The Ultimate Travel Guide to the Philippines (2026)

I have been going to the Philippines from Singapore for years now, usually on a three-and-a-half-hour flight that costs less than a decent dinner for two, and I still have not run out of islands. The official count is a little over 7,600, which is a number that sounds like marketing until you are standing on a ferry deck watching six of them slide past before breakfast. This guide is the one I wish someone had handed me before my first trip: when to go (and when not to), what the visa rules actually say in October 2026, how much a day really costs in pesos and Singapore dollars, how to get from Manila to the water without losing a day, and which islands deserve your limited leave. I have folded in the useful bits from our older "complete guide" article too, so everything sits in one place.

The short version for people with a flight to book

If you only read one paragraph, read this one. Go between late November and May. December to February is the sweet spot for comfort: cooler, drier, calm seas on the western side. Singapore passport holders enter visa-free for 30 days; most other Southeast Asian, European, North American and Australian passports get the same. Fly into Manila or Cebu, then take a domestic flight to Palawan, Bohol or Boracay rather than trying to ferry everywhere. Budget PHP 2,000 to 8,000 a day per person depending on how you like to travel, carry cash for anything outside a mall, and sort out data before you land. Everything below is the detail behind those sentences.

Choosing your season: dry months, wet months and the festivals in between

The Philippines has a tropical marine climate, which in practice means it is hot and humid all year (25 to 33 degrees most days) and the only real variable is rain. The dry season runs roughly November to May and the wet season June to October, with typhoon risk highest from July to October. That is the textbook version. The lived version is messier, because the archipelago is long and the weather on the Pacific side (Siargao, Samar, Bicol) does not match the weather on the western side (Palawan, Boracay, Cebu's west coast) in the same week.

December to February is when I steer friends with children or elderly parents. Evenings are genuinely pleasant, the northern mountains around Baguio and Banaue get cool enough for a light jacket, and the sea on the Boracay and El Nido side is flat. The trade-off is that everyone else knows this too: Christmas to New Year and the Chinese New Year week are the most expensive and most crowded fortnights of the year, and Filipinos themselves travel in huge numbers over the holidays. If you can go in the second half of January or in early February, you get the weather without the queues.

March to May is hot. Properly hot. Manila in April is harder work than Singapore in April because there is less shade and more traffic. But this is also when the water is at its clearest, when the Chocolate Hills in Bohol actually turn the brown colour they are named for, and when the big fiestas happen. Holy Week (Easter) is a national travel peak, so avoid booking island flights for that week unless you have done it months ahead.

The wet season is not a write-off and I would not want you to skip it out of fear. Rain usually arrives in short, violent afternoon bursts, then clears. Hotels drop their rates, beaches empty out, and Siargao's surf is at its best from August to November. The real risk is not rain but typhoons, which can ground flights and cancel ferries for days at a time. If you travel between July and October, build slack into the itinerary, keep an eye on PAGASA (the national weather agency) bulletins, and do not plan a tight connection between a ferry and an international flight.

Festivals worth planning around

Sinulog in Cebu City (third Sunday of January) is the big one: a day-long street parade honouring the Santo Niño, with drum troupes and dancers in costumes that take a year to make. Book Cebu accommodation three months out. Ati-Atihan in Kalibo, Aklan, is the same weekend and older, with participants painted black with soot in a nod to the island's Ati people. Panagbenga, the flower festival in Baguio, runs through February with float parades on the last weekend. Pahiyas in Lucban, Quezon (15 May) turns every house on the main streets into a wall of coloured rice wafers and vegetables; it is a day trip from Manila if you leave at dawn. Dates shift slightly year to year, so confirm before you lock flights.

Visas and entry rules in October 2026

This is the section people email us about most, so I will be precise and also honest that rules change; what follows was last checked against official sources in August 2026 and you should re-check on the day you book. Singapore citizens, along with the other ASEAN nationalities, most of Europe, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan and South Korea, can enter the Philippines without a visa for up to 30 days for tourism. You need a passport valid for at least six months beyond your arrival date and proof of onward or return travel. Immigration officers do ask to see the return ticket, especially if you arrive on a one-way fare, so have the booking open on your phone.

Everyone, visa-free or not, has to complete the eTravel registration before arrival. It is a free online form (the only official site is the government's etravel portal; ignore anyone trying to charge you for it) that replaces the old paper arrival card. Do it within 72 hours of your flight, screenshot the QR code, and you will breeze through. Airlines in Singapore sometimes check it at the gate.

