Philippines

Once the hub of a booming sugar industry, these days Bacolod is known for its food and convenience as a transport hub. There are a few sights of historic interest and good restaurants, and it's a useful base for Mt Kanlaon Natural Park or the nearby historic district of Silay.

This sprawling city – the culinary, cultural, economic and commercial capital of the south – is, for better or worse, becoming more like Manila. More traffic, more malls, more multinationals, more subdivisions hidden behind security gates. However, Mt Apo looms majestically in the distance, symbolizing the typical Davaoeño's dual citizenship as both an urbanite and someone deeply rooted to the land outside the city. Locals know that Davao (dah-bow, and sometimes spelled “Dabaw”) has more than enough action to keep them satisfied, and yet it’s only a short drive or boat ride from forested slopes and white-sand beaches.

Those looking for the perfect beach destination will love Bantayan Island. Its blinding white-sand beaches are some of Cebu's very best and the island's mellow, easygoing vibe is highly seductive. With little traffic, it's a wonderful place to explore by scooter – circumnavigating the coastline makes a fine day out. Offshore there's a blissful tropical islet, deservedly popular as a day-trip destination. However, Bantayan does not have any rewarding dive sites and the snorkelling is pretty limited too.

Sitting among mist-shrouded mountains, tiny Sagada is the closest thing the Philippines has to a Southeast Asian backpacker hub, yet it's possible to find tranquillity along its many hiking trails and get your adrenalin pumping on adventures in the depths of its caves. There's a mystical element to this village, a former refuge for intelligentsia fleeing dictatorship: the centuries-old coffins high up along limestone cliffs lie close to the sky, and days and nights are peaceful thanks to the lack of tricycles or much other traffic.

The capital of Aklan Province, Kalibo is primarily an alternative port of entry to Boracay and the site of the granddaddy of all Philippine festivals, the raucous Ati-Atihan Festival in January. At other times of the year it’s a fairly typical loud and congested Philippine provincial city draped in spaghetti-like electrical lines.

This is the Philippine's upland, pine-clad retreat from the heat and dust of the lowlands, albeit not a very tranquil one. Baguio (bah-gee-oh) is a university town that boasts one of the Philippines’ largest student populations (250,000) and is also a crossroads between hill tribe culture and lowland settlers. For most travelers, Baguio serves as the primary gateway to backpacker bliss up north in Sagada, Banaue and Kalinga.

The word most often associated with Samar is 'rugged'. It has a heavily forested, virtually impenetrable interior, around which runs a beautiful coastline of turquoise bays, secret surf breaks, towering cliffs and sandy beaches. Not surprisingly, Samar tends to draw a more adventurous tourist – the spelunker; the canyoner; the diehard surfer looking for an undiscovered break. Transport connections are quite good between the main towns, but to really explore Samar, a motorbike and lack of time pressure are ideal. The main language of Samar is Waray-Waray.

To many travellers, North Luzon is simply the Cordillera. These spiny mountains, which top out at around 2900m, are beloved, worshipped and feared in equal doses by those who witness them and those who live among them.

Bohol offers independent travellers a wealth of options both on and off the beaten track. This island province is promoted almost exclusively through images of cute bug-eyed tarsiers and the majestic Chocolate Hills, but there's much more to experience. Offshore there's superb diving, and when you throw in jungle-fringed rivers perfect for kayaking and paddle-boarding and pristine white-sand beaches it's easy to understand the Bohol appeal.

Just a few hours’ travel from Manila, this gorgeous collection of bays and islands is one of the country’s top dive destinations. Puerto Galera is Spanish for “port of the galleons”. Its deep natural harbor, sheltered on all sides, was a favored anchorage well before the Spanish arrived in 1572, and today it remains a favored anchorage for long-term yachties and short-term vacationers.