Mexico 2 Week Itinerary Lonely Planet

[Evelyn Normington]

Ifyou can stretch your budget, I would 100% recommend looking into flights direct to El Nido because it will save you so much time, and a long uncomfortable journey. If you do need to fly into Puerto Princesa, you can book a transfer in advance from the airport to El Nido.

The main thing to do in El Nido is to explore the Archipelago on a selection of boat tours. All travel agents in the town sell 4 tour packages which are uncreatively named Tour A, Tour B, Tour C, Tour D. Wherever you book the tours, the package and the price is always exactly the same (no need to shop around). The tours can book up, so if you want to ensure your place before arrival, I recommend booking in advance via GetYourGuide.

Travelista Tip; Many of the swim stops on the tours have sharp coral and rocky sea beds with anemones that can sting. Either buy your own surf booties for the trip, or you can hire them from your tour operator in El Nido for a small fee.

Next in our Philippines itinerary we caught the Ceres Liner for a further 2 hours down the coastal road to Tan-awan in Oslob for the once-in-a-life-time experience of whale shark watching.

The non-descript roadside town of Tan-awan has financially boomed, purely because of the whale shark activity. The experience includes snorkelling equipment and lasts 30 minutes. A longboat takes you about 50 meters offshore at 6am, where a huge school of whale sharks are being fed by fisherman.

I will admit that the experience of being in the water with these huge, gentle creatures is exhilarating and captivating in equal measure. Unfortunately you do have to share the experience with boat loads of other travellers, making your photos look like a slightly less majestic moment. Other than the whale shark watching there really is nothing else to do in Tan-awan so I would recommend staying for 1 night and then moving straight on.

Other than a few resorts in Siquijor Town and San Juan, tourism in Siquijor is extremely undeveloped. The best thing to do in Siquijor is hire a moped and do some independent exploring. You can drive around the whole island in 1 day simply by following the coastal ringroad (the only actual tarmac road on the whole island!). On your tour be sure to go in search of the hidden Lugnason Falls, the larger Kawasan Falls and the 400-year-old enchanted Banyan Tree.

Up to this point, the itinerary has very much been focused on beaches, but our 4th island takes you inland to discover the delights of Bohol. From Siquijor we caught an Ocean Jet ferry over to Tagbilaran Port in Bohol which took 3-4 hours. Once in Tagbilaran, we shared a van transfer with another couple over to our base of Alona Beach.

Most people visit the Chocolate Hills on day trips from Alona Beach, although there is some accommodation closer to the hills e.g. Nuts Huts. There are a few options for the day trips depending on how much you want to spend (options being private driver, go as a group and split the cost of a private driver or book through an agent and go with a coach tour). Tours can vary slightly but most will factor in adventure activities such as zip lining and quad biking through the Chocolate Hills (we did both).

From Tagbillaran we caught a final ferry back to Cebu City (3 hours) and caught a flight to Boracay. Boracay is a tiny 7km island with no airport, so the only option is to fly into either Kalibo Airport or Caticlan Airport and take a 15 minute ferry from Caticlan Port. Similarly to Palawan, flights in to Kalibo are cheaper because the airport is located further away. The drive from Kalibo Airport to Caticlan port is about 2 hours.

This has been really helpful! I am going in September, and have read lonely plant/rough guide and even though they are great there is just too much to choose from and I just cannot make a decision where to go.

I think I will follow this itinerary exactly as it involved everything we want to do ?

Do you know how much you spent for the 3 weeks including everything? Just trying to budget now to make sure I have enough time to save.

Also, the other thing I would love to do is a bit if trekking, is there anywhere you came across where you could do a 1-2 days trek into the jungle/up a volcano?

Hi Louise. Thanks for your comment. Hope you have an amazing time in September! I think we spent about 700 over 3 weeks in fairly budget accommodation (but not lowest of the low). The rooms were still clean and functioning. I recommend everywhere we stayed and I have linked to them in my 3 week itinerary guide. Have an amazing time x

Hi! Myself and my friend are planning to visit for three weeks in April. Your itinerary looks fantastic and I would actually want to follow this! Do you have any recommendations so that we do not get lost along the way? Also I was wondering if you pre booked all of your flights and accommodation or if you booked whilst you were there? Finally, I wanted to ask about your budget whilst out there (a rough cost) and how much cash you would carry on you at a time?

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