Traveling to Philippines in December?

Question

Traveling to the Philippines in late December early January and looking for activities. I'm an active person that is looking for activities that allow me to be active and learn about the culture.

I'm told scuba diving is great and I plan to do this....Any other suggestions?

Answer 1

Well, Philippines has alot of nice scenaries to visit from up north to down south.
North side:
- Baguio (cold cool climate, strawberries, trees, some churches, silver jewelry shops, horses, lakes)
- 100 Islands(swimming nice scenaries)
- Bataan/Zambales/Clark(Pampanga... - this places are good for swimming, sight seeing, golf)
- Tarlac/Rice Terrace(man-made that is)-this is near Baguio

Manila near:
- Malls
- Bars(night life)

South side:
- Tagaytay (just like Baguio,its cool climate with alot of nice scenaries like the TAAL volcano-smallest volcano in the world)
- Laguna (are alot of resort with hot springs--good to swim in and relax, Mt. Makiling--one of the enchanted mountains of the Philippines, there's the Enchanted Kingdom--its not like Disney Land but it has the feel to it..LoL.)
- Puerto Galleria (nice night life soires, swimming, snorkling, jetskiing, any water sport you can think off)
- Panay Islands(Boracay/Aklan/Iloilo)-... are alot of fiesta to attend to---Boracay--is also like Puerto Galleria
- Bacolod (nice scenaries)
-Cebu (there are so many things to do there...I can't enumurate all of it.. but Cebu itself has alot of things to do, go to, see etc.
- Palawan or Puerto Princesa (aayyy... just like paradise)
- Bohol (Chocolate mountains)
- Bicol (I also forgot about Mt. Mayon--the perfect cone for a volcano)
- Davao ( nice place too)

These are just some of the things I can think of to do or go to in the Philippines.
Philippines has so many beautiful places to visit and explore. I have only been to half of the places I have mentioned but I have seen it through pictures of other friends who has gone to these places and it is so beautiful and magestic.

Well, since you're not staying that long in the Philippines try exploring the north side to somewhere south side like to Tagaytay or Laguna (hotsprings).

Enjoy your trip to the Philippines. Hope this won't be the first and last trip to Philippines. =)

Answer 2

Scuba divers usually go to Palawan or Batangas.

Go to the malls. I suggest that you see the Mall of Asia, this is bigger than the Mall of America. This is located in Pasay City. From there, you can go to the Baywalk, which is usually open at nights. We have nice malls. You can find SM Department stores everywhere. If you are found of the nightlife,then go to Malate or Makati.

Go to Intramuros. WOW Philippines usually feature the different provinces in the Philippines and they have programs, usually cultural. We have nice churches in Intramuros too and nice restaurants. We had been influenced by the Spanish x 300 years.

The Philippines has 7,100 islands. Boracay, is a well known tourist spot especially for those who loves the beaches. You can hit Palawan with 2 stones, you can enjoy nature, go swimming or scuba diving.
Tagaytay or Baguio are the coolest places here in the Philippines.
Pagudpud in Ilocos has nice beaches. You can go around Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte. In Vigan, you can see the old houses there.
Cebu City and Davao City are also well known tourist destinations. However, the climate is just like Manila. It is a little bit hot.
If you want to go back in history, then go to Corregidor.

Answer 3

Hmmmmm... many, many sweet islands (7107) are waiting for an active person which also wants to learn about the uses and the culture of the Philippines...

For the Culture, you could have a very nice approach on this, on the island Cebu (many nice churches and souvenirs from the Spanish colonization)....
Last but not least if you like to dive there is a very nice and typical village called "Moalboal" known by many insiders divers from all around the world.

If you wish to dive and have a good fun too... you are almost welcome on the world famous, white sandy beaches party's in the island of Boracay (northern point of the island of Panay).

Last but not least ... if you like true & wild nature .. and one the of the most hidden blue lagoons on this world, go to El Nido on the Island of Palawan, a scuba diviers paradise also (they call it the last station, and it's really, really worth it !) .

The other good new today is that you can reach all those unforgetable islands within an hour by plane starting from Manila domestic ...and the travel period you have choosen is ideal :))

Mabuhay ! And don't miss heaven so far ...
Welcome to the Philippines.

