An island adventure in the Philippines was on the cards for February, escaping from the rain in Bali. The Philippines is a truly amazing place, made up of over 7,000 islands- HUGE! we obviously couldn't make it to many places, actually only four different islands (with boat trips to nearby islands), it is a really big place, and I will definitely be back to see more! Because the Philippines is a large place there is different times of the year that are best for different parts. The islands we visited: Cebu, Palawan and Luzon, are best visited in November to April and Siargao, the other island we visited, is best visited in July to November. Getting around the islands isn't particularly built for tourism so there can be lots of flights or hours driving to airports, so be prepared for some travel. The Filipino culture is a mixture of Spanish, Mexican, and American, and the Roman Catholic religion is so very prominent, particularly on Cebu where there was many small churches. Another dominant cultural tradition we noticed was the gambling over cock fights (a sad reality). There were many cock pits, it was all over the TV, and almost every home/village had cocks with their ankle chained to a pole (often the chicken was trained to stand on top of the pole), I was definitely taken back by this. I felt like each island had a different vibe, so I am going to write about our experiences in each island along with loads of piccies.

Oh, and please drop a like and comment at the end of this post if you liked it! or want to see more.

Cebu- Moalboal 

The first island we visited was Cebu. We planned to visit Cebu so that we could see the magical Kawasan Falls and whale sharks in Moalboal and Oslob. 

Getting around:

To get to Cebu we flew from Manila. The airport terminal that you fly out from in Manila is totally crap by this I mean, there is nothing healthy (or vegan) to eat (be prepared) and only one shop accepted cards... But it is only a short flight. The city of Cebu is pretty large, but we escaped it instantly to head out to the town of Moalboal. We took a van out to Moalboal which took 3 hours. Once in Moalboal we all hired motorbikes to get around. There is also taxis services 'ricks' or 'tricycles' (they look like tuk-tuks) in the towns. 

{Please note, helmets don't seem to be a thing here and some people are pretty crazy on the roads, Lauren & Jack witnessed a horrible accident which freaked us all out, so I'd recommend asking for helmets and driving carefully. }

Stay:

We found our accomodation last minute at a place called Garden Village, and it was nothing fancy but the perks were that it was cheap (around $12 each per night), had a kitchen, washing machine, and our villa slept 4 people. I would recommend finding accomodation in the area of Panagsama Beach (dive area) as there is heaps of restaurants there, or Whites Beach as there are resorts and a really beautiful beach. 

Eat:

So basically if you are vegetarian or vegan then a place with a kitchen is essential, as the food options in Moalboal are fairly limited. Well if you are fussy, vegetarian or want to eat healthy! There is a supermarket in town that has fruit and veggies, you can also get rice, noodles, sauces, tofu, breakfast cereals (oats), and milk (soy). We cooked up stir fries and BBQ'd vegetables, & loads of rice or noodles for dinner and made porridge with local fruits in the mornings. At the supermarket there is also a coconut drink shop where I got a really yummy smoothie made up! Just coconut flesh, coconut juice, and ice (I asked for no evaporated milk in mine). In Panagsama 'The French Coffee Shop' made "shakes" I asked for fruit, coconut milk and ice, plus they serve fairly good coffee (espresso). They also have pastries, baguettes, crepes, eggs/omelettes, and fried rice (limited options for a vegan). Next door we also visited a cafe called 'The Pleasure Principle' where they were happy to make me a veggie pizza without cheese and a dish called 'Hippy Trippy Mango Bowl' which was like a dahl made with mung beans, which they assured me was vegan. Food wise, probably the best thing here is the fruits! specifically the mangoes. Stop in at the road side fruit stalls and stock up on the mangoes, they are really sweet and delicious, probably the best mangoes in the world... 

See:

Kawasan Falls is definitely the best part about this place! The colour of the water isn't edited, its real, and it is insanely beautiful. It is a 25 minute drive from town and then about a 10 minute walk from parking. There is a small fee of about 40 peso each ($1) to get in, and the men in the parking area will try scam some peso from you too. We visited early in the morning to beat the crowds. I think we got there at about 6:30-7:00am. You can jump off, Alex managed to jump off once before being asked to pay to do it again. Swimming under the waterfall is amazing, it is so powerful and beautiful. Make sure you venture up past the first waterfall, there is more waterfalls and beautiful swimming spots. 

