Best And Worst Places In Philippines

[chris49]

Carrying over my comments from the thread on Baguio.

 

So frequently the "best" places in the Philippines turn out to be the worst.

 

I was encouraged to see the "Chocolate Hills of Bohol", a naturally occurring phenomena. It was unique seeing so many small grassy hills in one area, but quite frankly that's all it was, a series of hills. And as for information about the formation, there is no proper information, "maybe under the ocean" and that's about it.

 

It leads me to think that the best places in the Philippines are still largely undiscovered, or let's say undeveloped. Once it's developed for tourism it's already on the way to being ruined.

[Dave Hounddriver]

So frequently the "best" places in the Philippines turn out to be the worst.

 

People.

 

Tourists and locals alike tend to destroy the environment.  It seems to be human nature in Philippines.  Go to a beautiful, pristine beach where there are few people and then post it on the Internet.  In a few years the sand will be half gone due to locals hauling it away in buckets to build accommodation for the tourists.  The people who come there for jobs to service the tourists will build squatters houses and trash and sewer will be everywhere.  The beaches will be loaded with pampers and dog sh&t because the people bring their dogs and babies and when they gotta go they gotta go. Etc Etc.

 

So is this a negative point of view?  Maybe.  I just see it as knowing enough to stay away from places that are listed high on Trip Adviser or have high local populations.  There are some fabulous beaches in the area that are not well publicized.  You need to go look for them because if they get published they get ruined.

[Thomas]

the smell was so bad and the streets that they drive you down where so dirty and every thing looked run down what a shame I thought with seeing all the pictures

Me too. I don't like tourist places anyway, but I thought Boracay have high standard and high prices.

[mogo51]

A few months ago, my gf and I did a trip to North Luzon and back.  Saw most of the major towns. Vigan has great buildings from the Spanish era but also so many that were falling down..  It could be a great tourist location,but they  to finish the job and improve

thel accommodation. 

Also we went to Pangasinan to 1000 Islands.  Just to get there was a hard job, local bus out somewhere near  the boats, then small

tuk tuks that you can hardly sit in to the boats.  Boats tied up against buildings, have to negotiate rails etc to get on boats and 

nearly fell overboard, boats old and smell of diesel.  Islands simply magnificent and worth the hassle.  But why don't they get their 

act together and make it a top tourist location.

As said in the post, these are but a couple of places that I  felt had unlimited potential, but totally underdone. But there was plenty of

litter everywhere.

[Gratefuled]

The "worse" places are not tourist attractions but still you get the curious ones who dare to go there to watch rare butterflies like some did recently only to be kidnapped by Muslims. I'm talking about Sulu and Basilan and basically the ARMM  soon to be BBL. The only ones that I've heard of who go there are missionaries. "Fools rush in where wise men never go".

I don't know of any "good" places for tourists. I like INTRAMUROS in Manila and Fort Santiago. I like Cebu for its old jail and the fort. It also has a nice Tao Shrine. I guess I just like historical places. The beaches in the Philippines do not compare to beaches in Hawaii, Florida or California.

Just my opinion.

[frosty (chris)]

 The beaches in the Philippines do not compare to beaches in Hawaii, Florida or California.

Just my opinion.

Must say I was underwhelmed by the beaches here also, some people rave about them, must have been spoiled living in Aus.

[chris49]

Australia does have amazing beaches, hundreds, maybe thousands of spots.

 

Philippines beaches do fall below that. Only in selected locations do you get any decent sand, the kind that kids like to play in. But I find once you get in the water in a remote undiscovered location, the actual conditions are similar. Clear water, quite safe and no apparent threat of sharks. In fact close to the shore a marked absence of any form of marine life, which is shocking in itself.

 

I live in an area where there's no actual pollution. But some littering of course, quite low impact littering, but it's always there.

 

Some people do rave about Boracay, Palawan, Cloud 9 down in Surigao, Pagudpud here up north. But what are they actually raving about. All those places have deluxe resorts fronting onto the ocean, so if you could afford it, who wouldn't like that?