Indian passport holders get asked about this constantly, and the rules improved in 2025. Since 8 June 2025, Indian nationals can enter visa-free for tourism or business for up to 14 days per entry, with no fee, as long as they register on eTravel. If you also hold a valid visa for the United States, Japan, Australia, Canada, a Schengen state, Singapore or the United Kingdom (the AJACSSUK list, as the Bureau of Immigration calls it), the visa-free stay stretches to 30 days. For anything longer, or for nationalities not on the visa-free list, the 9(a) Temporary Visitor Visa is applied for online through the official e-visa portal: USD 40 at the time of writing, valid for three months from issue, allowing a stay of up to 59 days that can be extended in-country. Processing was quoted at 7 to 12 working days for single entry and 15 to 21 for multiple entry, so this is not something to leave until the week before.

Overstaying your 30 days is not a disaster but it is a chore. Extensions are handled at Bureau of Immigration offices (Manila's main office is in Intramuros, and there are branches in Cebu, Puerto Princesa and most provincial capitals). Expect a form, a fee in pesos and a wait. If you know you will stay more than a month, a few people on our forums have found it less hassle to apply for the 9(a) in advance than to spend a morning at Immigration mid-holiday. Our Philippines visa requirements page keeps the current fees and processing times by nationality.

What a day really costs

The Philippine peso has been drifting around PHP 42 to 44 to the Singapore dollar for the last while, so the maths I use in my head is "divide by 43". The country is cheaper than Singapore in almost every category except imported goods and, oddly, inter-island flights booked late. Here is how the budget bands shake out from my own receipts, with the usual caveat that Boracay and El Nido run 20 to 30 percent above the rest of the country.

Backpacker level is PHP 1,500 to 2,500 a day (about SGD 35 to 60). That buys a dorm bed or a fan room in a family guesthouse, three meals at a carinderia (the turo-turo eateries where you point at the pots), jeepney and tricycle rides, and a shared island-hopping boat every other day. Mid-range, which is where most Singaporean couples land, is PHP 4,000 to 7,000 (about SGD 95 to 165): an air-conditioned hotel room with a pool, restaurant dinners with a San Miguel or two, Grab rides in the cities, and a private or small-group tour most days. Above PHP 8,000 a day (SGD 190 and up) you are into beachfront resorts, private speedboats and helicopter transfers, and the ceiling is wherever you want it to be.

Some reference prices from 2026 so the bands mean something. A plate of chicken adobo with rice at a carinderia: PHP 80 to 150. A sit-down seafood dinner for two on Boracay's White Beach: PHP 1,500 to 2,500. A bottle of San Miguel Pale Pilsen in a sari-sari store: PHP 60; in a beach bar: PHP 150 to 250. A tricycle across town: PHP 20 to 50 (agree it first). A Grab from Manila airport to Makati: PHP 350 to 600 depending on traffic and surge. A shared El Nido island-hopping boat (Tour A or C): around PHP 1,400 to 1,800 per person plus a PHP 400-ish environmental fee. Entry to the Chocolate Hills viewing deck: under PHP 100. Prices move, so treat these as the shape of things rather than gospel.

On money itself: cash is still king outside malls and chain hotels. Cards work in Manila, Cebu and the bigger resorts, and GCash (the local e-wallet) is everywhere, but as a visitor you cannot easily set GCash up without a local number, so plan to carry pesos. ATMs charge a fixed fee of around PHP 250 per withdrawal on top of whatever your bank charges, and many cap withdrawals at PHP 10,000 to 20,000, so take out the maximum each time rather than dribbling it. Bring some Singapore dollars or US dollars as a backup; money changers in Makati and on Boracay's D'Mall give fair rates, the airport ones do not. Tell your bank you are travelling. And carry small notes: a tricycle driver genuinely may not have change for a PHP 1,000 bill at 7 am.

Getting there and getting around

From Singapore you have direct flights to Manila (about 3 hours 40), Cebu (about 3 hours 50) and, seasonally, Clark and Kalibo. If your trip is Cebu, Bohol or Siargao, fly straight into Cebu and skip Manila altogether; you save half a day and the airport is calmer. If it is Palawan or Boracay, Manila is the hub. Clark (north of Manila, in Pampanga) is worth considering if you are heading to the mountains or to Subic, because Manila's traffic between the airport and the northern expressways can eat two hours.

Ninoy Aquino International Airport has four terminals that are not connected airside, and it matters which one you land at. Singapore Airlines and Philippine Airlines mostly use Terminals 1 and 2, Cebu Pacific is in Terminal 3, and Scoot and Jetstar tend to use Terminal 1 or 3. If you have a connection to a domestic flight on a different airline, allow at least three hours and expect a shuttle or taxi between terminals. There are proper lounges you can pay into at Terminals 1 and 3 (the A Lounge at T1 is from S$30.80 at the time of writing, with food and a view of the runway), which on a four-hour layover is money well spent.

