Diving, drinking and dining (in that order) top the list of activities in the dive colony of Moalboal (hard to pronounce - try mo-all-bo-all). About 90km from Cebu City, Moalboal proper is on the main road - the part that tourists mean when they say ‘Moalboal’ is actually Panagsama Beach, a resort village a short, [...]
A rugged island cut in two by an almost impassable mountain range, Mindoro is part tropical paradise, part provincial backwater. The physical barrier of the High Rolling Mountains has led to the formation of two provinces on the island: Mindoro Oriental (east), and Mindoro Occidental (west).
Sprawling Mindanao, the world’s 19th-largest island, is known for dazzling scenery, primitive hill tribes and an almost complete lack of tourists because of political unrest and occasional fighting between the government and Muslim separatists. What most tourists don’t realise is that the lovely coastal stretch of northern Mindanao between Cagayan de Oro and Siargao Island [...]
It’s a pity that Manila is often disparaged, as there’s much here to like. For one, all the adjectives often used to describe the Philippines - jovial, laid back, casual, corrupt, shambolic, earnest and more are on display here more than anywhere else in the country. It’s a truly teeming metropolis that gets bigger each [...]
This little island off Cebu’s northern tip has been growing steadily more famous over the years for its long, white beaches, great food and low-key approach to tourism. There are, or were at the time of writing, no cars or paved roads on the island, only a network of walking tracks. These tracks wind past [...]
This gritty provincial capital sits right at the foot of Mt Mayon (2462m), justifiably dubbed the world’s most perfect volcano.
Iloilo (ee-lo-ee-lo) City, the hub of Panay once known as the Queen City of the South, is the most cosmopolitan city in the Visayas after Cebu. It has a compact, walkable downtown, a relatively vibrant nightlife and music scene fuelled by the student population, and an excellent choice of accommodation and restaurants. It’s a logical [...]
El Nido is the gateway to Palawan’s greatest natural treasure: the Bacuit Archipelago. El Nido itself commands a stunning location, sandwiched between towering limestone karst cliffs and Bacuit Bay, with the fantastic contours of Cadlao Island looming right offshore.
If you were beginning to develop an aversion to regional centres, you’re in for a pleasant surprise with Dumaguete. It’s a nice place. Seriously. Everyone raves about the Rizal Blvd promenade, and it’s true there’s something genuinely charming about this harbourfront ‘quarter mile’: the faux-antique gas lamps; the grassy median strip. But there are other [...]
Until the ‘discovery’ of whale sharks off the coast here in 1998, Donsol, about 45km southwest of Legaspi, was an obscure, sleepy fishing village in one of Sorsogon’s more remote areas. In 1998 a local diver shot a video of the whale sharks and a newspaper carried a story about Donsol’s gentle butanding. Since then [...]