Plan your Philippines itinerary and flights

Planning our Philippines itinerary with so many beautiful places to go was more difficult than shortlisting that once in a life time resort for our trip to Maldives. Located some 5,500 Kms away from India with more than 7,500 islands, Philippines is definitely worth exploring for its simplicity, beautiful landscapes and amazing hospitality. Not an usual tourist destination with fellow Indians and travel agents this country should be a must go on your travel list. For Vegeterians, Vegans and Jain’s  you wont go hungry a single day with plenty of options available everywhere.

Hanging Bridge in Bohol Philippines

How we decided to travel to Philippines?

Earlier I would check the world map and then look at flights on various websites before finalising the place to travel, but nowadays with the Google Flights Search the task has become much more easier and less tedious. (Learn more about finding best rates and dates on the Google Flight Search)

I started looking more into Philippines when I came across a Singapore airlines return flight from Mumbai to Cebu only for INR 19,000. Initial research did bother me about Philippines because of the recent terrorist attacks and natural calamities (earthquake & tsunami in Davao). However, once I started looking more into the facts and  I was convinced 110% about visiting Philippines and exploring its greatness.  

Best months to visit Philippines?

December to February are considered the best months to visit Philippines.

How many days was our trip?

We planned a 8 day trip in the first week of Feb 2019.  The weather was simply amazing!

Would suggest avoiding the dates of Chinese New Year as hotel prices are soared to more than double during this time. (We did miss on wonderful properties like Shangri La, Crimson, Movenpick due to the same)

How many of us?

We were 8 adults and 1 infant, my son who was 10 months old during the trip.

Which all cities did we travel in Philippines?

Given the limited amount of time, we planned our trip for

4 nights in Cebu, 

2 nights in Puerto Princessa, Palawan and 

2 nights in Manila.

We so wanted to go to Boracay, El nido and Coron as well, but considering our baby was only 10 months, the huge time of travel between Puerto Princessa and El nido and lack of direct internal flights between Boracay and Puerto Princessa we came up with the above itinerary.

All 3 places we skipped are definitely on my wish list and I will definitely go back sometime soon in the future. 

If you are traveling for a longer period of time I would definitely suggest you plan your Philippines trip starting from Boracay - (Direct fligfht) - Cebu - (Direct flight) - Puerto Princessa - (By road) - El nido - (By Ferry) - Coron (Direct flight) - Manila. 

You can travel the circle or one leg of the trip if you have less days (like us) depending on where you find cheapest flights for arrival and departure with google flights or skyscanner.

What flights did we book?

Mumbai to Philippines flights:

 A multi-destination itinerary would best suit your travel plan to Philippines.

The onward flight we chose was from Mumbai to Cebu and return from Manila to Mumbai both via Singapore. We got an amazing price on www.MakeMyTrip.com with additional discount of 10% with SBI Visa Signature Card. This was a steal of a deal with return flight only for INR 21,500 and that too with Singapore Airlines. Our total cost of travel for return was less than Rs. 2 per km plus we got 20 Singapore Dollars each during transit at Singapore - Changi Airport to avail some duty free shopping (Free Lindt!).  

The entire experience with Singapore Airlines was amazing starting with the comfort for our infant, great service from staff and great inflight entertainment.

‘Read More about our experience with Singapore Airlines and how to avail 20 Singapore Dollars during your transit flight.’

There are no direct flights to Philippines, though they have announced to start direct flights from Mumbai and Delhi soon. The only way for us to reach Philippines is via a transit through another airport like Singapore, Hong Kong or Thailand. You could easily plan a layover at any of the airport. Singapore airport even provides free city tours if you have a longer layover. 

There are some very cheap fares you might get on budget airlines like Scoot and Air Asia when you fly from cities like Chennai or Hyderabad.  Just make sure you check the baggage allowances whether covered or not in that price beefore you make your final booking. 

If you are traveling from one domestic city to another before boarding the international flight try getting a multi destination ticket starting from your point of origin this will help you save a lot of time in transit at next airport plus make you eligible in most of the cases for the luggage allowance of your international flight. 

If you have an infant with you Singapore airlines allows you advanced seat selection for all passengers in the PNR for free of charge! Read about the best seat to choose in Singapore Airlines.

Philippines internal flights: 

One of the reasons why we decided to drop El Nido and Boracay was internal flights! There are direct flights from Cebu to Boracay but if you wish to go to Puerto Princessa, Palawan you have to come all the way back to Cebu and take another flight to Puerto Princessa, additional hassle plus your entire day goes wasted! There are direct flights to El nido managed by some private carriers but those are really expensive, plus delayed and the road journey from Puerto Princessa to El nido is almost 6-7 hours which could not fit into our plan.

I found Skyscanner website showing all options (Air Asia, PAL express, Cebu Pacific and Sky Jet) as compared to google flights for internal flights in Philippines. 

Most of the Indian sites showed rates without luggage or limited flight options and were very expensive. 

Goibibo website was showing rates similar to what we could score on the Domestic Philippines websites and also had the provision to add luggage for some low cost flights. The only drawback with Goibibo was we could not book a ticket with infant as the Cebu pacific flight we wanted to book would simply disappear, I am not sure whether it was a technical glitch or some restriction, however would recommend you look at the prices on Goibibo before purchasing your internal flight tickets in Philippines. 

Thus both our internal flights from Cebu to Puerto Princessa and Puerto Princessa to Manila were booked on Cebu Pacific Air website. We chose to fly with this airline as their rates were better and inclusive of 20kg luggage for 2 pieces.

Read More about our experience and review of  Cebu Pacific Air.

If you have any queries or suggestions please leave a comment below, you can also email me on vegyatri@gmail.com.

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