I was in PI this Feb-March for 25 days. Loved it. I was traveling with my GF so it was not a mongering trip at all for me. If I posted it in wrong place, sorry.
We flew NYC through HK to direct to Cebu. Stayed in the Ayala area of Cebu City right by the mall (Marriott). We spent a day laying around the hotel getting our legs back underneath us then two days walking around town site seeing. Then we caught a local bus to Oslob where we snorkeled with the whale sharks and checked out Tumalog Falls. On the way to Oslob we took the Air Con bus which was nice it, had movies and was comphy. On the way back to Cebu City we jumped on the first bus back which was not Air Con. The non AC bus was more fun as vendors were getting on and off selling food; it was crowded with families and locals, it had a frenetic energy. I felt a lot more in the PI mix on the non AC bus but fair warning, the local bus as you get closer to Cebu City slows to a crawl and with out the breeze from the road and with the exhaust fumes from the crazy traffic that is Cebu City, well it may not be for the faint of heart. One night was enough in Oslob to do all that needed to be done there. We spent one more day in Cebu City checking out the main market and filling up on lechon and Red Horse
The following day we took the ferry to Bohol and spent some time on Anda Beach. We stayed five days on Bohol. Stayed at Anda White Beach Resort which had a lovely Euro-PI cottage style. Bohol was very quite which was fine for us. We did 4 excellent dives, checked out The Chocolate Hills, Lobic River cruise, saw some tarsiers and went to some sort of butterfly farm/sanctuary.
Next we bounced to Manila to get to Boracay. We stayed at Nigi Nigi Noos (the original) in station 2. Loved it. Jungle like set up with throw back tunes and a busy bar that started early and stayed open late (Patron Anejo in the fridge need I say more). Even though the bar and restaurant were busy, in the back by the rooms it was quite and private. Really nice scene, really nice set up. Great breakie included at Nigi's; French press coffee, as many eggs as you want and fantastic mango smoothies. I did see some P4P girls trolling the bar late night and there were some LBs on the strip along the beach. I stayed on Boracay for 6 nights. Lots fun. The beach is beautiful, food is cheep and great bars everywhere. We then went back to Manila to fly to El Nido, Palawan.
We took the ITI flight direct which is a little pricy but its direct in to El Nido and worth it if time is a consideration. We spent 7 nights in El Nido at Island Front Cottages. Fantastic. It was Nippa style meets Robinson Crusoe. We were outside of El Nido town in Crong Crong. We did the typical Island hopping that is the thing to do here, We did Tours A and C and then hired a banca boat and crew to take us on our own for a third day of private sailing around the archipelago . El Nido town is a sleepy little town the epicenter of which is the Art Café where you can book all your tours and air arrangements if you like. This place is all about the natural beauty of the area, so not much night life although a lot of the restaurants have live music. We then flew to Manila
I stayed in Manila for three nights at the Peninsula. World class place. It was nice to have hot showers and fine linens after a week in a Nippa hut with mosquito netting. Figured we would clean up before heading home. I didn't really get to experience Manila like I would have liked. We checked out the Mall of Asia, Intramurals, the Green Belt and few other sites but my girl didn't really want to branch out. We had drinks at a few of the roof top bars and went out dancing one night but really we spent a lot of time enjoy the hotel which is pretty posh. I did however notice that the hotel was guest friendly, strange I thought for a place of this caliber.
This was my first trip to PI. I really liked and I am already planning to go back. With 7000 Islands to choose from I have plenty to explore. I thought this was a pretty good itinerary and would recommend it. I am definitely not over Thailand (eleven trips so far) but right now I am branching out. Hope this was helpful
