Philippines

The Philippines is a country of more than 7000 islands, of beautiful beaches and turquoise water.

We started our wanderings in the Philippines in Boracay, an island regularly named one of the most beautiful in the world, and found the ‘world’s best beach’. We snorkelled off the coast, took an e-trike across the island and indulged in a massage or two.

In Cebu, we swapped beach tours for a city tour and found a temple built for love, a Chinese temple and the oldest homes in Cebu. We wandered through a fort and a cathedral and travelled high into the hills to a lookout with views across the city.

On Camotes Islands, a group of islands off the coast of Cebu, we chilled out in a hut on the beach, saw starfish and sea urchins, and swam with brightly coloured fish and giant turtles.

We swam in oceans and caves, jumped off large rocks and discovered hidden beaches.

We made new friends who invited us home for dinner with the family where they cooked fish beside the sea and took us out at sunset for a cruise in a traditional Filipino boat.

We were ‘blessed’ by a young girl who took our hands and held them to her forehead, and were given fresh coconuts by a man who Ade had stopped to photograph in his rice fields.

On Panglao Island we found a busy tourist city and yet more beautiful beaches, we went in search of butterflies and snakes, wandered through a man-made forest and found a tiny primate that looks like Yoda, or a mogwai, or both. We visited hills that look like chocolate and a giant cathedral.

And everywhere we went we found Filipino people with big smiles who stopped to stay hello.

We’ve only made it to nine of those 7000+ islands that make up the Philippines so far – still so many to go.

Who’s coming with us? We promise lots of swimming and walks along beautiful beaches…