Travel Inspired

Destination: Philippines

Time period: March 9 - 22, 2026

Hello:  Kumusta po (adding “po” is a marker of respect)

Thank you:  Salamat po

The official language is Tagalog but English is taught in school so “hello” and “thank you” work well and are easily understood.

Currency: Philippine peso; about 60 peso to $1 U.S.

Planning Your Trip:

I booked a small group trip through G Adventures with the intent of exploring Manila and one island, offering opportunities for snorkeling and scuba diving.

Practicalities:

Customs/Arrival:  U.S. citizens need to complete an eVisa before arriving. I had a great experience with the very quick process.

Transport: You can use Grab (like Uber) to get from place to place.  It is cheap but don’t expect seatbelts for the passenger.  The first driver told me, “You don’t need it.” Then why was he wearing one?  Actually, the traffic moves so slow in the city, he was probably right.  However, traffic is quite erratic with motorbikes dodging in and out of vehicles. 

Money: I had some difficulties with ATMs close to my hotel in Manila – either out of service or out of cash.  This is one place where I might recommend withdrawing some cash at the airport on arrival.

Water:  Most hotels had a water dispenser to fill your own bottles with filtered water as tap water was not safe for drinking.

Lodging:

Manila - Hotel Kimberly - The driver warned me about the area as we drew closer on my ride from the airport. “Don’t go too far that direction, past the mall.  The mall is good - go there to eat and use the ATM.  And don’t walk using your phone.  Someone might snatch it.”  Welcome to Manila.  Hotel was mid-level basic, and the staff was friendly and helpful. The Robertson mall, a short walk away, was a great place to shop for anything you might need and had loads of restaurants.  It was packed with people and was a good refuge from the heat.  The hotel was about a mile from the some of the museums which was an easy walk straight down a busy road.

Puerto Princesa and Port Barton – The Holiday Suite hotel in both locations.  In Puerto Princesa, the rooms were very small in an unremarkable hotel. But it was clean and newer, had a pool, and was across the street from a grocery store which was great if you needed snacks or anything else. In Port Barton, the rooms were spacious and it was right on the beach. It was a lovely setting with a nice pool and good happy hour drinks and there were other restaurants to enjoy just a short walk down the beach.

El Nido - Isla Amara Hotel, Lio Beach - Beautiful hotel on the beach with a nice pool and situated next to several different restaurants and shops.  I stayed a couple of extra nights after the rest of the group left since I had planned to go scuba diving before flying to my next destination.  

Food:

My favorite foods were the numerous available choices of fresh fish.  Almost every meal included lots of rice and usually some noodles, but vegetables were more elusive.  A local guide in Manila said that Filipinos preferred meat-based meals - a vegetable diet was too reminiscent of poverty in the past.  I also learned that, unlike many other Asian countries, they did not favor spicy food.  Mango shakes were plentiful and delicious, along with many other types of juices. Hotel breakfast buffets had the usual Asian fare – lots of noodles, rice, fish, chicken, eggs, and fresh fruit. 

Some of the food choices I most enjoyed:  Adobo chicken (considered a national dish), fresh fish on the island of Palawan, and one vegetarian restaurant at Lio Beach called PLNT + Harvest. 

Places visited/Area Sights/ Notable Activities:  

Manila and surrounding area

Robinsons Place Mall, Manila - Don’t be fooled by the rather ordinary appearance on the outside.  It is a great place to stretch your legs (especially when suffering jet lag and waiting for your hotel room to become available), after having a security check on the way in.  It is a HUGE mall (not to be confused with the very large Mall of Asia), including a supermarket, multiple shops, restaurants, and drug stores for every need. It also seemed to be a key gathering place for locals.  Unlike malls in the U.S., it was packed with people.

