Itinerary for Philippines – 3 weeks

Author: Debz Become a contributor

Before we even left for Asia on our location independent adventure I knew I wanted to spend my birthday (40 but who’s counting!) snorkelling with Whale Sharks in the Philippines.  While you can get a visa for 2 months we decided that the standard 3 week visa on arrival will have to be enough this time. Creating an Itinerary for Philippines travel in just 3 weeks wasn’t going to be easy!

Researching an itinerary for 3 weeks

On researching our itinerary I quickly realised we would have to make some internal flights, we will do as much as we can over land and sea but with over 7,000 islands some of the distances I wanted to cover were only possible by air, in our short time in the Philippines.

We’ve kept our accommodation bookings to a minimum at present, just the first night in Manilla and  review of a wonderful homestay on Bohol.  This gives us some flexibility in the time it takes us to get from Bohol to Boracay as we do this over sea and are just going to see what locals recommend when we are there.

How to see the Philippines in 3 weeks

While we’re lucky to have 3 weeks no doubt some people are looking for a 2 week itinerary in the Philippines. You can easily fly some of the routes we’re doing by boat and spend less time around Bohol and Boracay too. Here’s our itinerary for 3 weeks in the Philippines. Some of this is flexible and likely to change as we travel, especially the last week.

Our Philippines Itinerary

• Day 1 Fly Kuala Lumpur to Manilla night in Manilla
• Day 2 Bus from Manila Legazpi
• Day 3 Legazpi - Visit Mayon Volcano and hot spings
• Day 4 Legazpi - Cagsawa Ruins and bus or taxi to Donsol
• Day 5 Donsol – See fire flies
• Day 6 Donsol - Snorkeling with Whale sharks in Donsol
• Day 7 Fly to Tagbilaran on Bohol Island
• Day 8 Bohol Island – 2 hour bus to Homestay in Anda
• Day 9  Bohol Island – Homestay in Anda, visit waterfall
• Day 10 Bohol Island - Visit Chocolate hills
• Day 11 Bohol Island – Trek to see Tarsier (smallest monkey in the world)
• Day 12 Visit Panglao island (off the coast of Bohol). Go diving.
• Day 13 Boat to Cebu – stay overnight.
• Day 14 Travelling overland through Cebu to Panai Island.
• Day 15 Visit city of Iloilo on Panai Island – May stay overnight
• Days 16-19 Boracay – 4 days relaxing and diving
• Day 20 Bus from Boracay to Kalibo. Fly back to Manila
• Day 21 Fly Manilla back to Kuala Lumpur

We’re trying to cover a great range of things to do in the Philippines, naturally we’re very excited, and hope you find this itinerary useful. If you have any suggestions or advice for us please do post a comment. We will keep track of our actual spend in the Philippines and update costs of accommodation, food, transport and activities to let you know exactly how much 3 weeks in the Philippines might cost you.