The Philippines is a beautiful country, with wonderful people, that’s been destroyed by the politicians.
From being one of the richest countries in Asia 25 years ago, it’s now one of the poorest. Corruption is rife and deeply embedded into the infrastructure from the local level right to the top of government.
Despite all that, I’ve been lucky enough to travel quite extensively in the Philippines, particularly on the Northern Island of Luzon, but also down to Cebu and Boracay. And there are many, many more places I’m looking forward to seeing – it’s a stunningly beautiful country and incredibly varied!
These articles cover some of the places I’ve been to so far – click the headline to read the full article and, if you’ve visited Philippines, leave us a comment with your experiences.
I spent a week in Boracay, Philippines, earlier in the month and loved it. Boracay is a small island just off the North Western tip of Panay Island. It doesn’t have an airport, so getting there involves a flight to either Caticlan or Kalibo (on Panay Island), a ferry trip across the straits (only about [...]
In the middle of chaotic, noisy and colourful Manila is Greenbelt – a haven of upmarket shopping malls, relaxing gardens, restaurants, bars and a church. Situated in Makati, it’s surrounded by hotels of all prices: from the very reasonably priced Prince Plaza 2, which is right on the doorstep, to the Shangri-La, Peninsular, Inter-Continental and [...]
There are two great places to visit a couple of hours’ drive South-West of Manila: Tagaytay (about an hour’s drive) and Matabungkay (about 2 hours’ drive) Tagaytay is easily doable in a day from Manila. It sits on the Northern edge of Lake Taal, and inside the lake sits the Taal Volcano. The volcano is [...]
One of the disappointing things about Philippines is that many of the really beautiful places are not within easy reach. Back here I talked about Baguio. It’s a 7 hour drive North of Manila, but at least there are hotels you can stay at up there, so an overnight stay is easy. Not so with [...]
About 7 or so hours drive North of Manila is Baguio. It’s located nearly 5,000 feet above sea level in the middle of the mountainous part of Northern Luzon. And it’s spectacular. At least the countryside around it and some of the developments are. The city itself is like many other Philippine cities – colourful, [...]
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