Get ready to be taken on a tropical journey through the most beautiful Destination that I have come across in all my three years of travel.
This right here is the Philippines.
Having spent almost four and a half months, three separate visits in the country, I've seen and done a lot of things here and, because of my recent trip here, It was time to update my top 10 to the Philippines with the 20 version.
Strap yourself in and get ready for what will be your next tropical adventure the Philippines.
Let's hop right into it with number 10, Cresta de Gallo.
This is going to be an island that 95% of you have never heard of before.
The reason being because well, it's probably just about the hardest island you can ever try to get to.
I spent about three days of travel just to get here.
There were no given routes.
You basically had to completely wing it and just show up, hope that everything would work out.
But one of the great things about traveling the Philippines is that the locals will stop what they're doing in a heartbeat to try to help you out.
So getting around even the off the beaten path kind of places is still possible here, but you really need to want this.
So why should you go out of your way to find Crested DiGaio?
Well, I think the drone shots will speak for themselves.
When you show up on this island, you feel like you're on Castaway.
You feel like you are stranded in the middle of nowhere.
You might as well start screaming Wilson because there ain't no one coming.
We were fortunate enough that day to have had the sun on our side and we got a remarkable sunset.
We watched it on this narrow white sand beach.
Crescent de Gallo is for those who are willing to go the extra 1,000 miles to see true beauty.
Now, let's move on to number nine.
Number nine is one that most of you know very well and have seen on your Instagram, as it's currently blowing up, and that is beautiful El Nido.
El Nido is one of the most talked about destinations in all of the Philippines and, with that being said, that's why it's not making the top three and not even the top five.
I'm putting it all the way at number nine because Right now El Nido is facing a very well-deserved tourism boom.
This place is Avatar meets your craziest dream.
Incredible, dramatic limestone mountains just jutting out of emerald blue waters.
It really makes no sense how everything that's beautiful is in one place, but that is what El Nido is all about.
El Nido is particularly well known for its island tours.
You've got Tour A, which is probably the most popular, where you get to see small lagoon, you get to see big lagoon.
Out of my three trips to the Philippines, I've been to El Nido every single time, three years in a row, and I've seen that constant increase in tourism.
If you're in a large enough group, my recommendation is to actually just rent out your own private boat.
The big advantage to that is that you don't need to follow the path that everyone else is following.
And one of the great things of having your own private group is that you can call the shots.
You don't need to follow everyone else.
You can just go to your own islands and make your own adventures.
After seeing Small Lagoon, we actually asked our driver just to take us to a private island.
We had lunch on this island, pretty much just us and another boat.
Overall, that was for me the best way to enjoy El Nido.
But one warning is that you might miss out on the social atmosphere.
That can happen when you have a great tour group.
I've also had one of my best ever dives here in El Nido.
I saw barracuda, sea turtle, I believe I saw a seahorse, a bunch of other incredible marine life.
This was definitely a remarkable diving spot.
There's one other thing that you cannot miss if you go to El Nido, and that is the beach called Nakpan, the most beautiful beach in the entire world.
Number eight is the island of Bohol.
Bohol is one of the most diverse islands you will see.
High end hotels, hostels everything is here in Bohol, and that is one of the reasons I love it so much.
Whether you want to spend your day on the beach or go and explore the beautiful chocolate hills.
There's so much that can be seen and done here.
Not to mention, this is home to one of the most unique creatures you'll ever come across.
It looks like a monkey that had a baby with an alien.
It's called a tarsier.
They're very, very nervous.
Do not use a loud voice.
Be very quiet, otherwise they literally could drop dead from a heart attack.
I'm not joking.
There are two main parts of a hole.
There is Andau, which is in the north, and I thought it was beautiful.
I really love this blue hole we found, but I gotta say the beach up in the north when I was there a year and a half ago was very dirty.
Hopefully they've taken care of that.
And in the more southern tip of the island you have Alona Beach, and this is probably where I would recommend you stay.
All sorts of different hotels and accommodations, pretty good food, pretty good nightlife and it's a great place to start your day trip if you're gonna be doing the Tarsier Chocolate Hill Day Trip.
That can all be done in one day.
It's one of my favorite day trips that I've ever had.
Now number seven is definitely for all you lovers out there.
This is the secret hideout of Palawan.
Port Barton is in between El Nido and Porta Princesa and it's only about a four hour drive away from El Nido.
It's definitely one of my recommended places for you if you're the kind of person that wants to relax, that wants to have a romantic retreat and do a whole lot of nothing.
How I best describe Port Barton is candlelit dinners on the beach and lights out by like 9 p.m.
There's a couple bars on the beach, so it's not to say everything shuts down.
Unfortunately my time there was very limited and I did not get to do the island hopping tour, but I've heard it's one of the better ones, so definitely try and check that out.
There's also known to be a lot of sea turtles in this area, so do a bit of snorkeling and you may very well encounter yourself with one of those dudes.
Finding Nemo.
Alright for number six.
I'm actually gonna do a two-part, because these two islands are very close by and they would definitely make an incredible trip.
But let's start it off by talking a little bit about Tablas, a place that is literally so unknown that I have to say I feel a little bit proud that I even found it.
Tablas is a dormant but beautiful island.
It's made for you to explore.
Bring your friend, get a scooter, and go explore this island because it has so much to offer.
Incredible white sand beaches, beautiful sunsets, you will find it all here in the island of Tablas.
And one of my major finds on this island here was this resort right here named Footprints.
If you're going to Tablas, they are my number one recommendation.
Now, just a short one hour boat ride away from Tablas is the island of Romblon.
And on Romblon is one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen.
This is Bon Bon Beach.
These are the moments that live with you for the rest of your life, and it made coming all the way off the beaten path completely worth it.
With that being said, it's actually not that hard to get here.
Even though these two islands are definitely off the main tourist path, they are actually super easy to get to.
I flew direct Manila to Tablas in like an hour and 10 minutes using Cebu Pacific.
And Cebu Pacific is the number one airline in the country.
They were my go-to airline for my travels across the Philippines.
And the awesome thing is, they even fly internationally to places like Seoul, Hong Kong Singapore, Bangkok and even Australia.
I definitely recommend taking a bit of a wild card on your next trip and trying out these two islands.
Number five is the extremely underrated Dumaguete.
And I've actually had the pleasure of going to Dumaguete on two separate occasions.
And the great thing about Dumaguete is not necessarily Dumaguete itself, but what surrounds it.
It has Apo Island, which literally means sea turtle island.
It has Siquijor Island, which is a remarkable voodoo witchcraft island that has slowly become more popular by tourism.
It's also relatively close to one of my favorite discoveries in the entire country, known as Manjuyud Sandbar or, as I tried to coin it, the Maldives of the Philippines.
And there's one particularly great day trip in Dumaguete, and that is Casa Roro Falls.
Now, I just name dropped a ton of places and that's probably a little overwhelming, but the great thing is, I've actually created an entire travel video guide for the Philippines.
So if you're curious about that, I have a free preview to the guide down below.
It covers everything you could possibly need to know everything from safety transportation hotels, the best must-see hidden gems and it'll definitely get you a great head start for your upcoming trip.
I put my heart and soul and everything that I learned over my past three trips to the Philippines into this one guide so that you can make the most of it.
So definitely go check that out.
Number four is Bantayan Island, one of the islands I love most in the entire world.
This is like Boracay before Boracay blew up.
Bantayan's not exactly the easiest island in the world to get to, but the slight challenges that come with getting there are 100 worth it.
That seems to be a trend here.
The more you put into getting there, the more you're gonna enjoy it, and typically it also means the less people that will be there.
And if you're like myself, it's great to have a beautiful white sand beach to just yourself and a handful of other people.
For me, that's what travel is about.
It's about experiencing the things that few others have seen, and Bantayan is certainly one of those places.
You'll definitely want to rent a motorbike, because the island could probably take you as much as like five to six hours just to go around.
It is definitely a full day trip just to scratch the surface of this island.
The people of the Philippines are extremely kind and it doesn't matter what road you follow down.
Typically they always greet you with a massive smile and don't be afraid to pull over and actually have a conversation with them.
I remember in Bantayan stopping at a random little market and just sitting down and having a beer with a few of the guys.
Even though there was a bit of a language barrier.
