the philippines
We can’t provide you a full guide to the Philippines, considering there are over 7,000 islands to explore in this amazing country but we can sum up the 6 islands we did see.
We spent a total of 29 days in The Philippines, which was enough for us to fall in love with it's beauty. The places we visited were, in order: Manila, Palawan, Cebu, Siargao, Siquior and Bohol, this route gave us great variations of the Philippines, we saw the city, the pristine beaches and the stunning green plains. Even still, we feel like we barely touched the surface of the Philippines, there are many back packing hot spots that are great, however, we feel like visiting the Philippines without such a tight budget would provide you with a better experience as tours can be quite expensive, so plan ahead. |
IMPORTANT LINKS
Newly Nomads blog on our 29 day trip around The Philippines. Here you'll not only find our daily blog, but also places to stay, eat and visit around the island.
Jaide Photography's website, go here to view Justin's awesome snaps of our time in The Philippines. *All prices on this page are of AUD and are current from June 2014* |
the budget
To be honest, The Philippines was a little bit more expensive then we had planned for, in the bigger cities, we were spending around $70 a day as a couple however the smaller islands varied between $50-$60, here is a breakdown of what we were spending. You'll also find more information about life in The Philippines as a backpacker on this page. View our planning guide here.
* Food/Drink: $20-$30 A day. If you can find local restaurants or an Angel's Burger stand this cost will go down significantly (if you can eat here 3 meals a day you'd be looking at $10), however unfortunately in some of the more touristy areas these spots can be far between.
* Accommodation: $10-$20 a night. Because the accommodation expenses really depending on what island you're staying at, we discuss this more thoroughly in our 'Accommodation' section below.
* Transportation: $6-$20 a day. For us, most days we only paid for our motor bike, however if you need to hire a taxi or trike your transportation cost will go up.
* Other: $10- $15 a day. For your entrance fees, petrol and any other needs.
* Food/Drink: $20-$30 A day. If you can find local restaurants or an Angel's Burger stand this cost will go down significantly (if you can eat here 3 meals a day you'd be looking at $10), however unfortunately in some of the more touristy areas these spots can be far between.
* Accommodation: $10-$20 a night. Because the accommodation expenses really depending on what island you're staying at, we discuss this more thoroughly in our 'Accommodation' section below.
* Transportation: $6-$20 a day. For us, most days we only paid for our motor bike, however if you need to hire a taxi or trike your transportation cost will go up.
* Other: $10- $15 a day. For your entrance fees, petrol and any other needs.
food/drinks
The food in the Philippines was probably one of the biggest let downs, we had read online that the Filippino food consists of 3 spices – which is correct – however, what was more disappointing was the lack of local food. Because the Philippines is trying to become more westernized, we found the cheapest eats were food that you really do nothing for your adventurous need to sample their culture or for your health; burger shops, pizzas, hot dogs and crumbed meat vastly over populate the amount of safe local restaurants to eat at.
Angel's Burger bars can be found all of the 6 islands we stayed at, they provide you with a super cheap meal, the most expensive thing on their menu was $1.20 however don’t expect anything other than burgers or hotdogs. |
Food prices depend a lot on where you’re visiting, in Siquijor we could easily get by on finding $5 meals, however in Palawan meals were closer to $9 and a smaller portion. All over the Philippines we found that we were ordering one main each.
Drinking is super cheap in the Philippines, (a little bit more expensive in the bigger places such as Manila, Cebu and Palawan.) In Siquijor you can get a San Miguel Pilsin for 85cents or a whopping San Miguel Grande for $2. If you feel the need to plaster yourself, you can always head to a small store or Mini Mart and buy a $3 bottle of rum. Needless to say its pretty damn easy and cheap to get drunk here. You can find more information on Filipino food and drinks, as well as a list of places we ate at on our Philippines Blog page. |
accomodationThis vastly depends on which island you’re staying on! But regardless of the place – except for Manila - we found ourselves spending about $20 a night and received great value for money rooms that were tidy with friendly staff.
Manila - Wanderers guest house - $20 a night. A small room with a fan and shared bathroom, a cold shower but shared bathroom is always clean. El Nido – Island Front 2 - $20 a night, a really cool room with a good fan, private bathroom, small deck with bench and breakfast. Pureto Princesa –Dallas Inn- $18 a night, awesome back packing vibe, shared bathroom, 2 fans, our room faced the sun so gets a little hot but has a nice vibe to it with hammocks in the main area. |
Cebu – Express Inn - $18 a night, pretty good value considering its close to the airport, extremely clean, comes with a good breakfast, amazing shower with hot water and air conditioning. Siargao – Ocean Pacific Inn – One of our favourites, $17 a night, super clean and a big bed with air conditioning, great restaurant, awesome position to cloud 9. Siquijor – Casa Miranda – Our favourite by far! $10 a night, literally on the beach, amazing restaurant (however it takes your chef, Rex, a long time to prepare your food), great people, great location, spacious room with a really good fan. Bohol – Hope Homes - $18 a night with a bike, a good sized room, bathroom is decent and clean, very thin walls, restaurant is a little expensive. A little bit out of the way, if we stayed in Bohol again we would stay in a different area. You can find more information on Filipino accommodation and on our blog page of The Philippines. |
transport
We can’t give you too much help with this one as we hired a bike at nearly every island we visited. Most islands we hired a bike for $6-$10 a day depending on the area and length of hire (with exceptions to El Nido which was around $13 a day). Riding our own way around the island was by far the cheapest and best experience for us, however there are loads of private vans or bus tours you can jump on.
In Manila and Cebu, we mainly used taxis to get from A to B, taxis are cheap, however we found few drivers wanted to use the meter, meaning you need to have a good understanding of what is a fare price before agreeing to one. |
To figure this out we just offered a few different taxi drivers a super low price, we then got a rough idea of how low they would go to a certain location and agreed on that price with the next driver we flagged down. You’ll find the price goes up if you are going to a location where they are not likely to find customers on the way back.
On the other islands their ‘taxis’ are tricycles, which are really cheap, however as with normal taxis, make sure you decide a price with your driver before you commit yourself by stuffing all your luggage into the trike. |
tippingNot required, however taxi drivers are not likely to give you back small change.
Money denominationsNote denominations: Coin denominations:
1000p 10p 500p 5p 200p 1p 100p 50p 20 p |
moneyWe didn’t use any money changers, just ATMs, however always be careful of money exchanges offering high conversion rates, always check your money at the counter and watch them like a hawk. Just because a sign says 'Authorised Money Changer' does not mean they are safe, or authorised for that matter.
visa & departure taxFor Australian citizens there is no visa fee to enter the Philippines, provided you stay under 30 days and you have proof of departure.
The departure tax was 550p from Cebu. Most airports will also charge you a small departure fee for domestic flights. |