The Philippines with children: what works, what does not, and what we change

What makes it good: English everywhere, which removes a whole layer of friction; a culture that is unusually warm towards children, including in restaurants and hotels; warm calm water; and boat days, which are the single most reliable form of entertainment we know of for anyone between six and sixteen.

What makes it harder than Thailand: the internal flights. Every island change is most of a day, and a travel day with children costs roughly double what it costs adults.

The four changes we make to every family itinerary

One island fewer. Whatever the adult version of a route would be, the family version drops a base. Two islands plus Manila in two weeks, not three.

No flight days back to back with anything. A domestic flight day is a whole day. We do not put an activity at the end of one and we do not schedule an early start the morning after.

Longer stays, six or seven nights at the main base. Children need somewhere they recognise, and the fourth morning at the same beach is when they stop asking what is happening next.

Private boats, always. This is more important with children than without. A joined island-hopping tour is a fixed circuit with forty other people and no way off. A private bangka at $120 to $180 for the whole boat means you leave when someone has had enough, you skip the stop that is not working, and you get to the beach before everyone else does.

Our Philippines with children, 12 days is built on exactly these rules: two islands, short boat days and calm water.

Which islands, and why

Bohol is our default for families. Panglao has calm, shallow beaches with good family resorts, the island has a road network so you are not boat-dependent for everything, and the inland day is genuinely good with children: the Chocolate Hills, tarsiers at the Corella sanctuary, and the Loboc river. Crucially, Bohol pairs with Cebu by a two-hour ferry rather than a flight, which removes an airport day.

Cebu, as the partner island. Moalboal’s sardine shoal is a short swim from shore and it is the best snorkel in the country for a competent swimmer of about nine or older. Kawasan canyoneering is a teenage activity and a very good one.

Palawan, with care. El Nido is spectacular and the days are boat days. That works well from about seven and less well below it, because the boat days are four to six hours on the water. If you go with younger children, base outside El Nido town on a beach they can use without a boat, and take one boat day rather than three.

Siquijor and Camiguin are quiet, easy, and almost unvisited by families, which is part of the appeal.

Boracay, honestly, is a good family island if what you want is a beach with restaurants, watersports and no effort. It is crowded and built up behind the sand and it is the least interesting place in this article, and for a family with young children it is also the easiest.

We would generally not send a family to Siargao, where the appeal is surf and the flight is a full day each way, or the Cordillera rice terraces below about age ten, where the walking is on narrow unfenced terrace walls and the accommodation is basic. Batanes is a long way for a short season.

Ages, honestly

Under four. Doable, and the trip is mostly about the resort. Keep it to one island plus Manila, and choose a resort with a beach you can walk to from the room. The flights are the hard part, not the destination.

Four to six. Two bases, both with a usable beach. Boat days limited to two or three hours. This is the age where Bohol and Cebu work better than Palawan.

Seven to eleven. The best age for this country. Old enough to snorkel properly, to enjoy a full boat day, to swim in a lake reached by a limestone staircase, and to remember it. Bacuit Bay and the Coron lakes land extremely well here.

Twelve and up. Almost everything on an adult route works, including diving courses, canyoneering, surfing lessons in Siargao and the wrecks in Coron. A teenager who dives changes the shape of the trip and usually improves it.

What children actually enjoy here

Ranked by how reliably it works, from our files.

1. A private bangka day. Snorkelling stops, a beach lunch cooked on the boat, and the ability to leave. This is the thing children talk about afterwards.
2. The Coron lakes. Kayangan and Barracuda, reached by a steep staircase over a limestone ridge, are the best swims in the country and they feel like an expedition.
3. The Moalboal sardine shoal. Millions of fish, a short swim from the beach, no boat needed.
4. Tarsiers at the Corella sanctuary. Small, strange, and a genuine conservation project rather than a roadside operation with animals handled for photographs. We only use Corella.
5. The Loboc river and the Chocolate Hills as a single inland day on Bohol.
6. A Binondo food walk in Manila, which is a surprisingly good children’s activity: short stops, things to eat at each one, and no museum.
7. Surf lessons, from about eight, at the beginner breaks rather than at Cloud 9.

What does not work

• Three islands in twelve days. The most common self-planned family mistake here and the most expensive in temper.
• Long joined island-hopping tours. Six stops, a fixed schedule, forty people, no exit.
• Manila in the afternoon heat. March to May runs 90 to 95°F (32 to 35°C) with high humidity on the coast. City walking goes early or late.
• Two nights anywhere you flew to. One usable day at the end of a travel day.
• Any itinerary where the last domestic flight is on the same day as the flight home. This is a rule rather than a preference, for every traveller, and it matters more with children because the fallback options are worse.

Boats, safety and the things we specify

This is the section that is different from a family article about anywhere else, and it is the reason we would rather build a Philippines family trip than have you build it.

• Life jackets that fit children. Standard adult jackets are on every boat. Child sizes are not, and we specify them in advance with the operator by name rather than hoping.
• Private boats over joined ones, for the reasons above and because the crew is looking after your party rather than forty people.
• Morning departures. The sea is reliably calmer before midday. Afternoon crossings are rougher, and a rough two-hour bangka crossing with a seven-year-old is a bad memory.
• The coast guard overrules everyone. When sailings are suspended, nobody sails. Our documents carry the alternative for every crossing rather than the hope.
• We do not book the whale shark operation at Oslob, where wild animals are fed daily to hold them in the bay, and it is heavily marketed as a family experience. Donsol, where they are found rather than fed, is seasonal and honest, and we say up front that sightings are not guaranteed.

Practical notes from our Manila office

• Cash. ATMs on small islands run dry and cap withdrawals low. Draw pesos in Manila or Cebu before you fly out.
• Environmental and terminal fees. Small, cash, unavoidable, charged per person including children at several islands. We list them in your document.
• Sun. The reef sun at eleven in the morning burns fast. Rash vests in the water, reef-safe sunscreen, which is required at several marine parks and confiscated otherwise, and hats that stay on.
• Mosquitoes. Dengue is present year round and rises in the wet season. Repellent morning and evening.
• Food. Rice, grilled chicken, grilled fish, pancit noodles, fruit and halo-halo cover almost every child. Filipino food is not spicy, which makes this much easier than Thailand.
• Medical. Hospital care in Manila and Cebu is good and used to treating visitors. On the small islands it is a clinic and a boat, which is another argument for choosing bases with road access.
• Luggage limits on small aircraft are real and smaller again on the light planes into El Nido. We tell you the number before you pack and we can leave a bag in Manila.

For how the Philippines compares with the rest of the region for family travel, see Asia with children, country by country.

Plan this trip

Tell us the ages and how long you have, and our Manila office will build a route with the right number of flights rather than the maximum number of islands. Free first proposal, no obligation.

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Keep reading

• The Philippines: the complete guide to planning your trip
• The Philippines with children, 12 days
• Asia with children, country by country
• Palawan, Siargao or Bohol: which island suits which traveller
• The internal flight problem nobody warns you about
• All our Philippines trips

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