Philppines Dec 2011 - Feb 2012

Hello! I am off to the Philippines dec - feb & very excited!!
I'd love recommendations of where to visit/cheapest forms of travel/accomodation. I'll be spending christmas & new years there alone so suggestions of where to spend the holiday season would be great too!!

One last thing - I have been volunteering along the way on my trip so far, and if anyone can recommend organisations in the philippines (which dont require your money as well as your time preferably!) then that would be much appreciated!

Thanks!!

hi skyte! if you want to travel by land and be within the main island of Luzon, you could go to sagada, banaue, bontoc, benguet and baguio, etc. located in the northern part of the country. you could visit the hanging coffins, the rice terraces, and other points of interest in the mountain province. if you are into mountaineering, you could climb mt. pulag, the second highest mountain in the country. there are adventure climbs (read: package tours) available. manila is busy - traffic everywhere - come Christmas season, so you may want to skip it and go south of manila. you could go to batangas where there are beaches and dive sites around. also, it is a jump off point to puerto galera, a beach destination. you could go further south to camarines sur where caramoan (white sand beaches) as well as a wakeboarding complex is located. by plane, which could cost you up to a hundred bucks one way, you could go to cebu (bantayan, malapascua, etc.), bohol, palawan (coron, el nido).

google banaue, boracay, el nido, honda bay, tagaytay... then decide.

while in Manila you can also visit some bars with great music and meet some people who might be interested in traveling with you... People in Manila are friendly and very approachable. If you stay in Makati there are many great restobars in greenbelt and Makati Ave. If you stay in Manila you might wanna try bars in Malate...try a good place i know and visited.. -snip-

Moderator comment: please see Forum Rules

[ Edit: Sorry, no promos please. Link to Forum Rules added. ]

[ Edit: Edited on 11-Nov-2011, at 11:14 by maria938 ]

i suggest you to visit boracay island. also there's the ati-atihan festival in kalibo, aklan on the second weekend of january. kalibo is an hour bus ride away from caticlan (boracay island ferry station) and i highly recommend that you check this out

[ Edit: Edited on 11-Nov-2011, at 20:43 by SambaJane ]

I have had the pleasure of traveling to the Philippines on multiple occasions. It really is a great place. One destination that I would recommend, that is both amazing and affordable, is the island of Busuanga. Located just off the coast of Palawan, Busuanga is most famous for its wreck diving scene which attracts divers from around the world, however it is also becoming increasingly popular amongst backpackers. -snip-

Have a fun trip!

Moderator comment: please see Forum Rules

[ Edit: Edited on 11-Nov-2011, at 22:26 by travelersdigest Sorry, no promos please. Link to Forum Rules added. ]