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I was spending 3 weeks travelling around the Philippines and ended up visiting and exploring four Islands: Coron, El Nido, Cebu and Siargao. I have written itineraries for each location. In these Itineraries, you can find must-see places to visit, activities to do and places to shoot.

DAY ONE: Arriving and exploring the town

We decided to catch an early flight from Coron to Moalboal at 6 am (1.5hours). Once arriving at Cebu Airport it’s around a 3-hour drive south to Moalboal. We took a Grab cab (grab cabs are equivalent to Uber and are pretty cheap – they are available in most big cities in the Philippines). It cost around 2500 Peso (£35).

For the first 3 nights of our stay, our accommodation was at Herbs Guesthouse and I have to say it was my favourite stay of the trip so far (I have been in the Philippines for the past 10 days) The staff are super friendly, they have amazing breakfast which is included in the price. The Guesthouse is well known for making all their own food using homegrown herbs and food they have in their gardens. The Coconut Jam and homemade Herb Butter is the best thing I have ever tasted. They also have Mango Jam and home made Honey which are also super delicious!

The accommodation is full of amazing little touches, from lights to use when it’s dark to if you get any laundry done – it comes back in little baskets all folded and clean!

We walked into town and spent the afternoon exploring the town – there are lots of restaurants, spas and local shops! We grabbed a Tuk Tuk back to our accommodation for 200 Peso (£2.90).

DAY TWO: snorkelling the reef and swimming with Sardines

This morning we decided to head down to the beach by the accommodation and snorkel. I wasn’t expecting too much but this reef was the best place I have ever snorkelled. I was not expecting the coral to be so amazing. There were loads of starfish and if you swim to the edge of the reef – we saw three Turtles!

Walking 30/35 minutes up the beach (only possible at low tide), we went swimming with the Sardine run. WOW what an experience. It was incredible – you are literally swimming with MILLIONS of sardines. You can find them just outside the front of Chilli Bar, in the town by the beach).

After a super exciting morning, I spent the afternoon working on my laptop at The French Coffee Shop (this cafe is great for Wifi and coffee) if you head further up the road there’s a cafe called Shaka Cafe – INCREDIBLE smoothie and granola bowls.

For dinner, we headed to Venz Kitchen – really great for vegetarian and vegan but also do a lot of meat dishes. I had the vegetarian Eggplant Sisag – 2 dishes and 3 drinks came to 700 peso (£10).

DAY THREE: Kawasan Falls & canyoning

We woke up super early this morning to head to Kawasan Falls before all the tourists and people on the canyoneering tours arrived. Ideally, you want to get there around 7.30/8am.

From our accommodation, it was a 45-minute motorbike ride along the coastal road. It’s not easy to know where you’re going as there’s not a lot of signs around (the locals prefer you to do a tour than just head there so I guess it’s deliberate). After asking 3 different locals for directions we were finally told to park in the Church carpark (50 peso). From there you can walk 20 minutes to Kawasan Falls.

Oh my, I have never seen anything quite like it. The images I had seen of the Falls were exactly like how it looked. Turquoise waters with a stunning view of the waterfall. Whilst we were taking photos a local came up to us and said he would take us to the 5 biggest jumping spots including the slide for 1000 peso (£15 – £7.50 each!!). It was just the two of us and the tour guide which actually made it really special as we could go at our own pace or go again on several different jumps. At the end, the guide said for us to take however long we liked and give the lifejackets back to him at the end.

If you were keen on doing to canyoning, I recommend heading straight to Kawasan Falls and talking to the guys with the life jackets there – they offer a much cheaper rate than any of the tours in the towns, hotels and near to the Falls and it’s a totally private tour, so it means you’re not hanging around waiting for people to jump off the same rocks, you can go at your own pace.

I had done canyoning before so this by far was the best way to do it. It skipped out all the small jumps and just went straight to the bigger ones. The jumps were amazing – one 8 meter, one 10 meters and one 15 meters! It also included a rope swing which was one of my favourite! Just before the last 15-meter jump, there was a slide straight into one of the pools – so much fun!

After using up all our energy jumping off rocks, we drove back to our accommodation where we showered and then headed into the town for a browse around the shops. We had lunch at Shaka and Dinner at Venz Kitchen (again – but it’s hard to head somewhere else when the food is so delicious!) I had the Ginataang Talong which is Eggplant cooked with vegetables and coconut sauce.

DAY FOUR: Whites Beach and explore for our last day

Today was our last day in Moalboal. We tried to stay at Herbs Guest House for another night but unfortunately, it was fully booked! We found these little huts a bit further inland that looked really cute and was amazing value for money at just £20 a night for two people!

https://www.booking.com/hotel/ph/archery-asia-nipa-huts-amp-camping-moalboal.html?aid=304142;label=gen173nr-1DCCAoggJCEDdjZTEzYjdmNDAwNDg3NjdIMVgEaLQBiAEBmAExuAEHyAEM2AED6AEB-AEGiAIBqAIDuAKivIHkBcACAQ;sid=1cee46a7d1718cee8d4c06a89b3677b5

The huts were visually very nice but weren’t as comfortable as they looked! I guess with this place we got what we paid for. I wouldn’t stay here again but it’s a lovely place to visit! After checking into this accommodation we hired a moped from the reception and headed to Whites Beach. It was the weekend so the actual beach was quite busy with locals. I’d definitely recommend visiting here for a swim and relax on the beautiful long stretch of white sand.

After an afternoon relaxing we headed for a drink by the pier and for dinner at Silver Ray – we had grilled fish and lots of veggies, super tasty! We organised an airport shuttle for the following morning where we were heading for Cebu to then catch a flight to Siargao Island!

Be sure to check out my: Travelling the Philippines: Siargao Island Itinerary if you plan on heading there! 🙂

L x

nl0kb

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