Whites Beach is beautiful, and not overcrowded. It is near town. The water is clear and aqua blue. We sat here and drank coconuts, soaked up some sun, and were harassed to buy turtle necklaces we didn't want. 

Lambug Beach is also beautiful and really quiet. It is on the way to Kawasan Falls. This is also a great place to chill out and watch the sunset.    

Cebu- Oslob

Oslob is most famous for its whale sharks. The main part of town has been developed for the tourists that visit to see the whale sharks, otherwise the town has a very local feel. One thing I did notice during my time on the island of Cebu was the vast amount of Coca-Cola branding (signage and cartons of glass bottles), fried food, and bakeries. I couldn't help but feel like the effects of globalisation from transnational brands were hitting this country hard and it made (the dietitian inside) me wonder about the state of obesity or diabetes here. Aside from this, the area of Oslob was very beautiful. Many more palm covered fields, little rocky beaches and hilly areas harbouring mystical waterfalls. 

Getting around: 

Oslob was the next town we visited on Cebu, which was a 2.5 hour drive from Moalboal (scenic too!). We found a driver in the diving hub of Moalboal as we needed a van with enough space for many bags and 7 people. The drive was very scenic along the coastline. Once in Oslob we hired motorbikes in town through our airBnB hosts for about 400-500 peso per day. To get back to Cebu airport we took another van, which was a bit of a nightmare to try organise the night prior to our flight!! Luckily through some helpful instagram followers we were able to get a lift organised. This was another 3.5 hour drive. 

See:

All year round whale sharks visit Oslob due to feeding from local fishermen. This caught the attention of tourists around the world and now many people visit Oslob to see them and swim with them. There is a lot of debate about the consequences of this as the whale sharks become dependant on human feeding and can be injured or stressed by boats moving in and out of the shore lines.

Okay, so I am going to talk honestly about my experience with it and what I think about it all... The whole scene was completely different to what I imagined. Arriving onto the dock I was imagining small boats taking us out to sea searching for whale sharks to see. This was a bucket list experience that I was so thrilled to be able to do! But when we arrived at the tourist hub I was actually pretty shocked. There were hundreds of people and loads of tiny boats going in and out of shore. Not only this, the boats only went out about 100m. It cost about 1000 peso each. I was very hesitant to actually do it but I wanted to see if it was perhaps not so bad once I had done it. Now let me tell you, swimming with the whale sharks was by far one of the most incredible experiences of my life, I was in absolute awe of these gentle giants. At first it is actually pretty scary, they are huge! But once I settled into it is was really something special. On the positive side, the whale sharks appeared totally calm, cruising around chasing the fish from the fishermen and the locals all watched over and made sure that no-one touched them and were stern about keeping out of their way, everyone attends an education session first making all these things clear (although I don't even want to imagine how many people try and succeed at touching them :( ). There is apparently fines or jail for touching them. however I am not sure whether this is carried out. You are only allowed 30 minutes with them and they stop the boats at midday. Now, I am no expert on this area but I do think that they are being overfed purely for tourism and it is destroying their natural migration patterns, and it is absolutely crazy how many people and boats they have coming in and out. To be fair to the locals, I think that this tourism would be doing a lot for the economy of the town and local people of Oslob. But, there are other parts of the Philippines where you can swim with them while they naturally pass through, and although I have done it, I actually highly recommend stearing clear of Oslob for whale shark watching and instead visit in the season where you can take a boat out to sea and see them much more naturally (I believe in Donsol you can see them). It may be more expensive or effort but it really is worth it! 

Don't get me wrong, passing through Oslob would still be amazing as there is also a beautiful waterfall here called Tumalog waterfalls, which reminds me of something from a mystical fairy land. We took the bikes for a cruise up the coast, I think this is a great way to see some of the smaller villages and beaches. 

Eat:

As far as vegan or vegetarian options go, it is very limited. We hired accommodation with a kitchen for this reason. The other thing is there isn't a supermarket. But! we found an awesome local market in town. Don't be deterred by the fishy smells, you can find cheap veggies, fruit, noodles, sauce, and nuts. We cooked up more stir-fries and ate lots of fruit for breakfast.

