Philippines For Honeymoon - Anyone been?
Discussion
Morning all,
I'm getting married next April (29th) with the plan to go straight on the honeymoon for 3 weeks in May to the Philippenes. Has anyone ever been? We've done the Thailand islands etc and fancy something different, We're there for 17 nights, and we've done a bit of research and like the look of the following places:
Borocay
Palawan (El Nido)
Bantayan
Panglao Island
Mactan Island (Cebu)
We can realisticly only pick 3 places as so we're not travelling all the time, and hopefully spend alot of time relaxing on the beach getting massages from Philippeno women.
Any advice, greatly appreciated chaps.
I'm getting married next April (29th) with the plan to go straight on the honeymoon for 3 weeks in May to the Philippenes. Has anyone ever been? We've done the Thailand islands etc and fancy something different, We're there for 17 nights, and we've done a bit of research and like the look of the following places:
Borocay
Palawan (El Nido)
Bantayan
Panglao Island
Mactan Island (Cebu)
We can realisticly only pick 3 places as so we're not travelling all the time, and hopefully spend alot of time relaxing on the beach getting massages from Philippeno women.
Any advice, greatly appreciated chaps.
We spent 2 weeks touring the Palawan/El Nido region last year - amazing place, like being in Avatar.
On Palawan we flew to Puerto Princesa - not too much to see in this town other than underwater river area (which is worth doing). Day 2 we took the 4 hour mini-van ride up to El Nido which is much more impressive - we spent just under a week here. El Nido is more of a backpacker town rather than luxury resorts, although not busy like Thailand etc. and still worth considering. The day snorkelling boat trips blew my mind. Apparently this is where Alex Garland was living whilst he wrote "The Beach" although he based the book in Thailand.
Second week we flew from El Nido (flights arranged with Art Cafe) back to Manila, and then out to Busuanga Island in Coron - complete yoyo if you look geographically but there was no guarantee the ferry would be running between the two and we were time-boxed on a holiday rather than travelling.
On this island we stayed at a fairly new hotel which I would highly recommend - http://www.busuangabaylodge.com/. Stay in one of the private casita's and you'd be hard pushed to find a better place to spend a week. I've been fortunate to stay at some very nice hotels round the world and this one will always stick with me. Service was excellent, great food (fresh lobster in a curry sauce for around £12), free use of canoes/paddleboards, jet-ski rental, scuba diving etc., 100's of films in the casitas free of charge if a monsoon arrives. In the bay there are a number of Japanese shipwrecks (one over 100 metres long I believe!), so if you're into that then brilliant place to go, also whale-sharks/turtles regularly spotted. No beach at the resort, but the pool more than makes up for it.
On the jet-ski tour we ventured further and went to some unbelievable beaches completely deserted. Also saw other resorts with private villas on stilts (Maldives style) - not sure what these were called but might be worth investigating also.
Only downsides I'd say - check the weather in the season you're planning to go - we got a great deal on the hotel but it was during monsoon season. We had around 50% of the time sun/no-cloud, but if I went again I'd look to go during the dry season. Also getting there takes some time - our flights were UK > Dubai > Manila onwards, with an overnight stop in Manila for the short flight next day. If you're happy to do the travel it's well worth it.
Overall I'd say go for it - it won't be long before tourism takes hold as in other parts of SE Asia! If you want to just relax, look for resorts around Coron/Busuanga. For more snorkeling/boat trips to beaches/adventure, stop in El Nido too. We met one couple who'd been to Borocay and they said the beach was very nice, but it's more developed and wished they'd spent more time in Palawan.
Hope this helps and congratulations on the wedding when it happens!
On Palawan we flew to Puerto Princesa - not too much to see in this town other than underwater river area (which is worth doing). Day 2 we took the 4 hour mini-van ride up to El Nido which is much more impressive - we spent just under a week here. El Nido is more of a backpacker town rather than luxury resorts, although not busy like Thailand etc. and still worth considering. The day snorkelling boat trips blew my mind. Apparently this is where Alex Garland was living whilst he wrote "The Beach" although he based the book in Thailand.