National Museum of Natural History – I had a couple of extra days before my group arrived and decided to visit a couple of museums.  The Natural History museum had a beautiful and stunning approach from the outside in a complex that included the museum of anthropology and the museum of fine arts.  A large statue of a man, known as the Sentinel of Freedom, depicts Lapulapu, an indigenous Filipino hero.  The museum was easy to cover in a few hours and was a good way to escape the heat in a peaceful environment.  There were several good displays, even if the taxi-dermied critters looked a bit worse for wear and there was a lovely botanical art exhibit.  It was a nice wander for the afternoon, and I encountered several groups of students.  I was the victim of a scare incident - someone was hiding to scare his friend, but I wandered by first and he jumped out and did make me jump.  We all started laughing as he and his friend apologized with horrified embarrassment!  It was quite funny.

National Museum of Fine Arts – A good variety of some nice art.  There was one exhibit on books for children that was quite touching.  There were many murals by Philippine artists and an overall well-curated experience.

Manila walking food tour – On our first evening in Manila, we traveled to a part of Manila that was not touristy and we sampled several traditional foods including small dumplings, a banana flavored drink, and skewers with mysterious grilled pig and chicken parts ready for dipping into a soy/vinegar/red pepper/lime sauce.  Once we had sampled, our guide quizzed us on which animal part we suspected it was - a pig leg? Chicken liver? Chicken intestines? Pig ear? Although an interesting experience, the crowd did not finish most of their skewers, especially after learning the source!  We sampled Red Horse and San Miguel beers along with some local brandy and sweets such as fried banana dipped in sauce, an ice milk concoction, and Puta sweets (rice cakes).  Our guide entertained us with stories on the cultural traditions associated with the different foods.

Walking tour of Intramural area, Fort Santiago, San Agustin Church, Makati, and Chinatown – A boisterous guide named Nemo joined us in a “Jeepney” (converted jeeps left behind from the U.S. military after WWII and a popular form of public transportation) and led us on a tour of some of the most popular historical visitor sites in Manila.  He was a very knowledgeable and experienced tour guide and explained the history of the Intramural area as he led us from place to place. He discussed what happens when foreigners marry Filipinos (some interesting cultural implications); the legacy of Imelda Marcos, her cultural work, and her revered beauty; the prisons and atrocities at Fort Santiago; the role of the Americans to help save the Philippines; and the importance of Catholicism in the country.  In the San Agustin Church museum, many of the Madonna figures had real human hair of various colors and textures. Nemo also detailed the history of the Chinese in the area - building churches and developing the Chinese commerce section by the river.  It was a great overall of the varied influences on the Filipino culture.

Mount Purro Nature Reserve and the Dumagat Indigenous community – Our visit included a short walk with a guide explaining different trees and their importance to the community, including the various types of figs and mangos.  We then watched a demonstration of how the indigenous Dumagats would cook rice and pork inside a hollowed bamboo tube placed in the fire.  They explained this was how they cook quickly cook a meal if they were walking in the forest. It was quite tasty!  We enjoyed a lunch of adobo chicken, a wonderful little salad, some soup with a meatball, some fish egg rolls, and a banana dessert. 

Avatar Gorge, Tutulari Inararo Avatar Gorge - A long early morning drive to enjoy a lovely walk through the cool relief of the gorge.  The walls of the canyon-like formation sported rich green moss and plant-covered boulders as we wandered through.  We climbed several ladders to continue through the gorge, each turn along the way providing new perspectives of the sky and the surrounding stone.  The sunlight reached into the space and helped to illuminate the features as we walked through the naturally air-conditioned space.  Described as a hidden gem, it is certainly worth a visit.  We had lunch at a local restaurant and the food was excellent – chicken satays and the ubiquitous mango shake.

Puerto Princesa, Palawan Island – After a few days in Manila, it was time to explore one of the larger islands in the Philippines.  It was a quick flight from Manila and I’m not sure you can say you’ve been to the Philippines without traveling to at least one other island.  After all, there are 7,641 to choose from!