Answer 4

It's really great to come in the Philippines. we have a lot of activities to offer like scuba diving, trekking, surfing, night life, good restaurants beaches and places to see. Late December is peak season, meaning quite expensive than other months because of long holiday due to christmas and new year vacation. If you really plan to do on that month, you need to book because now its running full. if you are interested, pls send me an email at [e-mail]. im a travel agent in the philippines.

Answer 5

The Philippines is a tropical country so the weather is great year-round. There are a lot of water sports in the beach resorts like kayaking, scuba diving etc. You can also go mountain climbing and do some hiking. Wherever you go in the Philippines, I'm sure you'll find lots of activities to do and you'll surely have a good time.

Answer 6

Well, I'm from London, UK and I'm going to the Philippines this xmas & new year.

I'm going to go to all the xmas/new year festivals in Manila and also visit my family in the province. Also mingle with the people, it's a good way to learn about the culture.

If you like rock climbing, go to rockwell, all the rich people go there. I went there 2 years ago and they have some man made walls that you can climb on. I was lucky enough to go there at the right time as they were filming a new movie.

Scuba diving, go to boracay or cebu, there are also lots of hot sexy spanish looking women there.

Answer 7

Palawan is the Island to go to. There are many things to see and do there. The Underground River, Island Hopping, Scuba Diving and much more. Just do a little research. There are expensive resorts, as well as not expensive, yet very well accomodating. You can fly out of Manila to Puerto Princesa, Palawan. Short flight!

Answer 8

I posted this to another's question, but it applies here...

Personally, when I go there, I don't spend much time in Manila. It's much more expensive, dirty, and bit dangerous (especially driving).

Sights in Manila that I found cool was the National Museum, Intramuros (old Spanish fort/walled city), and the nightlife.

Sights north of Manila include Hundred Islands, Baguio, Rice Terraces and Hanging Coffins up in the Mountain Province (very cool, but long drive). Also WWII famous places like Corregidor and Bataan are about 2 hrs drive northwest of Manila. So, you could drive on the road from Bataan to Cabanatuan (Bataan death march).

If you're headed south, you could stop at Tagaytay (volcano with lake and islands in the crater), on you way to get a boat at Batangas pier. I do that and go to Puerto Galera to scuba dive ($25 for all gear, boat , and dive master - unbeatable prices...and the divemasters are foreignors).

Boracay Island is famous for white sand beaches, but when I went the sand was brown (but it was the rainy season). Boracay is also pretty nice as it has enough bars and restaurants. One cool beach on Boracay is Puka beach, from which the semi-famous Puka shells originally came.

Cebu is said to be nice, but I wasn't impressed. From Cebu, I went up to Malapascua island. It's nice if you're with your girlfriend because it's remote, but there's nothing happening ther at night (which can be good). They have thresher sharks there.

Also I went down to Bohol, which is a nice little island. They have the smalled primate called the Tarsier. That was cool. We rented motorcycles and rode an hour up to the Chocolate Hills (brown hills in the summer).

Palawan is supposed to be very abundant with wildlife. But, it has many $200 per night per person resorts, so I've never been. But, I did go to Coron Island, Palawan (north part). That had a lot of low visiblity, Japanese WWII cargo ship wreck dives. Also, they have this lake there that has 2 different layers of water (hot, salty and cold, unsalty). I remember being under the water and half my body was in the warm water and half was cold. It was cool. Plus, there's a single Barracuda that roams that lake.

If you're white, then don't go anywhere in the Mindinao group of islands in the south. It is not safe there. There are Islamic terrorist groups there. Stay away from the south.

Answer 9

first of all, where are you coming from? flights may be quite full during those periods as there'll gonna be lots of balikbayans.

anyway, philippines consists of lotsa islands and each island has something unique to offer. if you're looking for active things to do, you could go far north (La Union) or go down south (Surigao) for those famous surfs. for diving spots, go to Batangas or Palawan!

Enjoy!

Answer 10

If you are real car rebuilder, you might also enjoy the many shop here that build cars from the ground up. You can have a min-cab made, or a jeepney, or even a WW2 style jeep made.