Despite recent typhoons, volcanic eruptions and unrest in the south, Helen Raine encourages budget travellers to consider the Philippines with an exciting four-week itinerary.

The Philippines is often overlooked as a backpacker destination, making it a great place to go if you’re feeling jaded with the ‘gringo trail’ approach to travelling.

Although the country is still recovering from the devastating typhoon of last year, only six of more than 7,000 islands were hit, meaning that lots of places were entirely undamaged.

Even those in direct path of the storm are recovering; the local people need the eco-nomic lifeline that tourism provides more than ever.

If you still have any lingering doubts about going, let them be swept away with one look at a picture of El Nido on Palawan island, the Chocolate Hills of Bohol island or the Banaue rice terraces in Luzon.

This is an unparalleled destination for backpackers with a very different vibe from the rest of Asia.

Getting there

The Philippines is made up of three main island groups: the northern chain is Luzon, the central one is the Visayas and the southern section is called Mindanao (the latter is currently not recommended for travel by the UK foreign office, although the Maltese Ministry for Foreign Affairs has no such advisory).

Getting between island groups can be a little challenging even if you fly, but it’s all part of the fun (just don’t board ferries which look clearly overloaded and check the weather forecast before you go as they may still sail in treacherous conditions).

Although the capital of Manila is in the north, you may want to seriously consider ar-riving at Mactan-Cebu International Airport in Lapu-Lapu City.

Scruffy Manila makes a poor first impression and is short on sights, whereas central Cebu in the Visayas archipelago is a daydream of beaches and ocean activities.

Flights from Malta cost from €1,080 in low season with Air Malta and Korean Air (www.expedia.com). Budgeting up to €25 per day should cover basic food and accommodation in most locations, but you’ll need more for internal flights, tours and buses. A two-hour domestic flight costs around €100 when booked in advance.

Week One

Cebu Island is the hub of the Visayas archipelago. You’ll see vestiges of Spanish rule almost straight away in the fiestas, colonial architecture and ancient stone churches.

While you’re wandering, take in Magellan’s cross, purportedly put there by Ferdinand Magellan, the first European to visit the Philippines, bringing Christianity in his wake.

There’s also the 16th-century Fort San Pedro and two megamalls in case you forgot to pack anything. But don’t dally here; there’s too much to do outside the city.

Mactan island is a good starting point for island hopping. At the nearby Olango Island Wildlife Sanctuary, late summer delivers an avian spectacle as thousands of migratory birds arrive.

They stay to feed and rest in the mangroves and mudflats. Highlights include Chinese egrets, Asiatic dowitchers and eastern curlews.

Mabini is a great spot for diving and boasts plenty of sharks. Santa Rosa has incredible coral and at Baring, there’s an impressive deep wall dive.

One of the perfect beaches of Boracay island.One of the perfect beaches of Boracay island.

Once you’ve found your Philippine feet, go west to Boracay for seven kilometres’ worth of sand, palms, sea and sun. It’s a familiar drill, but Boracay does it in charming, relaxed style, without the nasty, high-rise apartments that blight similar resorts elsewhere.

You can take out a catamaran, kayak, snorkel or swim from the white sand of the cunningly named White Beach.

Adrenaline junkies should try windsurfing and kiteboarding on the higher waves of Bulabog beach.

The island is surrounded by reef, so the 25 dive sites are really excellent too. To access the island you’ll need to take a short boat ride from Caticlan on Panay island.

The Chocolate Hills in Bohol.The Chocolate Hills in Bohol.

Bohol island should be your next stop, principally for the Chocolate Hills. See a photo of these domes in the wet season and the name won’t make much sense, but in the dry season, the vegetation goes brown and they look exactly like an endless landscape of truffles.

Either way, they’re weirdly fascinating and shouldn’t be missed.

Bohol is home to the bizarre primate species called tarsiers.Bohol is home to the bizarre primate species called tarsiers.

Bohol is also home to the tarsiers: little nocturnal creatures with gigantic eyes that don’t move in their sockets. Instead, their heads rotate 180°.

They are very cryptic in the wild, hiding in trees, but don’t do well in captivity, so visit the Philippine Tarsier Foundation in Corella, where they are working to save the species and have some to view in their natural environment.

Elsewhere, refuse any offers to handle or photograph captive animals.

Dinner is on the Loboc River tonight aboard a floating restaurant. The food is usually excellent and watching the river scenery float by as you eat is a pretty magical experi-ence. Watch out for daredevil kids who will dive-bomb into the water from coconut trees.

Round up your week with a trip across the bridge to Panglao island for more rest and relaxation on the beach under a thatched umbrella and a spot of dolphin watching if you’re lucky.

Week Two

Head west now to Palawan, a long exclamation mark of an isle. It’s regularly voted one of the best islands in the world by, well, just about every travel magazine worth its salt.

That’s because of its grandiose, white sand beaches and island-hopping opportunities that include Rasa Island Bird Sanctuary (home of the critically endangered Philippine cockatoo) and Arena Island Turtle Sanctuary, as well as a host of smaller, uninhabited islands dotted along the long sliver of Palawan’s coastline.

Touring them on a paraw, the traditional Filipino sailboat, feels like entering a different time.

Visitors on a boat at the Subterranean River in Puerto Princessa.Visitors on a boat at the Subterranean River in Puerto Princessa.

The island capital is Puerto Princesa, the ‘city in a forest’. It’s a good jumping-off point for island-hopping Honda bay.

A classic Honda tour will take in four islands in a day or overnight trip. The Pambato reef is protected and boasts incredible fish and coral life.

Non-divers can try ‘hookah diving’, essentially an air line system that runs from a floating tank (the equipment is light enough to take with you in a kayak).

On your return to the city, make time for the Bahay Kalipay raw food and retreat house (www.bahaykalipay.com).

It is 20 minutes from the airport and all about good food, yoga and detoxing. You can go just for the day or stay longer to feel the full benefit.

Palawan, a long exclamation mark of an isle, is regularly voted one of the best islands in the world by, well, just about every travel magazine

It’s hard to imagine a more magical experience than watching fireflies while floating through bioluminescent water, and the firefly watching tour on the Iwahig River delivers in spades.

A boatman will guide you through the mangrove trees to the blinking fireflies beneath a starry, starry night (€10). Take up the offer of a seafood dinner afterwards.

An absolute can’t-leave-until-you’ve-done-it sight is the eight-kilometre Puerto Princesa Subterranean River, a Unesco World Heritage Site that is navigable for about 1.5km, provided you don’t mind floating underneath a mountain range for kilometres.

It’s easiest to book a tour with a travel agent, who will take care of your permit.

The surrounding area is a biodiversity haven with 195 species of birds alone and you can walk back to Sabang on the five-kilometre jungle trail to catch a glimpse of the native wildlife.

Week Three

Twenty kilometres from Sabang is Ugong Rock, a limestone formation that has great views and some exciting trekking to get there, including ropes, wooden bridges and tunnels. For about €8 you can take a tour which includes trekking, spelunking and a zipline.

Three hours north from the city, you’ll find Port Barton, an idyllic backpacker hangout for swimming, diving, snorkelling and the ancient art of swinging in a hammock.

Limestone fingers topped with verdant forest rise out of the sea at El Nido, Palawan.Limestone fingers topped with verdant forest rise out of the sea at El Nido, Palawan.

Head on to El Nido to see sculpted limestone fingers topped with verdant forest rising out of the sea. Approaching a local boatman will probably work out cheaper than booking a tour package.

From El Nido you can go overland and by sea to reach Coron Bay in the far north.

You’ll find some incredible wreck diving at one of the best dive sites in the world.

Whale sharks are known to come to the Philippines too, so take the plunge. Diving with them is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Back in the south, three hours from Puerto Princesa and accessed via Quezon, the Tabon cave complex should be high on your list of must-dos. Skeletons of the oldest Homo Sapiens in Southeast Asia, dating back 47,000 years, were discovered in some of the 200 caves honeycombed into Lipuun Point.

Tourists can usually visit around eight caves. A van to the access town of Quezon costs €2 from Puerto Princesa and tours can be arranged at the National Museum Branch on +63 9217633824.

Week Four

Give your last week over to Luzon island. You might need to sashay into Manila because of the flight connections, but get out again as quickly as you can and head south to the world’s smallest active volcano.

The diminutive Taal is the Russian doll of volcanoes, inside a lake inside a volcano.

The Pagsanjan Falls make a great backpacker story. You need to canoe up the Bumbungan and Balanac Rivers to get there and are then hauled in on a rickety raft of bamboo to get close to the thundering waterfall and the Devil’s Cave.

The return journey involves 14 rapids through stunning riverine scenery. You can also hike to the falls from the town of Cavinti, down 500 steps and two vertical ladders.

Nearby, you’ll find Paete, the ‘carving capital of the Philippines’. It’s a good place to buy wood or taka (papier-mâché) souvenirs.

Going to the southeast of Luzon, the picture-perfect volcano of Mount Mayon offers misty trekking on rough and stony trails. Take local advice before you go, as the volcano has been puffing menacingly of late. Last year five climbers died when it erupted.

Returning to Manila, go north to the cooler Cordillera region. There are many different ethnic groups in this area and their cultural mélange makes for a fascinating experience.

It’s also a nice antidote to the ‘tropical paradise’ cliché.

One of the main attractions is the Banaue rice terraces. It’s an eight-hour journey from Manila, much of it on stunning and often scary mountain roads, but so worth it. Their formation is nothing short of art as well as being a feat of pre-colonial engineering.

Nearby Sagada is famous for its hanging coffins, a funeral custom there. The coffins are often carved from a single piece of wood and lie on wooden planks sticking out of cliff walls or sit in natural depressions in the rock.

Traditionally, this was thought to protect the bodies from being taken by animals or damaged by water and to lift souls closer to heaven.

While you’re in this neck of the woods, finish up with the Vigan Heritage Village to ensure you’ve covered colonial architecture. Streets of Spanish-style houses in this Unesco World Heritage centre look like they have barely changed since they were built.

The Philippines may not be the easiest country to get around, and away from the tourist centres, it can be blighted by pollution and overcrowding.

But in the far-flung sprinkles of remote islands and the hills of the Cordillera, you’ll be travelling the road less travelled. This is backpacking as it used to be.

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