14 Days in the Philippines: A Backpacking Itinerary for Palawan & Siargao

Fourteen days is just enough time to scratch the surface of what the Philippines does best — impossibly clear water, limestone karsts, and the kind of unhurried island life that makes you rebook your flight home. This itinerary splits your two weeks between Palawan, the country’s most celebrated island province, and Siargao, the surf-blessed teardrop island in the northeast. You’ll move between lagoons, reef-fringed beaches, volcanic lakes, and wave breaks, covering serious ground without ever feeling rushed. Expect a mix of budget guesthouses, shared ferry rides, and cheap tricycle hops — classic backpacker territory done properly.

Day 1: Arrive in Puerto Princesa, Palawan

Most international travelers connect through Manila before landing at Puerto Princesa International Airport. Flights from Manila take around an hour and run frequently throughout the day, so aim for an early arrival to make the most of the afternoon. From the airport, a tricycle or van transfer drops you into town for under $2.

Puerto Princesa itself is a clean, laid-back city — more of a staging post than a destination, but worth an easy first-day wander. Check into a guesthouse along Rizal Avenue, where budget beds run between $8 and $15 a night. Once you’ve dropped your bag, head to Kinabuch’s Bar & Restaurant on the waterfront for cold San Miguel beer and grilled crocodile sisig, a local specialty that tastes considerably better than it sounds. The evening is best spent organizing your Underground River tour for the next morning — most guesthouses can book this for around $25 including transport and a required environmental fee.

Day 2: Puerto Princesa Underground River & City Eats

The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature, and the early morning light on the limestone cliffs surrounding Sabang Bay is reason enough to leave town before 7am. The drive takes about 90 minutes. Once at Sabang, a bangka (outrigger canoe) paddles you into the cave mouth, where a guide narrates the cathedral-scale chambers — stalactite formations that look vaguely like the Virgin Mary, a crocodile, or a cauliflower, depending on your imagination.

Tours wrap up by midday. Back in Puerto Princesa, spend the afternoon at Baker’s Hill, a quirky hilltop bakery famous for its hopia pastries that travelers either love or find aggressively kitschy. Either way, the views are good. For dinner, the Paluto Market near the city plaza lets you pick fresh seafood from market stalls and have it cooked to order — a pound of tiger prawns in garlic butter costs around $4.

Day 3: Travel Day — Puerto Princesa to El Nido

The overland journey from Puerto Princesa to El Nido is roughly 240 kilometers of mountain road, and it takes five to six hours by shared van. Book through any guesthouse the evening before — seats run about $10 to $13 and vans depart as early as 6am. The road winds through the Palawan interior, past rice paddies and stilted villages, with a rest stop at a roadside eatery in Roxas where you can get a plate of adobo and rice for around $1.50.

Arrive in El Nido by early afternoon, giving you time to find accommodation before dark. The town is compact and walkable — most budget rooms cluster along Hama Street and Calle Hama, starting from $12 a night for a fan room with a cold shower. El Nido’s main strip has no shortage of open-air restaurants. Grab a table at Altrove for decent wood-fired pizza, or keep it local with fresh tuna sashimi at any of the small spots facing the water. The limestone karsts looming over the bay at dusk are your first proper preview of what the next two days hold.

Day 4: El Nido Island Hopping Tour A (Big Lagoon & Secret Lagoon)

Tour A is the benchmark El Nido experience and rightly so. Boats leave from the beach in town around 9am, and the day costs $15 to $20 including a basic lunch of grilled fish and rice served on a sandbar. The route typically covers Miniloc Island’s Big Lagoon, where you kayak between sheer marble cliffs above water so clear it looks photoshopped, and the Secret Lagoon on Miniloc, accessed through a narrow rock crack that opens into a sheltered pool ringed by jungle.

The afternoon brings stops at Shimizu Island for snorkeling over healthy hard coral and the Seven Commandos Beach, a long white stretch perfect for an hour of doing absolutely nothing. Boats return to town by 5pm. The tours run with groups of ten to fifteen people — if you want fewer people in your photos, go midweek or organize a private charter for around $80 split between four travelers.