Second week we flew from El Nido (flights arranged with Art Cafe) back to Manila, and then out to Busuanga Island in Coron - complete yoyo if you look geographically but there was no guarantee the ferry would be running between the two and we were time-boxed on a holiday rather than travelling.
On this island we stayed at a fairly new hotel which I would highly recommend - http://www.busuangabaylodge.com/. Stay in one of the private casita's and you'd be hard pushed to find a better place to spend a week. I've been fortunate to stay at some very nice hotels round the world and this one will always stick with me. Service was excellent, great food (fresh lobster in a curry sauce for around £12), free use of canoes/paddleboards, jet-ski rental, scuba diving etc., 100's of films in the casitas free of charge if a monsoon arrives. In the bay there are a number of Japanese shipwrecks (one over 100 metres long I believe!), so if you're into that then brilliant place to go, also whale-sharks/turtles regularly spotted. No beach at the resort, but the pool more than makes up for it.
On the jet-ski tour we ventured further and went to some unbelievable beaches completely deserted. Also saw other resorts with private villas on stilts (Maldives style) - not sure what these were called but might be worth investigating also.
Only downsides I'd say - check the weather in the season you're planning to go - we got a great deal on the hotel but it was during monsoon season. We had around 50% of the time sun/no-cloud, but if I went again I'd look to go during the dry season. Also getting there takes some time - our flights were UK > Dubai > Manila onwards, with an overnight stop in Manila for the short flight next day. If you're happy to do the travel it's well worth it.
Overall I'd say go for it - it won't be long before tourism takes hold as in other parts of SE Asia! If you want to just relax, look for resorts around Coron/Busuanga. For more snorkeling/boat trips to beaches/adventure, stop in El Nido too. We met one couple who'd been to Borocay and they said the beach was very nice, but it's more developed and wished they'd spent more time in Palawan.
Hope this helps and congratulations on the wedding when it happens!
Just back from Boracay. Fantastic place, but a bit commercialised in places. Lots of people selling water sports activities and fake sunglasses. Good mixture of top end resorts and interesting smaller hotels. Fascinating place, beaches are right up there with her best I've seen anywhere in the world, and the sunset definitely is the best I've seen, anywhere
Many thanks gents for the replies, just got home from a work trip!!! Thanks for the great write up, out of interest who did you guys fly with, we had a look at Philippenes airlines, but they have bad reviews, i.e. 15 year old planes etc!!!! The only benefit is its direct flight. Emirates looks promising however it will probalby set us back £2k return for both of us..
Gazzas86 said:
Many thanks gents for the replies, just got home from a work trip!!! Thanks for the great write up, out of interest who did you guys fly with, we had a look at Philippenes airlines, but they have bad reviews, i.e. 15 year old planes etc!!!! The only benefit is its direct flight. Emirates looks promising however it will probalby set us back £2k return for both of us..
If you definitely want to avoid flying on a 15 year old plane, then you better rule out probably 95% of the worlds airlines. Do not be worried about a 15 year old plane, maybe be a bit more worried about a 30+ year old plane!I flew BA to Hong Kong. Then Cathay to Manila, and used Cebu Pacific for Manila to Hong Kong. I can definitely recommend Cebu Pacific for any flights in and around the Philippines. Nothing fancy, but clean aircraft, cheap fares and friendly staff, I was very impressed by them
RCBRG said:
If you definitely want to avoid flying on a 15 year old plane, then you better rule out probably 95% of the worlds airlines. Do not be worried about a 15 year old plane, maybe be a bit more worried about a 30+ year old plane!
Yes, much rather a 15+ year old plane with a well-trained/seasoned crew than a 2 year old plane with an inexperienced crew.Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff