Palawan, Siargao or Bohol: which island suits which traveller
Most people planning a first Philippines trip arrive with all three of these on the list, and the honest answer is that a fortnight holds two of them at most, and often one plus something easier.
They are not variations on a theme. They are three different holidays with three different costs in travel days, and choosing between them is the most consequential decision in a Philippines itinerary after the dates. Here is how we do it.
The one-line versions
Palawan is the landscape. Limestone towers out of green water, the best island-hopping in the country, and two very different halves in El Nido and Coron.
Siargao is the atmosphere. A surf island that became a general-purpose one, with the best small-island food scene in the country and a laid-back feel that people either love or find slightly self-conscious.
Bohol is the easy one. Beaches, diving, a genuinely interesting inland day, a road network, and a ferry to Cebu rather than a flight.
The comparison, in a table
| Palawan | Siargao | Bohol | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The draw | Bacuit Bay, the Coron wrecks and lakes | Surf, lagoons, the food and bar scene | Chocolate Hills, tarsiers, Panglao beaches, diving |
| Getting there | Flight from Manila or Cebu, then road or boat | Flight from Cebu or Manila, a full transfer day each way | Flight to Panglao, or a two-hour ferry from Cebu |
| Travel days it costs, return | About 1.5 | About 2 | About 1, or 0.5 from Cebu |
| Nights it wants | 5, split between El Nido and Coron | 4 minimum, 5 is better | 4 |
| Best months | December to May, and it is the most typhoon-sheltered part of the country | Surf August to November, calmest March to June | December to May, workable most of the year |
| Beaches | Good, and the bay is the point rather than the sand | Good, with surf | Calm, shallow, the best of the three for swimming |
| Diving | Excellent in Coron, ordinary in El Nido | Limited | Good, Balicasag’s wall and Anda |
| Road access | Limited, boat-dependent | Good, scooters everywhere | Good |
| With young children | From about seven | Not our first choice | Yes |
| Where it disappoints | El Nido town is busy and scruffy, and the snorkelling is ordinary | Two full days lost to transfers, and it can feel crowded in season | It is not a dramatic landscape |
Palawan, in detail
Palawan is why most people come to the Philippines, and it earns it. El Nido sits at the top of a peninsula on Bacuit Bay, where limestone towers rise straight out of the water and the island-hopping runs through lagoons that you enter through gaps in the rock. There is nothing else quite like it in Southeast Asia, and it is genuinely the best day-boating in the country.
Two honest notes. El Nido town is busy, scruffy, traffic-heavy and has a small beach, so where you stay matters enormously: a resort on a beach outside town changes the trip. And the snorkelling in Bacuit Bay is ordinary by Philippine standards. People who arrive expecting the best reef of their lives leave slightly disappointed, and they should have been told that the scenery is the point.
Coron, three and a half to four hours north by fast craft or a short flight, is the quieter half. The Japanese fleet sunk in 1944 lies on the seabed and it is superb wreck diving on a clear day. Kayangan and Barracuda lakes, reached over a steep limestone staircase, are among the best swims anywhere. The town is unremarkable and nobody minds.
Five nights across both is the right allocation. Three in El Nido, two in Coron, with the boat between them.
Who it suits: first-time visitors, anyone who wants the landscape they have seen in photographs, divers who want wrecks, couples. It is the most typhoon-sheltered part of the country, which makes it the answer for a wet-season trip.
Who it does not: anyone whose priority is reef life rather than scenery, and families with children under about seven, for whom the boat days are long.
Siargao, in detail
Siargao is a small island in the far southeast, and it changed character over the last decade from a surf outpost to a general-purpose island with an unusually good food and bar scene.
The surf. Cloud 9 is a serious reef break with a shallow bottom, and it is not a learners’ wave. The swell season runs roughly August to November, which sits inside the typhoon window. Beginner spots are elsewhere on the island and work in the same months.
Everything else. Sugba Lagoon, a jade-green inland lagoon with a diving platform. The Sohoton caves. Island-hopping to Naked, Daku and Guyam. Rock pools, a coastal road through palm forest, and General Luna, which is where the eating and the evenings happen.
The cost. A full transfer day each way. Siargao is a flight from Cebu or Manila with a further drive, and it does not connect to anything else. In a fourteen-day trip it replaces a base rather than joining them, which is why we would take it at eighteen days rather than fourteen if the choice were ours. Palawan and Siargao, 14 days is the version that does it in a fortnight and shows honestly what it costs.
Who it suits: surfers, obviously. Independent travellers in their twenties and thirties. Anyone who wants an island with a social life rather than a resort. Second-time visitors to the Philippines.
Who it does not: families with young children, anyone with under twelve days, and anyone who wants the limestone landscape, which is not here.
Bohol, in detail
Bohol is the island we recommend most and the one clients are least excited about in advance, which is a pattern we have learned to argue with.
Panglao, joined to Bohol by a bridge, has calm shallow beaches, a good spread of accommodation from guesthouses to serious resorts, and Bohol’s own airport. Alona Beach is busy; the beaches either side are not.
The inland day is genuinely good and it is the thing people remember. The Chocolate Hills, which are 1,200 or so grass-covered limestone mounds that turn brown in the dry season. Tarsiers at the Corella sanctuary, which is a real conservation project rather than a roadside operation where animals are handled for photographs, and we only use Corella. The Loboc river, and the man-made mahogany forest, which is an ecological curiosity and worth the fifteen minutes.
Diving. Balicasag’s wall is still good, the shallows are tired and daily numbers are capped. Anda on the east coast is quieter and better. Cabilao is excellent.
The efficiency argument. Bohol connects to Cebu by a two-hour OceanJet ferry rather than a flight. That is the only pairing of its kind in the country and it saves you an entire airport day, which is worth more than it sounds. See the internal flight problem.
Who it suits: families, first-time visitors, anyone with less than twelve days, divers, anyone who wants to combine beach and land without flying.
Who it does not: anyone who came for the dramatic landscape in the photographs. Bohol is pleasant rather than spectacular, and it is honest to say so.
How to choose, in three questions
How many days do you have? Under twelve: Bohol and Cebu, or Palawan alone. Twelve to fourteen: Palawan plus Bohol and Cebu. Eighteen or more: add Siargao, or north Luzon.
What month? August to October: Palawan, weighted west, with slack. December to May: anything. If you want Siargao surf, August to November, and accept the typhoon risk that comes with it. The calendar is in the Philippines month by month.
What are you actually here for? Landscape: Palawan. Reef and easy days: Bohol. A place to be rather than a place to see: Siargao.
What we would build
For a first two-week trip, our answer is Manila, Palawan, then Bohol and Cebu, which is set out in the best two-week route through the Philippines and written day by day as classic Philippines in 14 days.
For a second visit: Siargao and the quieter middle, which is Siquijor, Camiguin, Apo Island and Dauin, and it is where people who keep coming back actually go.
Plan this trip
Tell us how long you have and what you want out of it, and we will tell you which two of these three fit and which one we would leave for next time. Free first proposal, no obligation.
Keep reading
- The Philippines: the complete guide to planning your trip
- The best two-week route through the Philippines
- The internal flight problem nobody warns you about
- The Philippines month by month
- Palawan and Siargao, 14 days
- All our Philippines trips
Frequently asked questions
Can we do all three in two weeks?
El Nido or Coron, if only one?
Is Boracay a fourth option?
Which has the best food?
Which would you go back to?
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