Day 5: El Nido Island Hopping Tour C (Hidden Beach & Matinloc Shrine)

Tour C heads in the opposite direction from Tour A, covering the northern part of Bacuit Bay and involving slightly longer boat transfers. The standout stop is Hidden Beach on Matinloc Island — you anchor offshore and swim through a short underwater passage to reach a crescent of white sand enclosed entirely by vertical rock walls. It’s one of those places that makes the whole trip worth it.

The tour also stops at Matinloc Shrine, a hilltop statue with panoramic views over the bay, and Helicopter Island, named for its shape when seen from above. Snorkeling here turns up reef sharks and sea turtles if you’re lucky. Tour C runs the same price range as Tour A. In the evening, post-tour soreness calls for dinner at Republica Sunset Bar, where the cocktails are cheap and the view of the karsts turning pink is the best free show in El Nido.

Day 6: El Nido — Nacpan Beach & Sunset Chill

After two days on group boats, a solo trip to Nacpan Beach recalibrates everything. The beach is 45 minutes north of El Nido town by habal-habal (motorbike taxi), costing around $5 each way. At four kilometers long with only a handful of shack cafes, Nacpan is what the Maldives looks like before the Instagram crowd finds it — powder-white sand, almost no people, and water the color of old glass.

Spend the morning swimming, the afternoon reading under a palm, and stop at the twin beach viewpoint on the hill between Nacpan and Calitang beach before heading back to town. Back in El Nido, the evening is yours to explore the night market on the esplanade, where vendors sell barbecued pork skewers and buko (fresh coconut) for pocket change. Use tonight to pack your bag and arrange tomorrow’s ferry — you’re moving on to Coron.

Day 7: Travel Day — El Nido to Coron by Ferry

The ferry between El Nido and Coron is one of the great slow-travel experiences in Southeast Asia. The crossing takes around four to five hours on the 2GO Travel ferry or one of the faster speed boats, which cut it to three hours for around $30 to $40. The route passes through the Linapacan Strait — technically some of the clearest water in the world — with islands appearing and disappearing on either side of the hull.

Book tickets a day or two in advance during peak season (November to May). Arrive in Coron town by early afternoon and check into a guesthouse near the public market, where budget beds start at $10. Coron has a very different feel from El Nido — more Filipino fishing town, less tourist bubble. Spend the evening on Coron town hill (398 steps up a concrete staircase) for a sweeping view over the bay, then eat at any of the seafood restaurants along the main strip where a full plate of sweet and sour grouper costs under $5.

Day 8: Coron — Kayangan Lake & Barracuda Lake

Coron’s island-hopping scene revolves around the lakes and reefs of Coron Island, home to the Tagbanua indigenous community. Day tours run around $20 and require purchasing a Tagbanua environmental fee of about $10 at the wharf. Kayangan Lake earns its reputation as the Philippines’ clearest lake — the viewpoint above the entrance is the most photographed spot in all of Coron, and for good reason. Swim in water so transparent you can see the bottom at fifteen meters.

A short boat transfer away, Barracuda Lake offers a stranger experience: the lake sits in a volcanic crater and contains layers of fresh and salt water at radically different temperatures. Diving or snorkeling here means passing through thermoclines that shift from cold to startlingly warm within a body-length. The lake’s barracuda population is small and thoroughly unbothered by swimmers. Return to town by 4pm and eat at Lolo Nonoy’s for grilled fish and cold beer.

Day 9: Coron — Coral Garden Snorkeling & Maquinit Hot Springs

Day two in Coron shifts the focus to two contrasting experiences. In the morning, join a snorkeling trip to the Coral Garden near Lusong Island, where a Japanese WWII shipwreck sits in shallow enough water that even surface snorkelers can peer into the hull. The wreck is draped in soft coral and patrolled by schools of fusiliers. This is genuinely world-class snorkeling without needing a dive certification.

After lunch, rent a motorbike ($7 for the afternoon) and ride 7 kilometers out of town to Maquinit Hot Springs, one of the few saltwater hot springs in the world. Entry costs around $4. The pools sit at 39°C and look directly over a mangrove bay — soak in them as the sun drops and the fishing boats come in. It’s an unexpectedly quiet and restorative way to end your time in Coron.