Near the town of Oslob where the whale shark tours are there is a few restaurants. We went to La Terrace for lunch one day. They happily did a pizza without cheese and stir fry vegetables.  

Stay: 

Our accommodation we found last minute on airbnb. Would I recommend it? umm nope! We picked it because it could fit all 7 of us and had a kitchen. But we actually had a pretty bad experience with this place and it definitely wasn't value for money. The beds were uncomfortable, we felt like the hosts were in our space (no privacy), actually it kind of felt like we were living in their home, everything was very old (kitchen almost unusable) + there was a cockroach infestation. BUT there was cute puppies!! which we played with all afternoon, and it was on the beach. I may sound like a bit of a princess here but seriously it wasn't very ideal. So I suggest booking in advance (preferably somewhere which has reviews!) so you have more options.

Siargao Island 

The next beautiful island that we visited was Siargao. This island is most famous for its Cloud 9 surf break, and during peak season I imagine it gets full of international surfers. We visited in February which apparently is the low season, or wet season- and yes that is what it was- wet.. We didn't realise the Philippines had different seasons in different parts. We had about 1 day of sunshine during the 5 days, lots of wind and experienced 2 earthquakes, which was such as pity because in the sunshine the beach was amazing and neighbouring white sandy islands were a dream! Would have been amazing to spend a whole day at each! Instead we ventured around the little villages and played with puppies, ate some amazing food, and checked out all the palmy landscape. The whole island has a really laid-back happy vibe, which is to be expected for a surfing hub! 

Getting around:

To get to Siargao you have to fly from Cebu city via a 45 min flight followed by a 30 min drive to the resort area. You can also fly to a nearby island called Surigao and get the ferry over. Once in the area the best and easiest way to get around is by hiring a motorbike from your accomodation. There is also more of those 'Tuk-tuks' if you don't like driving motorbikes.  

See:

Best time to visit Siargao is actually March to November. Venturing around the island is a must! There is beautiful beaches, covered in palms, small villages filled with smiling children playing in the streets with only a ball and a basketball hoop. Something that really resonated with me was how friendly the children here were, considering we were complete strangers passing through their neighbourhoods. In the western world children often are told not to say hello to strangers and are most likely inside playing video games, so for us, this was so humbling to see. We found a litter of REALLY cute puppies on the streets and the local family invited us in to play with them. They were soo adorbs! unfortunately like most of South East Asia, a lot of the dogs and puppies have diseases, so we are always weary about holding or touching them and its really sad. Each village or home also has tended to have a pig or goats tied to a tree. Follow the coast road around the island and you will find loads of beautiful beaches to spend your days soaking up sunshine and paradise, oh and pack some juicy filipino mangoes! 

A boat trip island hopping around Siargao is also a must. On our one day of sunshine we hired a boat from the wharf area for 1000 peso (for 4 of us). We had just enough sunshine to visit Naked Island, a beautiful white sand cay, and Guyam Island (which you have to pay a small fee to enter), a small tropical palm covered island. If you have better weather you could definitely spend all day island hopping and swimming. At Yoga Doju you can do yoga classes, there is also a vegan restaurant here which I talk about shortly. In the surfing season I'm sure there are also lots of spots to learn to surf. 

Eat:

Out of all the islands, I would say Siargao had the best food! We were able to find smoothie bowls, vegetarian filipino food and even a 100% vegan restaurant.

I mention Harana Surf later, where you can stay, but they also have a great menu! I tried the banana heart kare kare, crispy green veg (water spinach and okra), and sweet potato wedges. Note: we tried some other sautéed veggie dish and it had dried fish in it- we didn't recognise the word so didn't realise and the waitress had trouble understanding vegan/vegetarian- often when you say you are vegan or vegetarian or say no meat they don't think of fish in this group haha!).

The smoothie bowls at Arka Hayahay Resort are a must! you'll be missing smoothie bowls after some time in the Philippines! The dragonfruit one was the best by far! We also had yummy vegan pancakes here.

