After spending most of our time in the Philippines by the beach, we were itching to see a bit more of the country. And so we arrived in Bohol, our last stop, with a plan to hire motorbikes and explore the island. We stayed on Panglao Island close to Alona Beach (the main tourist… Read more of "Bohol: chocolate hills, bikes and bug-eyes"

Dumaguete city Dumaguete unexpectedly became my favourite stop in the Philippines. It's a small, colourful city, with a mixture of locals, students and expats. You can easily explore the city centre by foot, there's a promenade along the seafront that gets lively in the evenings… Read more of "Riding jeepneys in Dumaguete"

Palawan is all about beach towns: El Nido, Coron, Port Barton, San Vincente; it can be hard to narrow it down. Put off by an 8-hour bangka ride (what is the toilet situation on those?), we decided on El Nido and Port Barton and then threw in a wildcard desert island option that… Read more of "Palawan: El Nido, Port Barton and a deserted island"

Our first stop in the Philippines was Manila and we stayed in Makati, an upmarket area that feels like a sanitized version of the city. To get a better insight into local life, we explored the Quiapo area with a guide from Smokey Tours. Quiapo isn't an area we would have ventured… Read more of "A Sunday afternoon in Quiapo, Manila"