Day 10: Fly Coron to Cebu, Then Cebu to Siargao

Getting from Coron to Siargao requires patience and a flexible attitude toward Filipino domestic aviation. The most reliable route: fly Coron to Manila or Cebu (Cebu Pacific serves this route), then connect to Siargao’s Sayak Airport. Budget around $60 to $100 for this leg depending on how far in advance you book. Total travel time including layovers is typically eight to ten hours.

Sayak Airport sits on the northern tip of the island, 30 minutes by van from General Luna — the main beach village. Vans wait outside arrivals and charge $3 to $4 per person. By the time you reach your guesthouse in General Luna, you’ll have earned a cold Pale Pilsen from the nearest sari-sari store. Tomorrow the surfing starts.

Day 11: Siargao — Cloud 9 Surf & Island Orientation

Cloud 9 is Siargao’s famous reef break and one of the best surf waves in Asia — a hollow, fast right-hander that peels over a shallow coral shelf. Non-surfers can watch from the iconic boardwalk above the break, which is satisfying in its own right. If you surf, bring or rent a board ($5 to $8 per day) and get in the water before 9am when conditions are typically cleanest and the lineup less crowded.

Beginners can take lessons at Rock Inn & Café or any of the surf schools near the boardwalk for around $20 including instruction and equipment. Afternoons in Siargao move slowly — explore General Luna on a rented motorbike ($7 a day), stop at Kermit Restaurant for wood-fired pizza (a Siargao institution), and plan the next two days’ excursions over a coconut juice at sunset.

Day 12: Siargao — Sugba Lagoon & Magpupungko Rock Pools

Sugba Lagoon requires a 45-minute boat ride from Del Carmen port into the Del Carmen mangrove reserve — one of the largest in Southeast Asia. The lagoon itself is a wide, milky-turquoise basin enclosed by mangroves where you can swim, paddleboard, or jump from a rickety wooden platform. The whole trip, including boat hire and environmental fees, runs about $15 to $20 per person. Leave early to beat the afternoon crowds.

After returning to General Luna, rent a motorbike for the 45-minute ride north to Magpupungko Rock Pools, only accessible during low tide. Tidal shifts expose a series of natural infinity pools carved into the rock shelf, filled with clear seawater and surrounded by crashing surf on the ocean side. Check tide tables the night before — pools are only exposed for roughly four hours around low tide. Entry is $1. The ride back at dusk, through coconut groves and past carabao grazing roadside, is one of those incidental travel moments worth mentioning.

Day 13: Siargao — Island Hopping to Naked, Daku & Guyam Islands

Siargao’s three-island boat trip is the most popular day excursion on the island and delivers three very distinct experiences. Naked Island is exactly what it sounds like — a sandbar with zero vegetation, just blinding white sand emerging from turquoise shallows. Daku Island is the opposite: a large, shaded island with a village, swaying palms, and a beach lunch of grilled fish cooked by local families (included in most tour packages).

Guyam Island splits the difference — small enough to walk around in five minutes, with enough palms for shade and enough clear water for solid snorkeling. The combined tour costs $15 to $20 per person and boats depart from General Luna port around 9am. Back in town by 4pm, the final evening calls for dinner at Bravo restaurant, a local favorite for fresh seafood, followed by whatever low-key nightlife the area around the Harana Beach Resort strip is offering that particular Tuesday.

Day 14: Final Morning in Siargao & Departure

Early flights out of Sayak leave little time, but a final sunrise swim at General Luna Beach or a last coffee at one of the open-air cafes on the main strip is a decent send-off. Siargao has a way of convincing travelers to change their flights — the relaxed pace, the reliable surf, the fact that the most expensive meal you’ve eaten in two weeks probably cost $8. If your flight is afternoon, use the morning for one last motorbike loop through the backroads toward Pacifico in the north, where the jungle presses close to the road and the beaches are mostly empty.

From Sayak, flights connect back through Cebu or Manila. The total two-week itinerary covers three distinct island environments — Palawan’s limestone karst world, Coron’s lake and wreck diving, and Siargao’s surf culture — without requiring anything more complicated than a willingness to rearrange plans when a boat is late or a better beach reveals itself along the way. That flexibility, more than any fixed schedule, is what makes backpacking the Philippines work.

📷 Featured image by Eibner Saliba on Unsplash.