The Philippines is a boat timetable with a country attached.
Which El Nido tour actually reaches the hidden beach. How early you have to leave Cebu City to see the Oslob whale sharks before the crowd. Whether Bohol fits inside a Cebu week. Reviews of every tour you can book across the islands.
Four boats, one cave river, and the shark that turns up at breakfast.
The bookings a first Philippine itinerary hangs off. What each one costs, and what the travellers who took it say.
01The El Nido dayIsland Hopping Tour A Lagoons and BeachesBig Lagoon, the shrine cave and a beach the larger boats cannot land on. Take Tour A first and argue about the rest afterwards.
02The cave riverUnderground River Full-Day TripA paddled river running under a limestone ridge in Palawan. Daily numbers are capped by permit, so this is the one to lock in early.
03The Cebu doubleWhale Shark Swimming & Kawasan Falls CanyoneeringWhale sharks off Oslob at first light, then the canyon at Kawasan by lunch. One very long day, two headline sights.
04The Bohol loopPremium Chocolate Hills, Tarsiers & River ExperienceChocolate Hills, a tarsier sanctuary and lunch on a raft drifting up the Loboc. The island looks small and still takes a full day.
In the Philippines the good day starts on an outrigger.
Bangkas run the lagoons at El Nido, the reef drop-off at Moalboal and the sandbars in Honda Bay. Three kinds of day afloat, what it costs to board each one, and which island it belongs to.
Pick an island first. The Philippines does not run as one loop.
Manila for the walled city and the street food, Cebu for the water, Bohol for the hills and the river, Boracay for the sand, El Nido and Puerto Princesa for Palawan. Six starting points, and the best day out from each.
Manila is the layover everyone writes off. Give it a day.
A Spanish walled town with the dungeons still under it, the oldest Chinatown anywhere, and a street-food run that finishes on a plastic chair somewhere excellent. The domestic flight south leaves in the morning either way.
Cebu: sharks at sunrise, a canyon by lunch, sardines off the beach.
All of Cebu, day by day →
The island is long and the good days are all south of the city. Oslob for whale sharks before seven, Kawasan for the jump-and-swim descent, Moalboal for a sardine wall you can reach from the shore. These three carry more travellers than anything else on Cebu.
Oslob, and how early is early enough
Feeding starts at first light and the queue thickens after seven. Either take a pickup that leaves Cebu City around two in the morning, or sleep in Oslob the night before and walk down.
Kawasan canyoneering, jump by jump
You scramble, swim and jump down a limestone gorge to the falls, with a walk-around offered at every drop you would rather not take. Bring shoes you do not mind soaking through.
Moalboal, straight off the beach
The sardine wall sits a short swim off Panagsama, which makes it the rare headline sight you reach with a mask and fins alone. Turtles graze the same shallows on the way out.
What Philippine travellers book before anything else.
The full island catalogue →The tours that carry more travellers than anything else between Luzon and Mindanao, and what earns each one its place.
1
Island Hopping Tour A Lagoons and Beaches
Spend eight hours in Bacuit Bay visiting the Secret Lagoon, Big Lagoon, Shimizu Island, Seven Commandos Beach, and a snorkeling site. A guide such as Buddy, Dexter, or John leads the day, with lunch and safety gear included. Kayaks, fins, aqua shoes, and entry fees cost extra.
From · $23
Read our review →
2
Underground River Full-Day Trip
from $48
3
Premium Chocolate Hills, Tarsiers & River Experience
from $43
4
Coron Ultimate Tour: 7 Destinations with Lunch & Transfers
from $46
5
Whale Shark Swimming & Kawasan Falls Canyoneering
from $124
6
Private Boat Hire with Guided Tour and Lunch on Beach
7
Cebu Moalboal: Kawasan Canyoneering Adventure with Lunch
from $47
8
El Nido Island Hopping Tour C: Hidden Beaches & Shrine
from $29
El Nido sells four boat tours and they are not interchangeable.
Tour A takes the Big and Small Lagoons and the shrine cave. C takes the hidden beaches and the better snorkelling. B and D fill in the caves and the quieter coves. The difference is swimming time, crowd size and whether a kayak is included. Work that out before the ferry, not on the beach.
Every El Nido day out →Waterfalls, canyons and caves: the Philippines away from the sand.
Turquoise falls you can jump into, a limestone gorge that needs a helmet, river caves you reach with a paddle. Book the canyon for the morning and put the falls on the way back.
Bohol packs a whole itinerary onto one small island.
Fifteen hundred grass hills that go brown in the dry months, a primate the size of a fist, a mahogany corridor planted by hand, and a lunch raft that drifts up the Loboc and back. Two hours by fast ferry from Cebu City, and almost everyone gives it a single day.
