Philippines 2009

The Philippines are worth not one, but several trips. Normally you travel with a country guidebook; in this case I didn't like the Rough Guides at all and the Lonely Planet seems a bit thin on information. I recommend this site: (or You can also find the printed guidebook; in the end Jens Peters' website was more useful to us than the guide.

Some travel notes.

AIRPORTS

You'll have to pay airport taxes every time you take a plane; the prices vary according to the importance of the same. For example, for the return you'll have to pay 750 pesos each to leave the country; at other smaller airports you'll pay 50 or 20 pesos each. As soon as you arrive in Manila, to get to the airport you'll have 3 choices: White limousine-type taxis, more expensive. Yellow metered taxis, average price. Basic metered taxis, low price; the problem is that fewer of them pass. The price-service ratio is better with the yellow ones, which are the special airport taxis; they switch on the meter and don't try to be clever.

HOTELS: By "resorts" they mean any house equipped with rooms for tourists, so the best thing is to see the rooms before settling in. The photos on the internet pages are not very reliable. As regards accommodation I can recommend: Manila: if possible stay in the Makati area; we stayed at the Bianca's in Malate, the only problem being the rather unsavoury area. Cebu: The best area is that of the Ayala Center; we stayed at the Pensionne La Fiorentina, it's cheap and well located. Coron: normally foreigners stay at the Sea Divers, but there's the problem of the compressor for filling the tanks; I advise you to take a tricycle (don't pay more than 50 pesos) and have yourself taken to various hotels before deciding. Malapascua: there are various resorts; we stayed at the Dano, nice bungalows on the beach at a low price, breakfast included.

Bohol: The best area to stay is Panglao Island; we stayed at Alona Beach, I recommend the Alona Tropical. El Nido: There are several resorts, all near the beach. I advise visiting various resorts and then deciding. Puerto Princesa: We stayed at the Paradise Hotel, it's fine. Anyway there are several; I advise taking a tricycle to see various places, then decide.

MOBILE PHONE

I strongly advise getting a local SIM card. The cost is 50 pesos + 300 pesos of calls; the best-known company is Smart. They'll ask you for a contact number when you buy plane tickets, at agencies, and you can use it to call hotels or to call Italy; it costs less than an Italian mobile.

GETTING AROUND

They are the problem of the Philippines. You'll certainly have to take domestic flights; the companies with the best prices are Cebu Pacific and Zest Air. Be careful to book tickets well in advance, because if you have to change something on the flights it will cost you less to buy new tickets. As regards luggage, in case of breakage or loss they'll pay you at most 1000 pesos per suitcase. To buy tickets on the spot, the best thing is to buy them at resellers; they're usually found in the Malls (shopping centres) of the big cities or in authorised agencies (for example in El Nido at the Art Cafe). As regards travelling by sea, you'll have to take anything from the banka (typical Filipino boat) to catamarans (Seacat from Cebu to Bohol).

In the case of Malapascua, you have to take a bus from Cebu to Amaya (normally the Ceres Line); when you arrive in Amaya they'll try to convince you to take a private banka paying 1500 pesos, when the price of public transport is 50 pesos each. You say you'll wait patiently and you'll see that within a few minutes the price will drop to 200 pesos. Normally the public banka leaves only with a minimum of 15 people on board; the last one leaves at about 16.00 (if it leaves); if you arrive late, right beside the little house selling the tickets there's the advertisement of a resort that will come and pick you up if you spend the night with them.

EXCHANGE

On average I exchanged 1 euro = 67 pesos; at the airport it's slightly unfavourable, but you'll need to arrive with some money; it's better to change the rest outside.

SCOOTER

It's worth renting a scooter to be able to visit the surroundings in complete freedom. Normally they rent for between 500 and 700 pesos for 8 hours (they don't trust leaving the scooter overnight); if you negotiate for several days you can get a better price and keep it overnight too.

DIVING

I recommend these three dive centres: Coron Divers (in Coron), Dan's Divers (in Malapascua; Dan is an American with a peculiar look, but he'll give you a thousand bits of information, he has the best prices on the island and the equipment he rents is practically new) and Scuba World (at Alona Beach, it's near the Kew Hotel with "Acquatica" written outside; the manager is called Tim and he'll give you a thousand bits of information).

MALLS

They're the shopping centres; sometimes it's worth going for: buying things, buying tickets, and....why not, going to the cinema, which costs about 1 and a half or 2 euros. The best is the Mall of Asia in Manila; I saw a 3D film (under the sea) spectacular in the IMAX screen for 3 and a half euros. In another mall we saw District 9 which hadn't come out in Italy yet. It can happen that you have to spend the night in Cebu or Manila, where there really isn't much to see; to distract yourself they're an excellent option.

BEER

San Miguel Pilsen costs very little; in restaurants it often costs less than water, less than a euro for 33 cl.

TARSIER

They're not monkeys, even if they look like them. They're found in Bohol; if you take a package to visit the chocolate hills and other places inland, they'll certainly stop at little places where there are 2 or 3 small trees with some tarsier clinging there. They're nocturnal little animals; the locals have smelled the business and capture them to attract tourists and sell them all kinds of gadgets, not to mention the boxes with offers for "the protection of the Tarsiers". All the little animals you see in these little places die within a few weeks from stress or disease, so if you can refuse to go. The only place that really protects them is near CORELLA, a few kilometres from TAGBILARAN CITY. Ask locally and they'll explain how to get there; the easiest way is by renting a scooter.

In the coming days I'll post the travel diary.