There is also another smoothie place called Shaka Bowls, turns out it's actually owned by a local from Lennox (my hometown in Australia) small world! Their bowls are topped with fruits and homemade granola. They also do juices, coffee, and vegan treats such as bliss balls and banana bread.

Okay now, I've saved the best for last! There was one 100% vegan restaurant on Siargao called Lotus Shores at Yoga Doju. They generously invited us for a tasting of their best dishes, and the lovely girl Lili who owns it gave us so much useful info about the island and being vegan in the Philippines! Our favourite dish was the Kofta Plate! It was soo delicious! We also had a dip platter, with hummus, chutney and crunchy raw veg and crackers, banana heart kinilaw (a traditional filipino dish which is a ceviche of fish usually), banana heart kare kare (Filipino peanut stew), a zucchini and eggplant lasagne with TVP mince, a vegan burger and finally a pancake stack with chia pudding. So yum! Lili also mentioned around 3pm in the nearby town you can find stalls of smoking coconut husks on the side of the streets. It is called Pan de Coco, a bread filled with sweet coconut filling. And they bake the coconut bread in the coconut husks. We didn't get a chance to try it as it was our last night when we found out about it- next time hey!

Stay:

The main area of hotels/resorts is in General Luna. We stayed at Siargao Bleu for our 4 nights on Siargao. It has nice rooms, wifi (which is a bit sketchy), ocean front, pool area, and a tiny gym. The breakfast here was also pretty good. I had mangoes, rice and coconut milk most days. They also arranged our transfers from and to the airport. There wasn't a lot of availability by the time we booked. Next door was a place called Harana Surf, which we originally booked however they overbooked. They have private huts as well as dorm style rooms. We still visited this spot for some cool photos and great food. If you are looking for something a bit more upmarket then there is Dedon Island which is about a 15 min drive from the main area.

Manila

We stopped into Manila for one night during our time in the Philippines, purely because getting from island to island can mean long days in Airports and cars. This also happened to be Valentines Day, so we treated ourselves to a nice hotel in the city purely just to robe up and relax. 

Getting around: 

We used taxis and ubers to get around the city. Be sure to barter with the taxi drivers at the airport as they will sting you for pretty high fees. 

See:

We literally didn't leave the hotel! next time hey ;) 

Eat:

I was surprised to find there is a few vegan/vegetarian places to eat in Manila. We planned to head into the city for a nice dinner but once we got cozy in our hotel room, room service, a bath, movie and robes seemed much more enticing. I was recommended to try 'Corner Tree Cafe' in Makati and later in the trip my partner, Alex visited this cafe and said it was 'pretttttty gooooood'. 

Stay:

We stayed at the in the Discovery Primea in the Makati area. I just found this place on booking.com If you are after somewhere nice to stay in the city I highly recommend this place! It had a kitchen (not that we got to use it), the comfiest bed ever! Literally like a cloud (I think after a few weeks in crummy beds across the Phillipines we were pretty excited and found ourselves in robes doing bombs and belly flops on the bed), a bath with TV over it, a really nice, new and well equipped gym (a feature I rate really highly when looking for a hotel!) a nice pool area, friendly staff, great location and a good room service menu.   

Palawan- El Nido 

The last island we visited was Palawan. We totally could have spent a couple of weeks exploring this area! But as we only had four nights we decided to only explore the area of El Nido. El Nido is a pretty popular spot for tourists to visit, and I can see why! The town itself is set-up for tourism, loads of places to stay, eat, drink and lots of tour companies. The main street runs along the bay of the main beach and it is filled with beachside restaurants and bars. The beach itself isn't the seller. Through the morning and afternoon the bay is filled with hundreds of tour boats which take all the tourists island hopping during the day. It is the adventures beyond the bay that will leave your eyes feeling full of beauty and your heart totally in love with this tropical paradise. 

Getting there:

We flew into Puerto princesa from Manila. This was a short 45-1 hr flight. From there we had to hire a driver to drive us 4 hours to El Nido. There is an airport in El Nido however flights don't go out every day so you need to book in advance to get a seat. Once in El Nido we hired bikes from our resort for around 700 peso per day. We also hired a driver to take us to some of the beaches nearby. To get around to all the islands you need to take a boat (der). 

