While most people head south for Palawan, consider this adventurous itinerary. From Manila, take a six-hour bus journey to the legendary Mt Pulag and the truly stunning sea of clouds. Not quite a mountain, the trek to the summit is typically done over two days and is very, very easy.
Continue on to Sagada, a 4-hour bus journey afterward for some non-stop adventure. Go hiking and camping in the hills, try your hand at rock climbing, visit Bokong Falls or the eerie hanging coffins a local tradition.
For even more of an adrenaline rush, make sure to go caving and spelunking in the surrounding caves. The most popular is the Cave Connection tour, which takes you from Lumiang Cave through Sumaguing Cave.
From Singapore there're thousands of islands to choose from, but you can spend your lifetime in the Philippines and never see it all. If you can stay for more than a month, you should be able to visit at least most of the major tourist hotspots. That said, it will require some careful planning and might prove to be quite intensive. With seven thousand islands to explore, backpacking the Philippines is a different experience from travelling around the rest of South East Asia. The Philippines is a vast country stretching across the North Pacific Ocean; a land of pirates and smugglers, ancient tribes and mysterious jungles, active volcanoes and chocolate hills, epic parties, and uninhabited islands. You simply cannot go wrong with backpacking in The Philippines.
