Best Place To Live/visit In The Phillipines?

Great stuff! So if I head your direction, does everyone fly into Manila and then transport from there, or are there many airports?

 

for one person that would be living large lol

 

You can make a connecting flight to any destination from Manila, most cities in the provinces have domestic airports

 

I think they were referencing living in the touristy areas comfortably. But still very good to hear!

 

i'm going for 4 weeks in December...will report with my findings


i might end up moving there myself lol

 

Whereabouts are you headed? I might be there

 

I will be in Manila for a couple of days then me and the fellas will be in Cebu for a week...then we're gonna go to Pampanga and then off to a place called Ormoc

 

Sirron's liver and cholesterol would hate meeting me

 

What is balut?

I have a two beer limit lol. Went to 3 one time, but a light weight on alcohol.


Edit***
I looked up balut, and that's a solid no for me lol. Bleh!!

 

that's when we up your beer limit to 5

 

If you don't want to go far from the metro area, I would suggest Tagaytay in the province of Cavite, south of Manila. it's about a 2 hour drive from the Metro Manila area. Cooler weather, mountainous region, fresher smelling air... and the view of Taal Lake. Gorgeous!

I used to live in the same province before we moved here to Canada. I love the area when I was growing up. It was definitely not crowded, we had a much stronger sense of community and there were lots of green and rolling hills abound throughout our neighborhood.

Puerto Princesa in Palawan way further down south is also a great place to visit (though I haven't been there myself). Boracay is a very popular tourist destination - one of the country's most famous beaches really. But since it's so well-known it can get crowded.

Up north, Zambales is also a great place to see.

I really want to go back there again. The last time I was there in '06, all I did was stay in the Metro Manila area and visit the malls almost every day just to cool down (went in the summer months. So damn hot!). However, with the crazy political scene the country is going thru right now, I'm not so sure a visit is in place any time soon.

And yes sirron... you have to try balut! With a bottle of San Miguel Beer!

 

My advice is to go on vacation first before making any plans for moving there. Make sure you can deal with the terrible traffic, terrible internet speeds, and depending on the season the weather will be bad.

You should try balut and dinuguan.

 

Wow. I didn't know there were so many Filipinos here posting. I'm from Orange County but I currently live in Manila for school. I never check this part of the message board, sorry I didn't reply sooner!

If you do decide to visit Manila: Terrible traffic with the exception of Sundays. It takes 45 mins just to get ANYWHERE, and if your driver is dumb enough to take EDSA (a "highway" of sorts, and I use that term loosely) you're liable to sit in traffic for 2 hours, easily. Many people live outside of the city and commute into Manila. If you were to stay in Manila I'd suggest Makati or BGC (Bonifacio Global City). The comforts of the US are found there. I'd also suggest using Uber getting around Manila. It actually works quite well here, and it's criminally cheap. None of my rides are more than 8-9 bucks for what would easily be 14-20 dollar rides in the states. Typically I spend 150 php (about 3-4 bucks) getting across town in an Uber. Most drivers I encounter can speak English fairly well too. Cabs? Not so much lol. Plus, the Uber drivers use Waze so you avoid the most time consuming traffic. Most cabs do not. Aside from the crappy traffic, there are a lot of perks. The food and booze is cheap and the people are very nice. You will not meet as many people as you would here.

Outside of Manila, the destinations vary wildly. 1000s of islands literally, and many places to visit. The description of Boracay may seem too "commercial", but honestly, I think it fits the description of what you might be looking for. IMO, it's a must visit for newcomers, gives you a good introduction to PI beaches.

After that, there are countless beaches out there and it really comes down to amount comfort vs. remoteness that you prefer.

Internet just sucks out here. No way around it. I have a home service which is halfway decent, but if you're trying to be mobile, get a pocket wifi device.

edited due to wall of text. lol

 

@pound4pound how about an update?

I'm in another country at the moment, but have this on the list to look at again tomorrow. Curious about your experience. Have definitely appreciated everyone's input here. I'm in a spanish speaking country, and am at a kindergarten speaking level, so it can make life a little more complicated.

 

JUST saw this now, bud

it was the fastest 4 weeks of my life...it was definitely a blast

the one thing that i will say , and it pains me since im a Manila guy, Cebu > Manila

from the traffic, the friendliness and hell, even the internet seemed much better there

thats the city aspect..i do recommend you enjoy the beauty of the islands and visit the vacation spots ie. Boracay, Palawan etc

i spent some time in the cities, vacation spots and provinces and its definitely a change of pace

 

Sounds like Manila may be worth s visit at some point, but sounds pretty crazy. Thanks for the input!