1

Cebu City and surrounding area will give you everything you are seeking, including 3 casinos. However, if your friends are not in Cebu City, there is no point flying into Cebu.

My suggestion is fly into Manila and visit Angeles or vice versa. That will easily take up your 4 days.

There are casinos in Manila too.

2

If you're going to both Manila and Angeles and you want to stay in the same kind of region, maybe go south to Tagaytay (Taal Volcano) then onto Puerto Galera in Mindoro for beaches. Neither's not too far from Manila.

Or you could go west from Angeles to Zambales, there's quite a few nice quiet beaches and islands there such as Potipot Island, Capones Island, Anawangin Cove etc...- or go north to the mountains (Baguio, Sagada & the world famous Banaue Rice Terraces).

And I'd choose to fly into Clark, Angeles if I had the choice, rather than the NAIA.

3

If your visiting friends in both Angeles and Manila, would make sense to fly into Clark then bus to Manila and fly to matbe Cebu from there. For beaches and snorkeling Moalboal in Cebu or Alona Beach on Bohol..

4

Thank you all for the great response I will look into all those options!

5

If you want somewhere you can see local life plus nice beaches, Malapascua, Bantayan or the Camotes in Cebu would be good options. Looks like you will have about 2 weeks after Manila, could easily do one of the above plus Cebu City plus Bohol..

6

There is a Pagcor casino on the MacArthur hwy in AC, I saw it while walking down to the Fortune restaurant.
If you are stuck in AC and need something else to do there is a huge outdoor market on Fridays called the "Apo Market" Its a 10p ride down to it by Jeepney from the -uh--Walking Street. Same direction as the casino but an extra kilometre or so.
I had to wait in AC an extra day while waiting for my motorcycle rental to show up.

7

fly in to clark, visit your friend in angeles city, then take a bus to manila. not much point staying long in angeles, there is not much in the way of local cuisine as the city caters mainly to foreigners

manila has a wide variety of local cuisine, and if you like big cities, this is one of the most densely populated cities on earth. there are some good sight seeing opportunities around manila, plus, as previously mentioned, good places to visit nearby such as taal in tagaytay

after manila i agree that heading to cebu & the visayan region are the best option. great for cuisine, and for exploring cities big & small, local culture, beaches, etc

8

Thanks all feel free to keep any ideas coming I really appreciate it
Cebu sounds like the place to be, I've heard about the lechon and mangoes! I've also heard good things about the Volcano and Rice Terraces

I should note I do not mind visiting Manila/Angeles then moving onto to Cebu and surrounding area if it is truly worth it.

So I guess my decision would come down to whether
a) do the Manila/Angeles visit and stay in that area and go West North or South around that region
b) do the Manila/Angeles visit then go to Cebu/Bohol

Judging by the responses and what I'm looking for it kind of sounds like my time would be best spent in the Cebu/Bohol area

Edited by: alaska1986

Edited by: alaska1986

9

With the time you have, I agree with the others, head down to Cebu asap and visit a few of the following but not all; Bohol (stay Alona Beach area) Moalboal (75k south from Cebu city, ) Bantayan Island (about 4 - 5hours north inc ferry) Malapascua Island (same as Bantayan) Camotes Islands (leave from Danao,1 hour north of Cebu city and approx 2-3 hour ferry)

Cuisine?....Stick to the seafood.

10

Fly into Cebu for city life and casino. For beaches then head up north to Malapascua which actually has some interesting small fishing villages in the north that are not overly visited by tourist. Then you can head south to Dumaguete, a small student town with a nice vibe and excellent snorkelling with whale sharks.

Then fly back to manila to visit your friends also in angeles before flying out.

11

I just reread your message. I see I missed the part about spending 17 days in the Philippines.

On Malapascua, you can see people living as their ancestors have for hundreds of years. In Nipa huts. A nipa hut is a bamboo hut with a banana leaf roof. Without electricity and running water. Water supply for many is a nearby well. You can also see bangka boats (out rigger boats) being made. Malapascua has white sand beaches. Most foreigners go to Malapascua for the diving. I don't dive and I am still happy spending time on Malapascua.

