More what? More fun? More destinations outside of the usual
“If you think you’ve seen it all, you ain’t seen nothing yet,” Captain Foley tells the player character and the rest of the company in the first mission in the first Call of Duty game, a game based on hit war flicks from the last century and early 2000s: Band of Brothers, A Bridge Too Far, and Enemy at the Gates.
While we live in thankfully relatively peaceful times, that quote could very well apply to travelers. A lot of destinations come to mind when the Philippines is mentioned. Think Boracay for beaches, Sagada for alpine adventure, and Cebu for an empire state of mind, but with 7,641 islands, there really is a lot more to see.
If you’re the type to try everything on the menu of your favorite restaurant, if you trust that the bestsellers simply point the way to hidden gems and secret menus, then you’re in luck. The same could be said of destinations around the country, where the best simply leads to better.
While not an exhaustive list, consider these good places to start, especially as these are familiar, but oft-overlooked locales. This is a list of places I’ve spent substantial amounts of time in, ranging between a week to a month, and I’m sure you, dear reader, also have places which you wish more people celebrated.
Puerto Princesa, Palawan
The provincial capital is often the starting hub for tourists heading to El Nido or Coron but why not turn the city into a destination unto itself? A microcosm of the country’s multicultural and natural heritage, Puerto Princesa has literally everything from urban creature comforts to mountains for trail running and hiking, caves for spelunking, pristine community beaches, mangroves, a large underground river.While listed as a city, much of Puerto’s natural beauty remains within its jurisdiction, and well-preserved at that. In fairness, these features are already popular tourist draws, like the Underground River.
Among these, worth checking out is the community-managed Ugong Rock tour, a textbook example of inclusive, equitable tourism where decisions are made by a cooperative of residents instead of an outside agency. Puerto may just be the next gastronomic destination in the coming years. Owing to its Vietnamese heritage, particularly to the refugees from the Indochina wars who found sanctuary in the city, pho and banh mi are as common in Puerto Princesa as mami and pan de sal are in other Philippine cities.
In fact, the Filipino counterparts might be harder to find. Such is the ubiquity of the Vietnamese presence on Puerto’s identity. Trike drivers, office workers, and students all can be found eating at chaolongan run by either Vietnamese-Filipinos or pure Filipinos. There are local and international options. Notable examples include Neva’s for its brick oven pizza, Cuyonon specialties, and garden dining, Haim Chicken Inato for Palawan’s unique grilled chicken dish, and Palaweño Brewery, where you can finish (or start?) the night, serving craft beer with a brew notably made in partnership with honey ethically-sourced from indigenous groups.
Camiguin Island
When people think of island escapes where nature reigns, Bohol or Batanes come to mind.But this island province has its own distinct offerings.The smallest province next to the Batanes islands, Camiguin is a mountain range surrounded by white sand beaches. At the center of the island is the Hibok-hibok protected landscape, consisting of lush jungles and different peaks centered around Mount Hibok-hibok, in truth a volcano whose geothermal output creates natural hot springs. Natural and man-made coexist as there are also designated cultural heritage sites consisting of heritage houses and churches.
Only 10 kilometers from the northern Mindanao coast, Camiguin is often accessed by ferry. Visitors can start on one end of the island, trek through Hibok-hibok with the help of local guides, reach the peak and have lunch by noon, and traverse the mountain, ideally at the site where the hot springs resort is located.
A more relaxed adventure awaits the next day, where one can book a bangka to white island, a sandbar where local fishermen hawk fresh catch as snacks that are often premium elsewhere, like assorted sea urchin. More seafood awaits on the mainland, as it is arguably one locale serving the freshest shellfish in the Philippines as the island-province contains a clam sanctuary.
Sportier visitors might want to haul their bicycles or running shoes, as the province’s 64-kilometer national road, which encircles the island, offers scenic routes on smooth asphalt from end-to-end.
The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page. —St. Augustine
Bonus: places others have begun raving about (and analogous places)
1) The Cuyo Islands – South of Puerto Princesa, this archipelago boasts of pristine beaches and centuries-old architecture as the former provincial capitol of Palawan, likely selected for being away from the monsoon typhoon route. Many of Puerto Princesa’s oldest families trace their roots here, and the islands have a distinct culinary heritage.
2) Baler, Aurora – While notably a historical site for a Katipunero siege that trapped Spanish loyalists well until the Filipino-American as popularized in the eponymous movie, word-of-mouth has it that its distance from big urban centers and topography make both an emerging beach escape and surfing destination.
3) Laguna de Bay’s lakeside towns – One doesn’t often need to go far to escape. As cycling becomes more and more popular, why not take a weekend idyll in the form of a tour-de-Laguna?Approximately 200 kilometers end-to-end, from the Jala-Jala peninsula all the way to Laguna province’s towns and back to either Taguig or Pasig, depending on your starting point, much of the natural beauty remains, evoking scenes in the waterscapes of Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, later of Juvenal Sanso, and of course, Amorsolo.Bed and breakfasts can be rented, enabling cyclists to pedal at a leisurely pace, taking everything in.
It’s more fun if we…
As the years go by, with hope, we’ll have to use less analogies and mention these places directly. Of course, as these destinations draw more in, the risks associated with overcrowding, commercialization, and gentrification also increase. Aside from clamoring for more visitors, we should also make efforts to preserve the natural and communal beauty of these underrated locales. As we’re all co-creators of travel, let’s leave nothing but a better place for those coming after us, taking nothing for ourselves but memories.