Leaving the airport is the first test. The official metered taxi queue (white cars) is fine but the queue can be long at night; the yellow airport taxis charge more. Grab works but pickups are chaotic at Terminal 3. For a first arrival, especially late, I book a transfer. A private transfer from MNL to the Ayala business district is from S$38.85 at the time of writing, with a driver holding a sign, an hour of waiting time if your flight is late, and no haggling. The same operator runs Cebu airport to downtown (from S$43.36), Tagbilaran airport to Alona Beach in Panglao (from S$50.99) and the longer runs to Boracay: Kalibo airport to Caticlan jetty (from S$114.39, about 90 minutes by road) and Caticlan airport to Boracay town (from S$129.47). Transfers are priced per vehicle not per person, so they make most sense for three or more.

Between islands, fly. Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and AirAsia Philippines run dozens of daily flights from Manila and Cebu to Puerto Princesa, El Nido (via the small AirSWIFT planes, pricier), Busuanga for Coron, Tagbilaran and Panglao for Bohol, Caticlan and Kalibo for Boracay, and Siargao. Booked two months out, Manila to Cebu or Puerto Princesa can cost under SGD 60 each way; booked the week before over a holiday, four times that. Cebu Pacific's sales are real but their change fees are brutal, so only buy a promo fare once your dates are fixed. Domestic baggage allowances are small (often 7 kg cabin only on the cheapest fares), which is one reason I travel with a 40-litre backpack.

Ferries fill the gaps. The useful ones for visitors are Cebu to Tagbilaran (OceanJet, about two hours, several sailings a day), Caticlan to Boracay (a ten-minute pumpboat you cannot avoid), the fast craft between Coron and El Nido (three to four hours, choppy, one morning departure, cancelled in rough weather), and the overnight 2Go ships from Manila to Cebu, Coron or Bohol if you fancy a cabin bunk and a sunrise over the Visayas. Montenegro Lines and smaller RoRo operators cover the short local crossings. Buy fast-craft tickets a day ahead in peak season, bring motion sickness tablets, and never plan a ferry the morning of an international flight.

On land, Grab is reliable in Manila, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo and Bacolod and worth installing before you leave Singapore (your Singapore account works). Outside those cities you are in the hands of tricycles (motorbike with a sidecar; agree the fare before you get in; PHP 20 to 50 for short hops, more at night), jeepneys (the stretched, painted trucks; PHP 13 to 20 a ride; pass your fare forward and say "bayad po"), and on the islands, habal-habal motorbike taxis. Hiring a scooter is normal on Siargao, Bohol and Palawan at PHP 400 to 600 a day; an international driving permit is officially required, helmets are mandatory and the police do check in Siargao. Vans (UV Express) and provincial buses connect towns cheaply if you are patient.

Manila: give it a day, maybe two

Most people treat Manila as a corridor between the airport and the islands, and I understand why; the traffic is a genuine obstacle and the city does not hand you its charms on arrival. But a day here is worth it. Start early in Intramuros, the 16th-century walled city, when it is still cool: Fort Santiago, San Agustin Church (the oldest stone church in the country) and the bamboo-bike tours that run from the Plaza. Have lunch at a Kapampangan restaurant, then spend the heat of the afternoon in the National Museum complex at Rizal Park, which is free and air-conditioned and much better than its reputation. In the evening, Poblacion in Makati has the bars and the food, and Bonifacio Global City has the clean pavements if you want a gentler landing.

With children, the city is easier than you expect because the malls are enormous and most of the attractions sit inside or beside them. The Dessert Museum at S Maison by the Mall of Asia (from S$19.36 at the time of writing) is eight rooms of candy-coloured installations with actual sweets handed out along the way; allow 90 minutes to two hours and go on a weekday morning for photos without strangers in them. Across the road, Star City is an old-school amusement park that is loud and fun after dark. For a wilder day out, Avilon Zoo in Rodriguez, Rizal, an hour east of the city, is the country's largest private zoo with more than 3,000 animals including Philippine eagles and tarsiers; it opens 8 am to 5 pm and you will want four to six hours.

