You’re starting to dream about a trip to the Philippines. You picture yourself on its paradise beaches, you’ve seen photos of the Chocolate Hills or, perhaps, you’re more drawn to waterfalls and want to check whether the Gatorade color of Kawasan Falls is real. Maybe you’re a scuba lover like us and you’re thinking about doing a few dives to see the thresher shark or swim with whale sharks in the wild. However, getting to the archipelago takes time and money, so it’s normal to wonder how many days to travel to the Philippines or, better yet, how many days you need to get to know the country without feeling rushed.
To answer all your questions and shed a little light on things, we’ve created this article to guide you based on our multiple trips to the Philippines since 2010.
How many days to go to the Philippines? Is one week enough?
Considering that coming from Europe or the Americas, you’ll need to invest at least around 18 hours of travel and about $800–$900, which is what a flight to the Philippines usually costs, it’s common to ask how many days you need to travel to the Philippines.
On top of that, the Philippines is an island country and a developing nation, which means you’ll need to take several modes of transport to move between islands and, many times, they aren’t the fastest or most comfortable. In our opinion—and luckily—the Philippines isn’t as touristy a destination as Thailand, which means you should factor in more time (or days) for getting around.
Many travelers ask us if one week is enough to visit the Philippines and, although we don’t like to state absolutes, in our view, 7 days only lets you see very little. We’d only recommend this time frame if you’re thinking of combining the Philippines with another country in the area, needing just 2 or 3 hours to land in Manila or Cebu.
Even so, you need to consider that if you’re only coming for a week, you’ll have to stick to a single area of the country or pick nearby islands. This is because, in most cases, you’ll need almost 1 full day of your trip to change destinations or islands. Along with slow transport and the near absence of night buses or ferries (except on long routes), there’s also the fact that it gets dark in the Philippines at 6:00 pm, so even if you leave at 6:00 am, you’ll have spent a large portion of the daylight hours on the move. For example, going from Bohol to Siargao or from Moalboal to Malapascua will likely have you spending almost an entire day in transit.
On the other hand, the Philippines has a tropical climate, meaning it’s unpredictable. Traveling in Southeast Asia isn’t the same as doing a road trip through Almería in the middle of July. There’s always a chance you’ll get a rainy day or that a tropical depression or typhoon could delay or cancel flights or ferries. For this reason, it’s also important to keep possible setbacks in mind, avoid planning too tight an itinerary, and leave a little room for them.
In general, we recommend thinking in terms of about 20 days when you calculate how long to travel to the Philippines. Considering you’ll need to spend 1 day to arrive and another to return, that leaves you with a nice 18 days to discover a couple of areas of the country.
Even so, it’s also possible to do a 10- or 15-day trip around the Philippines and enjoy it immensely, as long as you’re aware that you’ll only be able to cover a small part of a country with almost 8,000 islands and that “less is more.” Truly, our golden rule when planning travel itineraries is to help you see that you don’t need to set foot on a ton of islands to have an amazing time. We’ve lived there and, even after spending many months exploring, we admit we’d need more than a lifetime to know the Philippines in its entirety.
Of course, if you have much more time, don’t hesitate to spend it here. A great number to fully enjoy the Philippines is 30 days, which is the period of visa-free stay we have. In that case, you could do an excellent route covering a bit of Luzon, the Visayas, Palawan, and Mindanao. One example is this 1-month Philippines itinerary. If that’s not enough, did you know you can stay up to 3 years without leaving the country? You just have to keep doing the relevant visa extensions. You wouldn’t be the first or the last to fall in love and stay.
What to do in 15 days in the Philippines? And 10? A possible route
When many travelers ask us how many days they need to travel to the Philippines and we tell them that 20 days is an ideal number, they reply that it might be too long, considering they’re not that into beaches. However, even though it’s a country with jaw-dropping nature—where beaches certainly stand out—the Philippines has so much more.
Maybe churches don’t feel as exotic to you as the temples of Indonesia or Thailand, but the Philippines has an interesting cultural legacy that can still be seen in places like Manila, Cebu, or Vigan. Plus, there are activities that are almost unique in the world such as swimming with whale sharks, river canyoneering, and climbing volcanoes like Hibok-Hibok, among many others. And that’s not to mention the huge number of uninhabited islands to discover, like our beloved Cresta de Gallo. For much more travel inspiration, you can read our article Things to do in the Philippines and start crunching the numbers.
Either way, if you have less time and don’t know what to do with 15 days in the Philippines, a good idea is to open the map and start reading like crazy on our website, looking for what makes each island special and whether it fits you. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all trip; there’s a Philippines for every type of traveler, so we encourage you to read a lot. However, since we know it can be a bit overwhelming, we suggest starting with the Philippines trip planning and then with this 15-day Philippines route. This is a good itinerary to get a sense of what the country can offer you without overloading yourself with transfers and, as you’ll see, it combines 2 areas: the Visayas and Palawan.
what we recommend is that with 15 days you stick to 1 or 2 areas of the Philippines. That is, perhaps discover Palawan (Port Barton, El Nido, Sabang, and Puerto Princesa) + Coron, or several islands in the Visayas region such as Bohol, Siquijor, Malapascua, Bantayan… Even so, what really matters is that, regardless of the region they belong to, you can reach them easily. For example, it’s faster to get to Siargao from Cebu than to Malapascua, since there’s a plane that connects the first two in an hour.
The key is to read a lot, juggle your calendar, and avoid trying to cover too much.
And if you have even less time? In that case, we recommend choosing one area or, at most, 2 islands. That’s the idea behind this 10-day Philippines itinerary we propose. It’s very similar to this 13-day one, which is simply a little more relaxed. If you choose the Visayas or Mindanao, we recommend trying not to fit in more than 2 islands or 3 destinations.
Don’t forget to check out our page of Philippines travel itineraries, where we bring them all together and keep them updated.
And when is the best time to do it?
As we mentioned above, weather is a key factor when figuring out how much time you need for a trip to the Philippines. However, there’s no need to lose your mind over it.
Really, the fact that the Philippines has a tropical climate doesn’t mean it’s going to rain all day in the rainy season or that it won’t rain in the dry season. Just leave a little wiggle room for the chance of a downpour or an unexpected hiccup.
If you want to improve your odds with the weather, as we explain in When to travel to the Philippines and Best time to visit the Philippines, we recommend going between February and May, which is the dry season in much of the country. That said, there are exceptions, which we detail in Traveling to the Philippines in July and Traveling to the Philippines in August.
How much money do I need to travel to the Philippines?
Finally, there’s the money question, which in many cases also limits how many days you can—or want to—travel to a country.
As a rule of thumb, the Philippines is a budget-friendly country. Like the rest of Southeast Asia, it’s possible to travel on less than $25 per person per day, although we also have to admit that the quality–price ratio for food and accommodation is a little lower.
For someone seeking a mid-range level of comfort, a good figure would be $46 a day, which includes some excursions like island hopping and meals at moderately priced spots. To that you should add other expenses like your flight or the essential travel insurance for the Philippines.
If you want to estimate how much you might spend on a trip like this depending on how many days you plan to go, take a look at How much is to travel to the Philippines?.
We hope this article has helped you see how many days you need to travel to the Philippines and that you’re itching to plan your next adventure. If you have any questions, tell us in the comments and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
