Where to go in the Philippines April 2024.

[P1Diver]

Hello my wife and I are going to the Philippines for the first time in April and unfortunately we cannot do a liveaboard this time. So was wondering what locations we should go to. There's so many places it's making it hard to choose. I wish we could visit everywhere, but we are only there for 2 weeks. So I think I have narrowed it down to a few different areas but we can only choose 2 (1 week in each). Maybe 3 if we stay only a few days in each. So obviously we want to do some diving but also want to do land activities and see some of the beautiful parts of the Philippines. So the few places I have narrowed it down to is Coron, El Nido, Dauin, Bohol (Anda?), Cebu, and Malapascua. Any suggestion on the top 2 or 3 places we should go to? TIA.

 

[divingdayz]

Hi,

How are you? The first question we need to ask is what type of diving do you like? If you like wrecks, go to Coron. If you like Macro, go to either Analio or Dauin. If you like healthy reefs and big walls go to Panglao, Bohol. There are many options and many of them can be combined easily.

A simple option would be to do a few days in Coron, and get the ferry to El Nido (the diving is OK, but the scenery is spectacular). Fly El Nido to Panglao, then dive there and go to Anda for a few days via the center of Bohol for more nice scenery.

I live and work in Bohol, so if you need any more advice, then feel free to contact me.

 

[Centrals]

Hello my wife and I are going to the Philippines for the first time in April and unfortunately we cannot do a liveaboard this time. So was wondering what locations we should go to. There's so many places it's making it hard to choose. I wish we could visit everywhere, but we are only there for 2 weeks. So I think I have narrowed it down to a few different areas but we can only choose 2 (1 week in each). Maybe 3 if we stay only a few days in each. So obviously we want to do some diving but also want to do land activities and see some of the beautiful parts of the Philippines. So the few places I have narrowed it down to is Coron, El Nido, Dauin, Bohol (Anda?), Cebu, and Malapascua. Any suggestion on the top 2 or 3 places we should go to? TIA.

Sogod Bay in Southern Leyte.
Tacloban is the port of entry if flying from Manila. While Ormoc is the sea port if taking ferry from Cebu City.

MOD please move this thread to the appropriate sub form ie. Philippines Paradise Divers.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Hi,

How are you? The first question we need to ask is what type of diving do you like? If you like wrecks, go to Coron. If you like Macro, go to either Analio or Dauin. If you like healthy reefs and big walls go to Panglao, Bohol. There are many options and many of them can be combined easily.

A simple option would be to do a few days in Coron, and get the ferry to El Nido (the diving is OK, but the scenery is spectacular). Fly El Nido to Panglao, then dive there and go to Anda for a few days via the center of Bohol for more nice scenery.

I live and work in Bohol, so if you need any more advice, then feel free to contact me.

I agree with this, it really depends on what type of diving you want to do. Malapascua has the thresher sharks (and sometimes tiger sharks), and also has pretty good macro diving. The downside is that it takes almost a full day to get there.

 

[Tippytoes12]

Just stay in one area like the Visayas. Unless of course you like transfers and spending your holiday in the backs of cars, checking in, checking out, and arranging cars, checking in and checking out etc etc etc in tropical developing countries.

The Visayas has fabulous diving. For a short trip I would fly to Cebu, stay there overnight, then fly to Dumaguete, stay and dive there for six nights, then get a private transfer to Malapascua, stay six or seven nights, then transfer back to Cebu and fly home. You will get excellent macro and mind blowing reefs from Dumaguete, then the thresher sharks in Malapascua plus excellent macro.

 

[P1Diver]

Just stay in one area like the Visayas. Unless of course you like transfers and spending your holiday in the backs of cars, checking in, checking out, and arranging cars, checking in and checking out etc etc etc in tropical developing countries.