Manila is also the jumping-off point for the Rizal hills, which Singaporeans never seem to know about. The Mount Daraitan overnight hike (from S$35.83 at the time of writing) leaves Manila at midnight, puts you on a 739-metre summit for sunrise over the Sierra Madre, then drops you in the Tinipak River for a swim before the drive back; it is about 14 hours door to door and you bring your own packed lunch. Mount Batolusong and Mount Kulis are gentler sunrise hikes on the same ridge. If you would rather not walk, the ATV trails in Antipolo cross rivers and pine forest on three graded routes, and Treasure Mountain in Tanay has a no-hike viewpoint above a sea of clouds with glamping tents if you stay the night. None of these need more than one day away from the city.

North of the capital, Clark and Subic were American bases and have become weekend playgrounds. Ocean Adventure in Subic Bay (from S$17.51 at the time of writing) is the country's only open-water marine park, with dolphin and sea lion presentations and a forested shoreline; it is roughly three hours from Manila, opens 9 am on weekdays, and needs four to five hours. Clark Safari and Adventure Park (from S$13.00) is a 40-hectare drive-through with feeding sessions and is a sensible stop if you are flying out of Clark. Angeles City, next door, is the capital of Kapampangan cooking, which Filipinos themselves rate as the country's best; order sisig where it was invented.

Cebu and Bohol: whale sharks, waterfalls and the Chocolate Hills

Cebu is where I send people with a week and no patience for logistics, because you can fly direct from Singapore, base yourself in one place, and reach whale sharks, canyoneering, Spanish history and Bohol's hills without another flight. The city itself is compact: Magellan's Cross and the Basilica del Santo Niño sit on one plaza downtown, Fort San Pedro is a ten-minute walk, and the Temple of Leah and Sirao flower farm in the hills above make a half-day loop with a view. Eat lechon (whole roast pig) at least once; Cebu's version is seasoned from the inside with lemongrass and does not need sauce.

The south of the island is where the famous day happens. Oslob, three hours from the city, is where fishermen hand-feed whale sharks each morning and tourists snorkel alongside them. I should be straight with you: the feeding is controversial among conservationists because it changes the animals' migration behaviour, the water is crowded between 6 and 10 am, and you are not allowed to touch or use flash. Plenty of people still go and find it the moment of their trip; others prefer Donsol in Bicol, where sightings are wild and not guaranteed. If you go, go early. The combined Oslob whale sharks and Kawasan Falls canyoneering day tour (from S$116.00 at the time of writing) does the sensible thing and pairs it with the afternoon in Badian: three hours of jumping, sliding and swimming down a turquoise river gorge to the big falls, helmets and life vests on, guides pointing out the safe spots. It is 10 to 12 hours from pick-up to drop-off and the best single day in Cebu. If you want the river without the queues, the private half-canyoneering new trail and the private Badian canyoneering tour are the quieter versions. Moalboal, between the two, has a sardine run you can snorkel from the beach for the price of a mask rental.

Bohol is two hours from Cebu by fast ferry, and I would give it two nights rather than a day trip. The Chocolate Hills are a thousand-plus grassy mounds that go brown in the dry season; the Carmen viewing deck is the classic shot and it takes an hour from Tagbilaran. The tarsier sanctuary in Corella houses the tiny nocturnal primates with the enormous eyes (no flash, no touching, whisper). The Loboc River cruise is a floating buffet with live music, kitschy and lovely. Panglao island, joined to Bohol by bridges, has Alona Beach for your base and the dive sites of Balicasag offshore.

If you really do only have one day, the all-in Bohol day tour (from S$205.56 at the time of writing) starts before dawn with dolphin-watching off Panglao, snorkels Balicasag's turtle-filled reef, then does Loboc, the tarsiers, the butterfly garden and the Chocolate Hills in one 10- to 12-hour sweep with all entrance fees included. For a water-only day, the dolphin watching, Balicasag and sardine run snorkelling tour (from S$77.75) is eight to ten hours with round-trip transfers and lunch. Balicasag is a protected sanctuary with a daily visitor cap, which is why the boats leave so early and why you should book this a few days out rather than on the beach the night before.

Two smaller Cebu ideas. Anjo World in Minglanilla is the island's only theme park, a modest 1.5 hectares with an indoor snow room that Singaporean kids find hilarious; from S$11.06 at the time of writing. And the Carnaza and Lamanok island getaway off northern Cebu is the quiet, sandbar-and-lagoon alternative to Bantayan for people who have done the famous beaches.

Palawan: El Nido, Coron and the question of which one

Palawan keeps winning "best island in the world" polls and, having been several times, I think the honest answer is that it deserves them for the water and the limestone, and that the towns themselves are scruffy and the roads are long. The province is 450 km end to end. Puerto Princesa, the capital, is where most flights land and where the Underground River (a UNESCO site, a paddle-boat ride into a cave system; permits are limited so book ahead) is a day trip. El Nido is five to six hours north by van; Coron is a separate island reached by its own flight to Busuanga or by the fast craft from El Nido.

