in places, about 2 to 3 hours, for the view over the bay (price shown at booking).

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in El Nido

   Activity: Back by early afternoon. Wading and short swims at Hidden Beach.

8. Day 8: Ferry to Coron and Mount Tapyas

   El Nido to Coron by fast ferry, then Mount Tapyas

   • By ferry
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Coron
   Day 8 details

   We take the fast ferry from El Nido across to Coron town on Busuanga Island, the main island of the Calamian group, about three and a half to four hours on open water. The sailing time is set by the operator and confirmed close to departure; recent timetables show a midday sailing from El Nido, so the morning is usually free for a last swim. Lunch is a sit-down meal before we sail, or a packed lunch on board if the timing needs it. Your guide handles the tickets and the bags, and porters carry luggage on and off. In Coron we check in and rest after the crossing. If we arrive in time, late in the day before sunset we climb the stairway up Mount Tapyas, a little over 700 steps to a large cross and a view over the town, its harbour and the islands of the bay as the light turns gold. If the steps are too much, the Maquinit saltwater hot spring outside town is a gentler way to end the day. On a late arrival we save Tapyas for the evening of day 9.

   Included

   • Fast ferry from El Nido to Coron with porterage
   • Lunch before sailing or on board
   • Mount Tapyas at sunset with your guide, if the ferry arrives in time

   Optional experiences

   • Maquinit Hot Springs in the evening (price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Skip Mount Tapyas and soak in the Maquinit saltwater hot spring instead.

   Free time: Free time in El Nido before the sailing

   Activity: Ferry timetables change by season and sailings are cancelled in rough seas; the sailing time is confirmed close to departure, and if a sailing is cancelled we rebook the next one and rearrange the Coron days.

9. Day 9: Coron Island lakes and wrecks

   Coron town to Coron Island, Barracuda Lake, Twin Lagoon and the Skeleton Wreck, and back

   • By boat
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Coron
   Day 9 details

   A full day on our own boat, starting early to reach Coron Island's lakes before the shared tour boats. The island is the ancestral land of the Tagbanua, who manage the lakes and collect the entry fees. At Kayangan Lake a steep stairway climbs to a viewpoint over the cove and its karst towers, then drops to a lake of clear water ringed by limestone. At Barracuda Lake you float over layers of fresh and salt water at different temperatures, a strange feeling on the skin. The Twin Lagoon is two lagoons joined by a gap in the rock that you swim through at low tide. Lunch is grilled on a beach, then we snorkel the Skeleton Wreck, one of the Japanese ships sunk by American aircraft around Coron Bay in September 1944, shallow enough to see from the surface. Tonight the group shares a farewell dinner in town.

   Included

   • Full day on a private boat for the group with your guide and crew
   • Kayangan Lake, Barracuda Lake and the Twin Lagoon on Coron Island, with the Tagbanua community fees
   • Snorkelling over the Skeleton Wreck
   • Snorkel gear and life jackets
   • Lunch grilled on the beach
   • Farewell dinner in Coron

   Easier option: Stay on the boat at Kayangan Lake and Barracuda Lake, or swim only where you can stand.

   More active option: Add a snorkel stop at a coral garden or a second wreck, agreed with the crew on the day.

   Free time: Late afternoon free before the farewell dinner

   Activity: The Kayangan stairway is short but steep and uneven. Swims are in life jackets; Barracuda Lake is deep, so stay near the boardwalk if you are a weak swimmer.

10. Day 10: Fly from Coron to Manila

    Coron town to Busuanga airport, then Manila by air

    • Drive about 45 min
    • Breakfast
    Day 10 details

    A slow morning with breakfast at the hotel. Coron town is small, so if there is time before the airport, walk the harbour front, buy dried fish or cashews in the market, or take a last coffee looking out at the islands. We drive about 40 minutes across Busuanga to Francisco B. Reyes Airport (USU), where your guide sees you through check-in, and take the included flight of about an hour back to Manila. The group lands at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL) around the middle of the day, where you connect to your flight home or stay on in Manila. Your guide checks your onward flight before saying goodbye. The terminals at Manila's airport are not connected inside, so allow time to move between them, and book your international flight to leave after about 4 pm. To stay longer on Palawan, ask us to add nights in El Nido or Coron before you fly.

    Included

    • Transfer to Busuanga airport (USU)
    • Flight from Busuanga to Manila (MNL)

    Free time: Morning free in Coron

    Activity: Book your flight home from Manila after about 4 pm; the Busuanga flight time is confirmed with your final itinerary.

Wildlife and weather: December to May is the dry season. December to February is a little cooler, pleasant for the Manila walks, and can bring choppy seas from the northeast monsoon that delay the ferry; March to May is calm and hot, so the city walks start early. From June to November rain and typhoons make the boat days unreliable, so we do not run then.

• Manila3 nights
• Puerto Princesa1 night
• El Nido3 nights
• Coron2 nights