Renowned for its splendid beaches, the Philippines offers much more to travellers willing to explore further.
Off beaten track
We will provide you with a private car and guide, and recommend you venture away from the beaten track to visit the spectacular rice terraces of Banaue, the crater lakes and active volcanoes of southern Luzon and the natural beauty of Bohol.
We keep thoroughly up to date on the regions to avoid and those where travel is not recommended. Many parts of the archipelago have been allowed to slumber, free of tourism and the changes that it brings.
It is well worth visiting more than one of the many islands to get a flavour of the complex archipelago, exploring inland before basking on the idyllic beaches of the southern islands.
Island Hopping
With over 7,000 islands to cover, you are never going to see all of the Philippines in one visit.
Roads are generally in good condition, but it is often a long way between key sites and fuel prices are high, so you need to allow time and money if you plan to explore by road.
It is possible to fly between most of the islands as there are several domestic airlines with good networks. However there is often a ten kilogramme luggage limit so if you want to keep your belongings with you the best way to get around is sometimes by using the network of public ferries.
The days of dangerous overcrowding are long gone and although you will see the Catholic locals crossing themselves before every journey most of your inter-island travels are likely to be in new, fast, efficient, good value catamarans.
Diving
The Philippines is home to world class diving among dazzling marine life. There are coral gardens, caves, deeply plunging undersea walls and isolated coral seamounts offering wall diving, wreck diving and muck diving. Every form of underwater life can be seen including whale sharks, turtles, manta rays and dugongs.
Fiestas
Festivals in the Philippines are plentiful. Every town has a patron saint, and each of these has its own feast day and there are also bigger week long parties like Ati-Atihan in Kalibo. Easter is also a big event in this predominantly christian country.
Secluded beaches
With over 7,000 islands there are mile of coastline in the Philippines. Away from the popular beaches of Boracay and Cebu there are a range of quieter spots especially in the Southern Visayas and around Palawan.
Tribal Villages
There are more than 100 cultural minority groups in the Philippines, and around half of these have unique linguistic cultures. The most well known are the Ifugao, and their culture is alive and well around the rice terraces of Banaue.
Volcanoes
Most of the Philippine islands feature volcanic mountains, several of which have been increasingly active since the 1980s. The most accessible are Mount Pinatubo which last erupted in 1991 and Taal volcano one crater of which erupted in 1977.