 

Crazy. For an island location, most Filipinos have no idea how to swim. There idea of going to the beach (the girls) is to run into the water fully clothed and run back out again. Imagine that in Australia, people would fall down laughing.

 

I like where I live. But that comes with zero nightlife, no nighttime entertainment, so I guess some people do want that.

[scott h]

Once it's developed for tourism it's already on the way to being ruined.

 

So is this a negative point of view?

No. Just realistic Dave.

 

We first went to Boracay in 1998. My god, what a great place, slow, sleepy, nice beaches, easy beach access, friendly locals. Returned there 3 more times every 3 years or so. Like most places, it never lives up to the 1st impression. Over the years it grew more crowded, more commercialized. Ease of access to the beach was blocked a bit each visit due to more and more bars. The crowd grew younger and younger. So that now its like a year round "spring break". Sad actually they put up new bars and restros like Sari Sari stores. If he is doing good, and I put one up I must do well also :hystery:  :hystery: . First visit the water was crystal clear, last visit there was algae growing every where. Not only will we not be going back, we recommend that our friends and relations who hear about it (online naturally or the tellie) don't go there.

 

I like INTRAMUROS in Manila and Fort Santiago

 

Gratefuled, I think by the tone of your post, you and I like the same things. Look into Casa De Filipinas, I have a post about it somewhere here. Really great historical site (If your near Bataan that is). But better hurry, it is being used to host part of the upcoming Asean conference. Once the word gets out, who knows what might happen :tiphat: .

[Kuya John]

I was encouraged to see the "Chocolate Hills of Bohol", a naturally occurring phenomena. It was unique seeing so many small grassy hills in one area, but quite frankly that's all it was, a series of hills.

My wife and I try to see somewhere different each trip back "home"

Two places stand out in my mind and that's a Palawan Tour and a two day tour of Bohol from Dumaguete.

Surprised you were not impressed with Bohol Chris, we saw the hills and other sight's including a buffet trip along the river which in it's self was well worth the price, on board was great food, pulling in at times to watch bamboo pole dancing and music, stayed over night at Panglo beach resort. Boracay was good but very commercialised, Cebu island hopping is good fun for a day out, still many more places to see and looking forward to the next time. (Oslob whale sharks maybe) I know some people object to the commercialising there too, but that is bringing trade to the area.

Edited August 27, 2015 by Kuya John

[chris49]

 

I was encouraged to see the "Chocolate Hills of Bohol", a naturally occurring phenomena. It was unique seeing so many small grassy hills in one area, but quite frankly that's all it was, a series of hills.

My wife and I try to see somewhere different each trip back "home"

Two places stand out in my mind and that's a Palawan Tour and a two day tour of Bohol from Dumaguete.

Surprised you were not impressed with Bohol Chris, we saw the hills and other sight's including a buffet trip along the river which in it's self was well worth the price, on board was great food, pulling in at times to watch bamboo pole dancing and music, stayed over night at Panglo beach resort. Boracay was good but very commercialised, Cebu island hopping is good fun for a day out, still many more places to see and looking forward to the next time. (Oslob whale sharks maybe) I know some people object to the commercialising there too, but that is bringing trade to the area.

 

 

I took the buffet cruise and ended up singing a few songs with the combo. Sorry to say, very highly unimpressed. Might have been my mood though, I was with my ex partner and a group of her friends and did not miss a photo opportunity, to the point of being way over the top, even grabbing strangers, foreigners of course to get in the picture.

 

We did visit Panglo Resort I think it was. 700 per head for a Day Pass which included lunch vouchers, yes it was very very nice until those bus loads of Chinese tourists started arriving, wow, they got so excited over a simple beach. Just the kind of thing I cannot stand.

 

Kuya John, the one thing I liked about Bohol was the people. Totally unintrusive and behaved very conservatively even when dealing with tourists.

 

On the Chocolate Hills, you would have to explain to me what you saw, I saw a few hundred grassy mounds, that's all.