El Nido is the postcard: Big Lagoon, Small Lagoon, Secret Beach, the karst walls rising straight from green water. The island-hopping boats are organised into fixed Tour A, B, C and D routes, which keeps prices fair but means you share each lagoon with everyone else on the same letter. Kayaks are limited per lagoon and sell out by mid-morning. Nacpan Beach, 45 minutes north of town, is the long empty strand for the afternoon you want to do nothing. Town itself is noisy, with patchy water pressure and a lot of backpacker bars; Corong-Corong or Lio, just outside, are calmer places to sleep.

Coron, to my taste, is the better all-rounder. The Japanese shipwrecks from a 1944 air raid lie at diveable depths in Coron Bay, Kayangan Lake is the clearest water I have ever seen, the Twin Lagoon has a swim-through under a rock arch, and Barracuda Lake is a surreal layered mix of fresh and salt water. The standard group boats cram 20 people and a fixed itinerary into a day. If you are a family or two couples, a private speedboat island-hopping day (from S$45.96 per person at the time of writing) lets you choose six to eight stops, leave at 8 am before the crowds, and get to Kayangan while it is still empty. Entrance fees at each site (typically PHP 100 to 300 each) are paid in cash on the day, so carry pesos. The beach escapade version (from S$49.56) goes the other direction, to Malcapuya, Banana Island and the Bulog Dos and Ditaytayan sandbars, with lunch, snorkel gear and hotel pick-up included in nine hours; this is the one for people who want sand rather than cliffs. The private yacht option is the same route with shade and a proper deck for groups who want to linger.

Coron's parasailing (from S$57.48 at the time of writing) is 15 minutes in the air over the bay and takes children from age four tandem with an adult; mornings have steadier wind, and the whole thing, including the boat out and back, is about an hour. Afterwards, the Maquinit hot springs on the edge of town are saltwater pools at nearly 40 degrees, oddly perfect after a day in the sea. Mount Tapyas, 700-odd steps above the town, is the free sunset.

My rule for choosing: with four or five days in Palawan, do one or the other and do it properly. With eight, do both, flying into Coron and out of El Nido (or the reverse) and taking the fast craft between them on a calm-looking morning. Palawan is where a dry bag stops being a gadget and becomes essential; everything you carry on a boat gets wet.

Boracay: the beach that got its act together

Boracay was closed for six months in 2018 for a clean-up and it came back better: a cap on visitor numbers, no drinking or smoking on the sand, the old sewage outfalls gone, and White Beach, the four-kilometre strip of fine white sand, looking the way it does in the photographs. It is still the Philippines' most developed resort island, with a mall, a daily "laboracay" party scene at Station 2 in the high season and a lot of Korean and Chinese tour groups. Station 1 is the quiet, pricier end, Station 3 the budget end, and Bulabog on the opposite coast is where the kitesurfers go from November to April when the Amihan wind blows.

The one thing everyone should do is the sunset paraw sail. The paraw is the traditional double-outrigger sailing boat, you sit on a net slung between the hulls with your feet in the water, and the wind does the rest for 90 minutes to two hours while the sky turns orange. The shared or private paraw sailing experience is from S$28.81 at the time of writing; it runs from 4 pm, is weather-dependent (no wind, no sail; too much wind, no sail), and you will get wet, so wear swimwear. For an active day, the seven-activity adventure package (from S$21.59) bundles the inland ATV trail, the sky bike, a zipline, cliff diving at Ariel's Point-style platforms, canoeing, paddle-boarding and a cold spring into one day for the price of a nice lunch. If money is no object, the helicopter island tour gives you the whole teardrop shape of the island in ten minutes.

Practicalities: every visitor pays a terminal fee and an environmental fee at Caticlan jetty (a few hundred pesos in total; check the figure on the day), and hotels must be accredited to admit you, so book somewhere established. Puka Shell Beach at the north tip is the escape when White Beach gets too much. And D'Talipapa market, where you buy seafood by weight and have a neighbouring stall cook it, is the dinner that costs a third of a beachfront restaurant and tastes better.

Siargao, Banaue and the places that reward the extra flight

Siargao is the teardrop island off the north-east tip of Mindanao that surfers have talked about since the 1980s and everyone else discovered about five years ago. Cloud 9 is the famous right-hand reef break (the boardwalk out to it is the photo); September to November has the biggest swell, but there are gentle beginner waves at Jacking Horse and plenty of surf schools at PHP 500 to 800 an hour including the board. Off the water, the Magpupungko rock pools at low tide, the island-hopping triangle of Naked, Daku and Guyam islands, and the Sugba Lagoon on the mangrove side fill three easy days. General Luna is the town; hire a scooter, wear the helmet, and expect the island to be fully booked over Christmas and Holy Week. Flights are from Cebu or Manila; there is no ferry a visitor would reasonably choose.

