The plane lands in Manila. The holiday starts at a jetty.
Which El Nido tour letter reaches the lagoons. What the Underground River costs once the permit is in. Reviews of every tour you can book in the Philippines.
In El Nido the tours are letters. In Coron they are lakes. Off Puerto Princesa they are sandbars.
Island hopping is not one product in the Philippines. Three kinds of day, what it costs to get on board, and which bay each one belongs to.
Manila is the airport. Cebu, Palawan and Bohol are the trip.
The archipelago sorts itself into a handful of bases, each with a runway, a jetty and one day out that people fly in for. Six of them carry almost every first visit.
Whale sharks off Oslob, a sardine ball off Moalboal.
The Visayan sea puts something enormous within snorkel range most mornings. Turtles over the Balicasag drop-off, a million sardines a few strokes off the Moalboal shore, and the whale sharks that turn up at first light and leave by noon.
The days out more Philippine travellers book than any other.
Every Philippine tour review →Boats fill in order of reputation here, and these are the ones that go first. What each one costs, and what earns it the slot.
1
El Nido: Island Hopping Tour A Lagoons and Beaches
Explore El Nido’s Big Lagoon, Secret Lagoon, Shimizu Island, and Seven Commandos Beach on an affordable eight-hour boat tour.
From · $23
Read our review →
2
From Puerto Princesa: Underground River Full-Day Trip
from $48
3
Bohol: Premium Chocolate Hills, Tarsiers & River Experience
from $43
4
Coron Ultimate Tour: 7 Destinations with Lunch & Transfers
from $46
5
Cebu City: Whale Shark Swimming & Kawasan Falls Canyoneering
from $124
6
Coron: Private Boat Hire with Guided Tour and Lunch on Beach
7
Cebu Moalboal: Kawasan Canyoneering Adventure with Lunch
from $47
8
El Nido Island Hopping Tour C: Hidden Beaches & Shrine
from $29
Bohol takes the hills in the morning and the river at lunch.
The Chocolate Hills turn properly brown at the end of the dry season and the tarsiers sleep through your visit whatever the month. The countryside loop takes both, then parks you on a bamboo raft that drifts up the Loboc while lunch is served.
Every Bohol day out →What a day out in the Philippines actually costs.
Every tour on the site, sorted by what you pay to board it. The boat days people talk about for years are rarely the expensive ones.
Bangka island hopping, the waterfall runs, walled-city mornings and the sunset sail.
The Underground River permit day, canyoneering with lunch, the Bohol countryside loop.
Private boats, the multi-day crossing from El Nido to Coron, and the long drives out of Manila.
Three days out that happen nowhere else.
Reefs and waterfalls turn up all over the tropics. A navigable river running under a mountain, a canyon you get out of by jumping, and a thousand grass hills the colour of cocoa do not.
The Underground River
A river runs out from under the limestone of Saint Paul mountain and paddle boats go 4km up it, head torches picking cathedral chambers and a ceiling of bats out of the dark. The park issues a fixed number of permits a day, so the whole trip runs on a slot booked in advance and a short bangka ride from Sabang beach.
- 1From Puerto Princesa: Underground River Full-Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 1,460 reviews
- 2Underground River Day Trip from Puerto Princesa City★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 261 reviews
- 3From Puerto Princesa: Underground River Guided Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 167 reviews
Kawasan Canyoneering
You start upstream of the falls near Badian, in a helmet and a life vest, and you get out at the bottom. Between the two is a limestone gorge you cross by scrambling, swimming and jumping, with drops from waist height to about twelve metres. Every jump has a walk-around, and the water is that colour because of the limestone.
- 1Cebu City: Whale Shark Swimming & Kawasan Falls Canyoneering★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 665 reviews
- 2Cebu Moalboal: Kawasan Canyoneering Adventure with Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 630 reviews
- 3Canyoneering Experience in Kawasan Falls with Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 440 reviews
The Chocolate Hills
More than a thousand near-identical grass mounds sit in the middle of Bohol, and nobody has fully settled the argument about how they formed. The grass browns off towards the end of the dry season, which is where the name comes from. The viewpoint at Carmen climbs a couple of hundred steps, and the tarsier sanctuary sits half an hour back down the road.
- 1Bohol: Premium Chocolate Hills, Tarsiers & River Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 804 reviews
- 2Bohol: Chocolate Hills and Countryside Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 175 reviews
- 3Bohol: Guided Chocolate Hills & Tarsiers Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 158 reviews
Four Philippine bookings that will not wait.
Most of this trip can be arranged over breakfast the day before. These four run on permits, tides and boats that leave whether or not you are standing on the pier.
- 01From Puerto Princesa: Underground River Full-Day TripThe park releases a fixed number of permits each day and the boats stop when they are gone. Peak-season slots are taken well before the flight lands.
- 02Cebu City: Whale Shark Swimming & Kawasan Falls CanyoneeringThe Oslob interaction runs from first light and is finished around noon. It is a three-hour drive from Cebu City, so the pickup is usually in the dark.
- 03Cebu Moalboal: Kawasan Canyoneering Adventure with LunchHeavy rain upstream closes the gorge at no notice, and it is the guides who make that call. Leave a spare day in Cebu rather than a spare hour.
- 04El Nido: Island Hopping Tour A Lagoons and BeachesEl Nido caps how many boats run each tour letter and collects an eco fee at the pier. In March and April the A and C boats go days ahead.
The habagat blows in from the southwest and the bangkas stay tied to the pier.
From June to October the southwest monsoon can shut a crossing overnight, and it is the coastguard who decides, not the operator you booked with. Every island keeps a dry-land answer ready: a walled city, a cave system, a countryside loop, a long lunch.
Manila, Palawan, Cebu, Bohol: the run almost everybody flies first.
The newest Philippine tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Cebu: City and Highlands Discovery Full-Day Tour with Lunch
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Private: Pagsanjan Falls & Scenic Taal Volcano Tour (2in1)
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Cebu: Moalboal Island Hopping and Mantayupan Falls Day Trip
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Best of Cebu:Oslob Whaleshark Encounter w Sandbar & Tumalog Falls
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El Nido Private Tour: Adventure with Highlights from A & C
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Moalboal: Sardine Run, Turtles and Pescador Island Hopping
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Manila ATV Mountain Trail Adventure(with Transfers***)
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⭐ Manila Street Food Tour in the Downtown, Eat and Drink⭐
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