Iwahig Firefly Evening Tour – Normally an interesting phenomenon, on the night we visited, it was windy and so it was a bit underwhelming since the fireflies opted not to display for us in their usual numbers.  The tour requires a boat ride after dark along the Iwahig river.  The few trees we found with fireflies didn’t really twinkle.  Instead, the small white lights seemed to be on continuously, rather than the flashing golden lights I’m used to in the U.S.  This particular type of firefly likes to rest in the mango trees along the river, usually in large numbers, making this a tourist attraction.  It was still a pretty display of nature, and we also had the corresponding flashes of bioluminescent plankton in the water to entertain us. 

Port Barton

Subterranean River National Park, an UNESCO World Heritage site in Sabang.  This is a must see – we boarded small canoes to travel through the cave system.  We observed bats (of course) and sculpted rocks and designs that the locals had named because of their resemblance to different scenes such as the Last Supper and the holy family as well as “the market” with rocks resembling various vegetables. Our hotel that evening was on the beach, a relaxing place to kick back after a busy day and enjoy a few happy hour drinks with the group.  

Port Barton Island Hopping - One of the reasons I picked this trip – an opportunity for “island hopping” to explore the waters off-shore from the deck of our private tour boat.  We stopped to walk a sandbar, looking for fish and taking care not to step on several large starfish along the sand. The rest of the day was for snorkeling and exploring more small islands. The first official snorkeling stop was full of fish and interesting corals - a large school of yellow fish, bright green and blue fish, tiny cobalt blue fish darting all about and unconcerned with the large fleshy creatures invading their waters.  We stopped on an island, a beautiful site, for a rest and some lunch on a windy day.  Then on to another stop and the sighting of one lone sea turtle the victim of numerous snorkelers trying to get close and take photos. We swam over to the beach and did a short hike (in flip flops) up a steep hill to take photos before returning to our boat and back to Port Barton.  

El Nido

Sibaltan Heritage House and Sibaltan Heritage Community with Sibaltan Women Weavers Association. We visited the community, just outside of El Nido, and were greeted by young women and men dancing, both in traditional attire, the women in long hoop skirts.  We ate a buffet lunch (some most delicious eggplant with eggs) while whining cats rubbed against our legs.  After, we participated in a quick cooking demonstration by rolling some spring rolls, then watched Cuyonon artisan basket weaving of small coin purses and jewelry boxes.  They create hundreds to sell to companies for resale, and this is just the type of souvenir you see in multiple shops in Asia. We watched a short demonstration of the way they weave roofs for their houses, a watertight and somewhat wind resistant material made from sturdy palm leaves.  Last, a healer evaluated many of us and described ailments and bad spirits we were harboring within along with some suggested remedies. Lucky for me, she prescribed a massage!

Snorkeling: Secret Beach, Hidden Beach, Snake Island, and Cathedral Cave.  Our group had two days of island hopping and snorkeling. For someone who loves being in the water, this was a highlight for me. We had a private boat, complete with delicious lunches, to motor us around the multiple islands off the shores of El Nido.  There were several hidden beaches, including one we had to swim to see little Nemo fish (how can you not smile seeing those little orange, black and white beauties?).  In most cases, our boat had to anchor offshore and we had to walk onto the shore. In one case, to see the one of the hidden/secret beaches, we waded through the water, then crawled through a hole in a wall of rock to reach an isolated pool surrounded by walls of rock. There were a few good snorkeling spots with multiple types of colorful fish and wonderful corals, but the two days were more about exploring the different islands and relaxing in the sun. Since there were other tourists on multiple other boats, our quiet beaches would become crowded, signaling it was time for us to move on. 

Scuba Diving – I stayed a couple of extra days to take an opportunity to scuba dive.  Although there were several dive shops in El Nido, I contacted a shop before my trip to make sure I would be able to schedule diving on my designated day.  I found good reviews for Paladin Divers and enjoyed a day of diving (3 dives) with a full boat of some really nice people from several countries.  My dive buddy was kind enough to send me photos of some spectacular sea creatures including sting rays, an electric clam, and our swim through a glorious large school of glass fish tucked inside a small cave.  If you are a certified diver, don’t forget to schedule some dives when you visit the Philippines!