Banaue and the Cordillera rice terraces are the opposite experience: a nine- to ten-hour overnight bus from Manila (Coda Lines and Ohayami run them; book the sleeper), temperatures in the teens at night, and 2,000-year-old terraces carved into mountainsides by the Ifugao people. Banaue town's viewpoint is the easy win. Batad, an hour's jeepney ride and a half-hour walk away, is the amphitheatre of terraces that is on the UNESCO list and is worth staying a night in a homestay with no road access. Hire a local guide for the Batad to Bangaan walk (around PHP 1,000 to 1,500 for the day); the paths are narrow walls between flooded paddies and the guides know which ones hold. Green season (June to July) and the harvest (around October, exactly now) are the photogenic times; the terraces are brown stubble in January. Sagada, three hours further on, has hanging coffins, caves and the best coffee in the north.

Two quieter ideas for second or third trips. Siquijor, an hour's ferry from Dumaguete, is a small island of waterfalls, healers and empty beaches where a scooter and three days are all you need. And Camiguin, off northern Mindanao, has seven volcanoes, a sunken cemetery you can snorkel over and hot and cold springs within a 64-km ring road. Both are safe, both are cheap, neither has a nightclub.

Health, safety and the scams to recognise

The Philippines is friendlier and safer than its reputation in Singapore suggests, and the tourist regions (Palawan, Boracay, Bohol, Cebu, Siargao, Manila's business districts) see very little serious crime against visitors. The usual rules apply: keep phones out of sight on crowded jeepneys and in Divisoria or Carbon markets, use ATMs inside banks or malls, do not walk alone along unlit beach stretches at 2 am, and leave the big watch at home. Most of Mindanao, outside Siargao, Camiguin and Davao, carries government travel advisories and I would not plan a holiday there without local advice; check the MFA's travel notices before you book. During typhoon season, register your trip with the MFA eRegister service so the embassy can find you if flights stop.

On health, see a travel clinic four to six weeks out. Hepatitis A and typhoid are the usual recommendations, with rabies worth discussing if you will be on the islands with the stray dogs and cats for a while. Dengue is present year-round and worst in the wet season; repellent with DEET at dawn and dusk, long sleeves in the evening, and do not wait if you get a high fever with joint pain. Drink bottled or filtered water (hotels and most restaurants use purified water for ice, but ask at roadside stalls). Pharmacies (Mercury Drug, Watsons) are everywhere and well stocked; bring any prescription medicine with its original packaging. Travel insurance with medical evacuation is not optional: the good hospitals (St Luke's and Makati Medical Center in Manila, Chong Hua in Cebu) are excellent but a serious injury on a remote island means a boat, a plane and a bill. Emergency number for police, fire and ambulance is 911 nationwide; the Department of Tourism hotline is +63 2 8524 1660.

The scams are mostly small and avoidable. Airport taxis "without a meter" (walk to the official queue instead). The money changer who counts quickly (count it again in front of them). The tricycle "special trip" quoted at five times the shared fare (ask the fare before getting in, and ask your hotel what the normal rate is). The boatman at Caticlan offering a "private" boat that is just the public one. The friendly stranger in Manila who knows a great bar with a cover charge. Tour touts on White Beach selling island-hopping for less than the official rate, which usually means a slower boat and missed stops. Booking tours through established operators, in advance, removes most of this friction, which is why we list them.

Staying connected and what to pack

Mobile data is cheap and generally good in cities and resort towns, and patchy to absent in the lagoons, on the ferries and in the mountains. The two networks are Globe and Smart; Smart tends to be stronger in the provinces, Globe in the cities, and both sell tourist SIMs at airport counters for a few hundred pesos. The catch is that SIM registration is now mandatory and the airport queues at Terminal 3 late at night can be long, which is why I switched to eSIMs a couple of years ago and have not looked back.

An eSIM is a data plan you install on a compatible phone with a QR code before you leave Singapore and switch on when you land, keeping your Singapore number active for calls and OTPs on the other line. For a short trip, the Commbitz Philippines eSIM package (from S$7.15 at the time of writing) and the Commbitz daily plan (from S$3.08 per day) run on 5G where it exists. The Airalo 1GB for seven days (from S$4.00) is the cheapest way to have maps and messaging without streaming. If you work on the road or travel as a family sharing a hotspot, the unlimited 4G/5G data eSIM (from S$29.70, seven to thirty days) and the Flash Global unlimited plan with hotspot (from S$5.00) are the ones to look at. Check your phone is carrier-unlocked and eSIM-capable before you buy, install the profile while you still have Wi-Fi, and expect speeds to drop sharply on the smaller islands whatever plan you hold. Download offline maps of each island before you fly.

