They say it’s more fun in the philipinnes and it definitely exceeded its expectations. My mom sister and I booked a $350 flight to Cebu City, philipinnes; yes 350 dollars…. we flew China eastern which was a GREAT airline. The plane was brand new had plenty of movies and food was pretty decent. It was 15.5 hours to Shanghai and then 4.5 more hours to Cebu.
There are about 7,000 islands in the philipinnes and we were only there for about 9 days so we only stayed in Cebu and El Nido— I highly highly recommend both.
We stayed in Cebu White Sands Resort and Spa as well as Crimson Resort and Spa. Both hotels are nice— white sands is more simple, cheaper decent food and quiet. Crimson is a much larger hotel and way more crowded. There are a bunch of food options, music playing all day and has multiple lounges/bars to hang out in.
There are a bunch of things to do in Cebu, some of the must sees would be kawasan falls. You can either do a short 15 min walk to the gorgeous waterfalls where you can have a delicious lunch and go swimming of course. (I booked my tour through Viator). If you’re more adventurous I suggest doing canyoneering to the waterfalls which basically entails hiking, cliff jumping etc to get to the falls.
Another must do is to go swimming with whale sharks. Our tour was a 13 hour tour that included whale sharks and the falls. It is about a 3.5 hour drive to Cebu so be prepared to be picked up at about 4am. If you get there anywhere past 8 am it will be packed since this is the number one thing to do in Cebu. It was very cool to swim with them they literally are gentle giants they just want to get fed and don’t even care that you’re there 😂
We did an island hopping tour booked through our hotel that is a popular thing to do there. It took us to two locations one was snorkeling and one was to just hang on the island.
Our next was stop was El Nido in Palawan which was easily one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to. If you want to fly straight to El Nido the only airline that takes you to that airport is Air Swift which can only be booked on their website. I questioned if it was legitimate or not and crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. It was a great airline very organized and probably one of the smoothest flights I’ve ever had even though it was a propeller plane. Another option that’s more tedious would be to fly to puerto Princessa and drive 5 hours to El Nido. If you want to stay in that area for a few days then it’s worth it the drive other wise I suggest air swift.
We stayed at Cauayan Island Resort and it was the most stunning hotel I’ve ever been to. I would highly suggest it for a honey moon even. When we booked our hotel on Cheaptickets.com it included airport and boat transfer. The hotel is on a private island so a boat needs to bring you there. We were greeted by like half the staff and treated like royalty from the moment you arrive to the moment you leave. The island consists of about 20 villas. It’s so beautiful I cannot recommend it more. Our villa was so beautifully designed and right on the beach.
The hotel offers some excursions that were great. There is a short guided sunset hike you can take and witness some gorgeous views.
The hotel also offers island hopping tours that includes beaches lagoons and caves. We decided to book an 8 hour private speedboat combo tour and we chose the lagoons and beaches. This tour included small lagoon, big lagoon, hidden beach, secret beach and a couple of others. Because it was private you were able to stay as long as you wanted at any given place. Small lagoon is a must and so beautiful. We rented a kayak and went around this stunning lagoon it was extremely surreal.
This hotel was amazing and the service was impeccable. There is an abundance of staff waiting to cater to you at any given moment. I highly highly suggest getting a massage here. It was amazing and views were unreal. When you lay your head in the don’t hole the floor is glass and you are able to see the ocean. I saw a bunch of baby sharks as I was getting a massage. It was about $45 for an hour and half which was the best money I’ve ever spent.
Recommendations:
- If you have a lot of time I suggest going to Cebu, El Nido, Coron, Boracay
- Exchange to their currency for tips etc but the hotels also take credit card.
- Just like most places be cautious in Cebu especially if you are just women traveling like we we’re.
- Ignore the lengthy flight and just go 🙂
The Tan Traveler 