The Visayas has fabulous diving. For a short trip I would fly to Cebu, stay there overnight, then fly to Dumaguete, stay and dive there for six nights, then get a private transfer to Malapascua, stay six or seven nights, then transfer back to Cebu and fly home. You will get excellent macro and mind blowing reefs from Dumaguete, then the thresher sharks in Malapascua plus excellent macro.

My only hesitation to this plan is everyone says that the El Nido area is a must see when in the Philippines. Diving is our number one objective but not the only one. Is El Nido over rated? Or should I try to fit in a few days there to explore?

 

[P1Diver]

Hi,

How are you? The first question we need to ask is what type of diving do you like? If you like wrecks, go to Coron. If you like Macro, go to either Analio or Dauin. If you like healthy reefs and big walls go to Panglao, Bohol. There are many options and many of them can be combined easily.

A simple option would be to do a few days in Coron, and get the ferry to El Nido (the diving is OK, but the scenery is spectacular). Fly El Nido to Panglao, then dive there and go to Anda for a few days via the center of Bohol for more nice scenery.

I live and work in Bohol, so if you need any more advice, then feel free to contact me

Wreck diving isn't the top of our list but we do enjoy them. But our favorite would be macros, healthy reefs, sharks, and rare/weird sealife.

 

[diveUAE]

Wreck diving isn't the top of our list but we do enjoy them. But our favorite would be macros, healthy reefs, sharks, and rare/weird sealife.

For sharks, reef, macro and rare/weird sealife go to Malapascua - almost 100% chance to see the threshers and everything else is great too (sea horses, nudies, blue ring octopus to name a few - we stayed 5 days). Be sure you find a dive operator, who has a ratio of max 4 guests/guide - my husband, son and I had our own and it was epic.
Haven't been to El Nido, we're leaving for our second trip to Phils in 3 weeks and not going there this time either.

Our first trip we combined Mala (amazing) with Bohol (Panglao) (good). If you go to Panglao be sure to pre book Balicasag, which was nice - again we had a guide to ourselfes, did not pay anything extra, but did see quite large groups with other guides.

On our upcoming trip we're doing Dauin (Muck/macro and reef) for 9 nights and Moalboal (sardine school) for 4 nights. (Although I'm currently regretting not doing Mala again, just think the travel is too much from Dauin.)

 

[P1Diver]

For sharks, reef, macro and rare/weird sealife go to Malapascua - almost 100% chance to see the threshers and everything else is great too (sea horses, nudies, blue ring octopus to name a few - we stayed 5 days). Be sure you find a dive operator, who has a ratio of max 4 guests/guide - my husband, son and I had our own and it was epic.
Haven't been to El Nido, we're leaving for our second trip to Phils in 3 weeks and not going there this time either.

Our first trip we combined Mala (amazing) with Bohol (Panglao) (good). If you go to Panglao be sure to pre book Balicasag, which was nice - again we had a guide to ourselfes, did not pay anything extra, but did see quite large groups with other guides.

On our upcoming trip we're doing Dauin (Muck/macro and reef) for 9 nights and Moalboal (sardine school) for 4 nights. (Although I'm currently regretting not doing Mala again, just think the travel is too much from Dauin.)

Ok so I think Mala will definitely be in this trip. So wondering what second area to go to. Do you have a recommendation of a dive shop in Mala that does 4 guests? Or the private one you used? Thank you for the info it’s very helpful.

 

[Centrals]

My only hesitation to this plan is everyone says that the El Nido area is a must see when in the Philippines. Diving is our number one objective but not the only one. Is El Nido over rated? Or should I try to fit in a few days there to explore?

The top side of El Nido is beautiful but I am not sure about the diving there. Dived there many yrs when dynamite fishing was quite common. Put that aside, diving is very ordinary by Philippines standard. There are plenty of options and beside getting there is NOT easy.
In Malapascua, "Evolution" is my suggestion.
Southern Leyte is great but getting there is another story.
Moalboal has school of sardines.
Dumaguete has good macro.
Anilao has even better macro than Dumaguete.