Where to go
Seventeen of the destinations we know best, with honest notes on who each one is for and how long to stay.
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A long, thin island of karst lagoons, empty beaches and slow coastal towns, stretching 450 km between the South China Sea and the Sulu Sea.
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The Philippines' best-known lagoons, set in Bacuit Bay's 45-odd limestone islands, with beaches that look unreal and a small town that grew up fast around them.
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Inland lakes inside limestone cliffs, Second World War shipwrecks you can dive or snorkel, and a busy harbour town on Busuanga Island.
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The Chocolate Hills, tiny tarsiers, a slow green river and the beaches of Panglao, all within an easy two hours of each other.
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A small island with an outsized reputation for folk healers, plus turquoise waterfalls, a quiet ring road and sunsets over empty beaches.
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Four kilometres of powder-white sand on a small island built for easy holidays: sunset sails, good food, kitesurfing and very short distances.
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The country's oldest city and the busiest hub in the Visayas, with the best lechon in the Philippines and waterfalls, whale sharks and reefs a few hours south.
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A big island of sugar country, heritage towns and grilled chicken in the north, and quiet beaches, marine reserves and Dumaguete's easy pace in the south.
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A small, car-free island off Cebu's northern tip, known worldwide for early-morning dives with thresher sharks, and for its easy, barefoot pace.
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A small dive town on Cebu's west coast where millions of sardines swirl a few metres from shore and turtles graze on the reef wall.
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A relaxed university town on Negros with a seafront promenade, very good diving at Apo Island and Dauin, and ferries to Siquijor.
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A teardrop-shaped surf island in the Pacific with a famous reef break, island-hopping lagoons, coconut forests and the most relaxed social scene in the country.
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A small, round volcanic island off northern Mindanao with seven volcanoes, hot and cold springs, waterfalls and a white sandbar facing the peaks.
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The Ifugao rice terraces, carved into the Cordillera mountains by hand over many generations and still farmed by the same communities today.
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A cool mountain town of pine forests, limestone caves and hanging coffins in the Cordillera, where mornings start above a sea of clouds.
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A huge, hectic capital with a walled Spanish city at its heart, the world's oldest Chinatown, serious museums and the country's best food scene.
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The country's northernmost islands, closer to Taiwan than to Manila: rolling green hills, stone houses with thick thatched roofs and a culture shaped by wind.
Tell us when you're coming. We'll help design the rest.