Packing is the easy part because it is Singapore's climate with more sun and less shade. Reef-safe sunscreen, because several marine parks now ask for it and because the regular kind kills coral. A dry bag (10 to 20 litres) for every boat day. A rash guard, which does more than sunscreen on a four-hour snorkel. Water shoes for the stony beaches and canyoneering. A light rain jacket in the wet season and a fleece if Banaue or Baguio are on the list. A power bank, because island power cuts are routine. Light trousers or a sarong for churches. Motion-sickness tablets for the fast craft. Cash in small notes. And a soft 40-litre bag rather than a hard suitcase, because you will be hauling it onto pumpboats and tricycles and the budget airlines weigh everything. Leave the drone at home unless you have checked the local rules; several islands restrict them.

Food, manners and a few words of Filipino

Filipino food gets unfairly overlooked in Singapore, usually by people who have only had it from a hawker stall. Eat adobo (meat braised in soy, vinegar and garlic; every family's is different), sinigang (a sour tamarind soup, best with prawns or milkfish), kinilaw (raw fish cured in vinegar and coconut, the Visayan ceviche), lechon in Cebu, sisig in Pampanga, and pancit (noodles) everywhere. Breakfast is silog: garlic rice, a fried egg and a protein (tapa beef, longganisa sausage, tocino sweet pork). Halo-halo, the shaved-ice dessert with ube and leche flan, is the cure for a Manila afternoon. Mangoes from Guimaras and Cebu in April and May are the sweetest I have eaten anywhere. Jollibee is a national institution and you should try the fried chicken and the sweet spaghetti once, for the experience, before judging. Balut, the fertilised duck egg, is optional.

Manners matter and are easy. Filipinos are warm and indirect: a "maybe" is often a polite no, raised voices are a serious breach, and the word "po" added to a sentence ("salamat po", thank you) signals respect to anyone older or serving you. Shoes come off in homes. Ask before photographing people, especially in indigenous communities in the Cordillera. Karaoke is a social contract; if a microphone is passed to you, sing. Tipping is not expected but appreciated: round up a taxi fare, leave 5 to 10 percent in restaurants if no service charge appears, and tip boat crews and guides PHP 100 to 300 per person for a good day. English is an official language and almost universally spoken, which makes the Philippines the easiest country in the region to travel independently; learning "magandang umaga" (good morning), "salamat" (thanks) and "magkano?" (how much?) will still earn you grins.

Three itineraries that actually work

Five days from Singapore, one base: fly direct to Cebu. Day one, city and lechon. Day two, the Oslob and Kawasan long day. Day three, fast ferry to Bohol, sleep in Panglao. Day four, the dolphins-Balicasag-Chocolate Hills sweep. Day five, ferry back and fly home. You see whale sharks, a waterfall gorge, a reef and the hills in one long weekend plus two days of leave.

Eight days, two islands: fly to Manila, transfer to a domestic flight to Busuanga, three nights in Coron (private speedboat day, beach day, wrecks or parasailing). Fast craft to El Nido, three nights (Tour A, Nacpan, a lazy day). Van to Puerto Princesa, fly to Manila, one night and the Intramuros morning, fly home. Only attempt this between December and May; the fast craft is too unreliable in the wet season.

Twelve to fourteen days, the grand tour: Manila two nights (city, a Rizal hike or Subic day), overnight bus to Banaue for two nights (Batad), back to Manila and fly to Cebu for three nights (Oslob, canyoneering), ferry to Bohol for two nights, fly Tagbilaran to Manila and onward to Boracay or Palawan for the last four. It is a lot of moving, which is the Philippines, but it is also mountains, cities, reefs and sand in a single fortnight, and the domestic flights, booked early, add less to the bill than you would think.

Frequently asked questions

Do Singaporeans need a visa for the Philippines in 2026?

No. Singapore passport holders enter visa-free for up to 30 days for tourism with a passport valid at least six months past arrival, an onward or return ticket, and a completed eTravel registration (free, online, within 72 hours of the flight). Extensions beyond 30 days are arranged at Bureau of Immigration offices in the country. Rules can change, so check our Philippines visa requirements page before you book.

Can Indian passport holders go visa-free?

