Hi there,

I have travelled to the Philippines this summer and it was amazing. Luckily I went before the rain started. I would fly to Manila and stay there for 2 days and then head to the islands. I stayed at the H2O Hotel at Ocean Park that was nice. Manila is very crowded but is nice to have a look around the city such as the Green Belt Mall at Makati. We travelled from Manila to El Nido Palawan and stayed there for 10 days. There are only charter flights going to El Nido. We booked our air tickets with ITI - Island Transvoyager with the El Nido Boutique and Art Cafe (http://elnidoboutiqueandartcafe.com/TravelCenter.html). The El Nido Boutique and Art Cafe is also doing all the tour arrangements. Me and my friends did all of them - well worth it.
As for the accommodation we stayed at Ipil Travel Lodge - which is the newest accommodation in town. It is very clean and only 2 min from the beach. The link is: www.ipiltravelodge.com or facebook http://www.facebook.com/IPILTravelodge.

After El Nido You can head to Puerto Princesa, 2 days seems to be enough there. The world famous undergroud river is the main highlight. http://www.visitpuertoprincesa.com/. The El Nido Boutique and Art Cafe can arrange the transportation for you. There are various options available.

Another intersting place is Bohol. http://www.bohol.ph/
We did not have time to visit that island during our trip, but it is on our list for the next visit.

I hope that helps. We had a great time there.

I had a nice trip to the Philippines a few years ago. You can click on my name to find the trip report. But I visited Manila (staying in Makati), Bohol, Cebu, and Borocay. I'd put all four of those on your list if you have the time ... and El Nido as well.

I'd also make sure you have enough time to take a day-trip to Villa Escudero, which I thoroughly enjoyed, if only to have the lunch at the base of the waterfall. Tal Volcano is another nice destination. I didn't have time to do much exploring on Luzon, but there's so much more to see there.

I do think you could have a nice 2-week trip, or 3 weeks if you have the time, and you'd probably want to add on a side-trip to wherever your ancestral region of the country is if it's not already on the list. The country is certainly deserving of a more relaxed exploration. I went in early October and found the weather still very rainy.

I had the luxury of in-laws there, so we had people to take us places in Manila and around, but we did the rest of the trip on our own and had no trouble navigating things. If you know even a bit of Tagalog, it will help.