Just be wary of travel times for Malapascua. I have travelled by bus and taxi, to and from Cebu City. My longest trip has taken just over 6 hours to get from Malapascua back to Cebu City. I know several people who have taken 7 hours.

As I already said, there are 3 casinos in Metro Cebu. They are found at

• Waterfront Hotel next to the Mactan Cebu International Airport. The entrance is just on the other side of the other side of the road to the airport departures
• Waterfont Hotel, Lahug, Cebu City. Not far from the huge Ayala Mall.
• Rajah Park Hotel. formerly Garwood, formerly Park Place. It is located on Fuente Osmena. The huge round a bout in the centre of Cebu City.

There are historical sights/sites in Cebu City dating back to 1521. The oldest is a a cross planted by Ferdinand Magellan in April 1521, in what would later become the downtown area of Cebu City. Just before he popped over to Mactan Island and got himself killed by the forces of
Lapu Lapu. The Spanish erected a monument to Ferdinand Magellan on the place he was killed on Mactan Island. After the Filipinos got rid of the Spanish, they erected an additional monument for Lapu Lapu. Other historical sites of interest are

• Fort San Pedro. The original site of Spanish occupation in the Philippines
• Casa Gorordo. The home of the first Filipino Bishop. It is set up as it might have been in the 19th Century.
• Sto Nino Basilica. Originally constructed in 1565. It has burned down twice. The current building is from the 18th century. It contains a huge amount of artwork and artefacts as well as the Sto Nino, the doll of the baby Jesus and the focus of the huge Sinulog parade which happens on the 3rd Sunday in January where more than a million people will be in the streets watching the parade.

Other places of interest in Metro Cebu are

• Guitar factories on Mactan Island
• The TOP, a look out over looking Cebu City, Talisay City, MandaueCity, Mactan Island. And on a clear day, you will also see Bohol and Leyte in the distance.
• The Taost Temple in Beverly Hills, the location of all the rich Chinese families in Cebu City.
• SM Mall. The 14th biggest mall in the world. It has an Imax theatre.
• Ayala Mall. About the same footprint area on the ground but not officially as big as SM. It is where you will find a multitude of dining choices on the Terraces.

I used to be a partner in a tourism business in Cebu City and have an itinerary for a do it yourself walking tour of Downtown Cebu City and a do it yourself tour of Metro Cebu. Let me know if you are interested.

The small islands near Alona Beach on Panglao Island Bohol have some of the best diving in the world. Not sure if that translates into good snorkelling. To get to Alona beach, you can catch a fast ferry from Cebu City to Tagbilaran Bohol. The trip takes a bit over 90 minutes. The ride most days is very smooth. They serve meals, at a price, on board and show movies on large screen TV's. They are airconditioned. When you arrive at the pier in Tagbilaran there will be a whole bunch of van drivers waiting to take you away. The trip to Alona beach is a bit over 30 minutes and costs about P500 for the van. That is not per person it is the total cost for the driver to take you and your group to Alona beach.

Other activities on Bohol are

• the Chocolate Hills
• whale and dolphin watching
• tarsier sanctuaries
• butterfly sanctuaries
• wild life sanctuaries
• fire fly tours
• adventure tours including zip lining
• historical sites dating back to 1565
• several waterfalls
• swimming underground in the Hinagdanan cave
• lunch tours on the Loboc river
• hanging bamboo bridges over the Loboc river
• the Bohol Bee Farm where you can see mats, clothes and knick knacks being made then eat a meal with edible flowers and honey.

12

Just to correct a misconception above... Angeles is actually a quite good place to try local food. Pampanga has a distinctive regional cuisine and they are quite proud of it. Lots of specialty restaurants serving local food. You will of course have to get off the Fields Ave strip to find them. Not that it's a terribly interesting place to travel, but there's a good deal of Angeles that is not Fields Ave and is not oriented toward tourists.

Once done in Angeles you could either do a Zambales beach trip and a run up to the northern mountains or fly south to the Visayas or Palawan.