- 1Premium Chocolate Hills, Tarsiers & River Experiencefrom $43
- 2Bohol Countryside Tour with Loboc Cruise Lunchfrom $144
- 3Boat Tour to Sandbar and Snorkeling with Turtlesfrom $51
What a Philippine day out costs, bracket by bracket.
Every tour on the site, grouped by what it costs. A fair share of the best Philippine days come in under the price of a taxi to the airport at home.
Shared bangka island hopping, city walks, the falls runs and most snorkelling mornings.
The full-day standards: the cave river, the Bohol countryside loop, whale sharks with a Cebu City pickup.
Private boats, multi-day expedition sailings and the diving that wants a trip of its own.
Three things that only happen in the Philippines.
Beaches and reefs exist all over the tropics. A shark queue at breakfast, a river that runs through a mountain, and a canyon you descend by jumping do not.
Swimming with Whale Sharks
Fishermen in Oslob began hand-feeding butanding krill in 2011 and a village economy formed around it inside a season. The animals arrive at dawn, the boats go out in strict rotation, and each encounter is timed to thirty minutes. Conservation groups still argue about the feeding. The alternative is Donsol, where the sharks are wild and the sighting is not promised.
- 1Whale Shark Swimming & Kawasan Falls Canyoneering★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 665 reviews
- 2Oslob Whale Sharks, Tumalog Falls & Sardine Snorkeling★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 343 reviews
- 3Whale Shark Swim and Kawasan Canyoneering Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 318 reviews
Kawasan Canyoneering
You enter the Matutinao upstream of the falls and work down it: scrambling ledges, swimming the deep green sections, jumping the drops that have a safe pool underneath. Guides walk anyone who prefers it around every jump. It finishes at the turquoise pool under Kawasan, where the people who simply drove in are already sitting.
- 1Whale Shark Swimming & Kawasan Falls Canyoneering★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 665 reviews
- 2Cebu Moalboal: Kawasan Canyoneering Adventure with Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 630 reviews
- 3Canyoneering Experience in Kawasan Falls with Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 440 reviews
The Puerto Princesa Underground River
Eight kilometres of navigable river run under the St Paul limestone ridge, and paddled boats take visitors into the first stretch by lamplight. Daily numbers are capped by permit and the sea crossing to the cave mouth closes in heavy weather. The swiftlets and bats overhead are loud enough that guides ask the boat to stay quiet.
- 1Underground River Full-Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 1,460 reviews
- 2Underground River Day Trip from Puerto Princesa City★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 261 reviews
- 3Underground River Guided Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 167 reviews
Four Philippine bookings that will not wait.
Most of this country can be arranged the night before over a cold San Miguel. These four run on daily permit quotas, boat rotations and weather windows that take no interest in when your flight lands.
- 01Underground River Full-Day TripEntry runs on a daily permit quota issued in Puerto Princesa. Once the day is allocated, nobody else goes in.
- 02Whale Shark Swimming & Kawasan Falls CanyoneeringFeeding starts at first light and the boats launch in rotation. The later you reach Oslob, the longer you sit on the sand waiting for a slot.
- 03Whale Shark Swimming & Kawasan Falls CanyoneeringThe gorge closes whenever the river runs high, which it does after a night of rain. Operators cancel on the morning, so early-season slots carry the better odds.
- 04Island Hopping Tour A Lagoons and BeachesEl Nido caps how many boats visit each lagoon per day and sells the environmental permit on the spot. In the dry months the popular routes are spoken for well ahead.
From June the bangkas stop leaving the beach some mornings.
The southwest monsoon runs roughly June to November and takes the sea crossings with it, usually decided by the coastguard at dawn. The answer never changes: go inland, or go into town. Walled streets, cave systems, a river raft with lunch on it, and a kitchen with a roof.
Islands, towns and jump-off points
By kind of day: boat, canyon, kitchen or road
Manila, Cebu, Bohol, then Palawan: the run most first trips end up doing.
The most recent additions from around the islands.
Carry on down the new ones →
Tri island tour: Naked Island, Daku Island and Guyman Island
Read our review →
Twin Treasures: Discovering Dumaguete and Valencia
Read our review →
Full-Day Historical Heritage Guided Tour of Tacloban and Palo
Read our review →
Kalanggaman Island Day Tour Package from Cebu City or Mactan
Read our review →
Kawasan Falls and Mantayupan Falls in One Day from Cebu
Read our review →
Kawasan Canyoneering Adventure Package from Cebu
Read our review →
BOHOL Tour 2026 – Chocolate Hills, Tarsier and River Cruise Lunch
Read our review →
Famous Bohol Chocolate Hills Loboc River Cruise Tarsier Tour
Read our review →