See: 

The beach along the bay of El Nido town is really beautiful. Of a morning it's filled with all the boats waiting to take everyone out to the islands. But during the day both the town and the beach is quite empty as everyone is out. Along the town of El Nido there is plenty of great restaurants and bars, especially for a beach view at sunset. The sun actually sets behind one of the hills so to actually get the sunset you will need to find a place up higher.

We took a private boat out for two of the days we were there. We found the tour company just by passing through the town, I think it was called "Hannah Travel" or tours. It costs a bit more to get a private boat, however if you have a group I think it is a great idea, that way you have space and the flexibility to choose how long you want to spend at each location. We went on two different tours that took us to lots of beautiful little beaches, lagoons and islands. Some of the places we visited were: Secret Lagoon, Big Lagoon, Snake Island, Shimizu Island, 7 Commando Beach, Pinagbuyutan Island, and Entalula Beach. There is also lots of caves to kayak through and many more islands to visit. This place was truely magic! 

There is also a couple of waterfalls in the area and a flying fox across the water. We also visited Nacpan Beach which is on the mainland of El Nido. 

Stay: 

We stayed at Bayview Resort El Nido. This resort is pretty new and still being developed but it was really nice. Located up the hill from town so it has a beautiful view, there is lots of stairs up to the breakfast restaurant and rooms so we were able to workout each morning by running up and down the stairs which is a bonus because gyms in the Philippines were not really a thing. The breakfast buffet was also great and they were happy to cater for my dietary requirements. They arranged for a driver to take us to one of the beaches on El Nido and lent us our bikes. 

Eat: 

El Nido was really quite surprising with how good the food was! The first night we ate dinner at a Greek restaurant on the beach, where we could sit on cushions on the sand, watching the sunset light up the sky with a margarita in hand! A dreamy way to end a day of island exploring. I had the Greek salad without feta and some extra pita. 

Our boat tour company was also super accomodating! They fed us a huge spread of freshly cut fruits, plain rice, a veggie stir fry, cucumber and tomato salad and a zucchini and eggplant salad. It was a feast, which after a morning filled with snorkelling and swimming through lagoons, we sure had the appetite for it. 

In town there is this Italian restaurant called Trattoria altrove, people line up waiting for a table, and I always think when I see a line that it must be good! And boy was it good! While waiting in line you watch them flipping dough, topping pizzas and cooking them to perfection in the woodfire oven, I think they purposely set it up that way because walking past you cannot help but be lured in from the smells and views. They also served pastas and mains but after waiting in line salivating over all the pizzas passing by you simply couldn't turn a pizza down. Lauren and I shared the mediterranean pizza and as we always do- we complicated things ('Um can I please get that pizza, half without cheese, add olives, fresh tomato, mushrooms and pineapple. Oh and some chill oil plz!'). They also have a second restaurant around the corner which serves only pizzas (mainly takeaway). There was no line for this one and the pizzas were exactly the same. 

In town there is a little stall I think its called Falafel which as you can guess sells falafel pita wraps, where you an choose your fillings and sauces. It was totally delicious! I had mine with tahini and loads of chilli sauce! It may look a little dodgy on the outside but taste gets 10/10! and it was cheap. We took ours down to the beach to eat them. 

For breakfast each day we ate at our resort. The buffet breakfast was pretty good. Lots of fresh fruits, salad, breads and hot meal options. I had my good old favourite mango and boiled rice and made a salad from the salad bar. I also got some strange looks when I would order a veggie omelette with no egg! But it made sense to the chef because I would get a little plate of sautéed veg. 

In town there is plenty more places to eat, basically something from every cuisine around the world. 

Thank you beauties for taking the time to read and view my Philippines blog post! Across the 3 weeks spent here I just had soo much information and imagery I wanted to share with you all so that I could inspire your next adventures to this paradise, or at least provide you with some dreamy inspiration. 

And as they say, 'It's more fun in the Philippines'.  

Stay tuned for some more travel photo diaries and world inspired healthy recipes...

Ps. leave me a like and comment below if you liked this post! 

Lots of LOVE,

Elsa xx