They really appreciated me making the effort to talk to them and for me it was one of the highlights of my entire day.
So, definitely try and make friends with the locals.
A couple of the notable locations on the island are this abandoned building here right on the water and in typical Philippines nature, we have got some incredible blue water with the saturation on full boost.
It's definitely a very relaxing island, so enjoy a world-class sunset in one of my favorite islands in the entire world.
All right, we are now heading up to the podium.
The bronze medal number three is going to Badeon.
Nothing but beautiful blue water that's formed its way through the rocks.
You can do some incredible cliff jumps into the canyon.
The water has even eroded away at some of the rock and it's made for some crazy water slides that go right into the refreshing waters.
Now you think this would be the end of the experience, but there is actually a cherry on top and that is at the very end of the canyon.
You arrive at what is the greatest waterfall that I think I've ever seen.
This right here is Kawasan Falls. also known as the Gatorade Factory.
Weather dependent, when you visit the bluest of waters will be flowing into this little area at the very end and this is the result.
It's definitely becoming a bit more of a mainstream destination, so try to coordinate and figure out the low times to visit.
But even if you have to share it with other people, this is still an unforgettable experience.
Now, most people would celebrate if they got a silver medal, if they made the podium.
But Karan, please don't cry.
You're still extremely beautiful.
Number two is going to the dreamy island of Karan.
Look at these drone clips.
Look at these lagoons.
Look at this water.
It is very similar to what you saw in El Nido, but the remarkable thing about Curran is that it's not as busy as El Nido.
So everything that was great about El Nido is here, but with less tourism.
Only two of the 11 lakes on the island are accessible to the public.
Not even the locals can swim in those other nine sacred lakes.
There's a lot of history here, and there's even said to be a giant octopus that swims in these waters.
So always be looking behind you when you're in the lagoons.
There are three main things that you must do in Quran, and the first two can be done in one day trip.
There's actually a shipwreck and pass island day tour, where you start off the day by free diving into a sunken Japanese warship, if you can hold your breath long enough.
And secondly, you end off your day here at Pass Island, one of the most beautiful islands that I think I've ever seen.
Nothing but beautiful white sand beaches surrounded by cerulean blue waters and a whole lot of nothing to do.
They even had an island wiener dog.
That was definitely the cherry on top to Pass Island.
And the third thing that everyone will end up doing if they go to Caron is, of course, the lagoon tour.
The lagoons here are out of this world.
There's many island tours that are offered, but the one that I took took me to these beautiful lagoons.
It took me to the incredible Caligamen Lake, and they even showed us a secret lake where we had to swim under one of the rock structures to access.
If the weather is right, you will never be able to find something more beautiful than this, period.
Now guys, let us find out who has pushed Karan off of the number one spot in last year's top 10.
Drum roll please.
Number one goes to the unbelievable island of Shargao.
Shargao, also known as Cloud 9, is surfer's paradise.
Right off of the ocean, you're getting incredible waves crashing in on the shore.
This is actually where I had my first ever real successful surfing day.
And for me, it was a very rewarding experience.
My nipples were a little chafed, but we're not gonna get into that.
And luckily, the surfing is just scratching the surface.
There is so much that you can do here in Siargao.
There's some great hostels, some amazing hotels and they even have six-star resorts like Dead on Island Resort.
This is a truly world-class luxury experience.
There's the emerald green Sugba Lagoon, the incredible rock pools of Magopunko.
Probably didn't say that right, but we're gonna move on.
And the awesome thing is, Siargao is just one island that's surrounded by other beautiful islands.
There's Naked Island, which, by the way, it's probably frowned upon to be naked there.
There's Guyam Island and several others that will all be fit into your island hopping tour, so that's for you to explore and find out, and it's actually becoming a lot easier to get here.
You can actually fly direct now from Manila using Cebu Pacific and you get there in like an hour and 45.
Good night life, chilled vibes, all in one place.
This is Siargao, and that is the reason it is my number one must-see place in the Philippines.
That is the top 10 to the Philippines.
I hope it helped you with your upcoming trip and if you are coming, then you'll definitely want to check out my free preview to my five hot tips to the Philippines.
It'll be a great head start for you on your trip.
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So guys, without further ado, let's get lost again in the next one.