Since June 2025, yes: 14 days per entry for tourism or business with eTravel registration, and 30 days if you also hold a valid visa for the US, Japan, Australia, Canada, a Schengen country, Singapore or the UK. Longer stays use the online 9(a) Temporary Visitor Visa (USD 40 at the time of writing, up to 59 days, 7 to 21 working days to process). Our visa team can walk you through the 9(a) if you need it.

What is the best month to visit?

For most people, late January to early March: dry, calm seas, cooler than April, and past the Christmas and Chinese New Year crowds. April and May are hotter but have the clearest water and the fiestas. Avoid Holy Week unless you have booked months ahead. Surfers want Siargao from September to November; everyone else should treat July to October as the gamble it is and buy insurance.

How much should I budget per day?

PHP 1,500 to 2,500 (SGD 35 to 60) travelling cheaply, PHP 4,000 to 7,000 (SGD 95 to 165) in air-conditioned comfort with tours most days, and PHP 8,000 or more at resort level. Add 20 to 30 percent for Boracay and El Nido. Domestic flights are the line item people forget; booked early they are cheap, booked late over a holiday they can cost more than the Singapore flight.

Is the Philippines safe for families and solo travellers?

In the main tourist regions, yes, with ordinary city sense. English is spoken everywhere, people are helpful to a fault, and solo women travellers we know report feeling more comfortable than in several neighbouring countries. Keep an eye on travel advisories for most of Mindanao, watch the weather between July and October, use repellent against dengue, and carry travel insurance with evacuation cover.

Should I buy a local SIM or an eSIM?

If your phone supports eSIM, an eSIM installed before you fly is simpler: no airport queue, no SIM registration, and your Singapore number stays live for bank OTPs. A local Globe or Smart SIM is slightly cheaper for long stays and can be topped up at any sari-sari store. Either way, expect weak or no signal on boats, in the El Nido and Coron lagoons and in the Cordillera, and download offline maps first.

How do bookings with HolidaySG work?

You choose the tour, transfer or eSIM, pick a date where one is needed, and pay in Singapore dollars by card or PayNow. E-tickets are emailed after our team confirms your booking, usually with a voucher and the operator's meeting instructions; the operator then handles pick-up on the day. Prices shown are "from" prices at the time of writing and can change with the season. Our support team is on chat and WhatsApp from 9 AM to 11 PM Singapore time if a boat is cancelled by weather or a flight shifts and you need to move a date.

Can I combine the Philippines with another country on the same trip?

Easily from Singapore, since Manila and Cebu both have direct flights to Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul, Tokyo and Bangkok. The practical pairing is Cebu with Taiwan or Hong Kong on a budget carrier. Just remember that each new country has its own entry rules; our visa requirements tool lists them by passport.

Featured experiences in this guide

A Lounge (T1) Ninoy Aquino International AirportFrom S$30.80 Book →Lapu-Lapu City (CEB) Airport Transfer (1 Way to Cebu Downtown)From S$43.36 Book →Panglao (TAG) Airport Transfer (1 Way to Alona Beach)From S$50.99 Book →Kalibo (KLO) Airport Transfer (1 Way to Caticlan Jetty Port)From S$114.39 Book →Malay (MPH) Airport Transfer (1 Way to Boracay Downtown)From S$129.47 Book →Star CityFrom S$17.28 Book →Avilon ZooFrom S$47.39 Book →Mount Batolusong Hiking Tour from ManilaFrom S$35.83 Book →Mount Kulis Hiking Tour from ManilaFrom S$35.83 Book →4-Wheeler (ATV) Adventure in Rizal/ManilaFrom S$81.00 Book →Ocean Adventure, Subic BayFrom S$17.51 Book →Clark Safari and Adventure ParkFrom S$13.00 Book →CT17 - Private Kawasan Waterfalls - New Trail (Half Canyoneering)From S$168.32 Book → PRIVATE - BADIAN CANYONEERING AND KAWASAN FALLS TOURFrom S$157.00 Book →Anjo World Theme ParkFrom S$11.06 Book →CT19 - Private Quick Island Getaway - Carnaza + Lamanok IslandFrom S$73.34 Book →Coron Island Hopping Experience: Via Private YachtFrom S$82.95 Book →Boracay: Helicopter Island Tour | Experience the island's charm from h...From S$158.31 Book →Commbitz Philippines e-SIM PackageFrom S$7.15 Book →Commbitz Philippines e-SIM DailyFrom S$3.08 Book →Airalo Philippines e-Sim PackageFrom S$4.00 Book →Philippines eSIM 5G - Unlimited Data - Hotspot Supported - Flash Globa...From S$5.00 Book →