Manila & Coron, 5 Nights

A private car waits at Ninoy Aquino airport for the drive to the hotel, which may be quick or painfully slow depending on the hour. After check-in, the day is yours. If you have energy, the Salcedo and Legazpi districts of Makati are pleasant for a walk and have a wide choice of restaurants; otherwise a quiet dinner and rest before tomorrow's sightseeing.

A private half day through the capital's story. The Manila American Cemetery sits on a green hill in Taguig; Rizal Park preserves the site where José Rizal was shot in 1896. Then the walls of Intramuros, built by the Spanish against pirates and rivals: Fort Santiago with its gate and moat, the cathedral, and San Agustin, which has stood through every earthquake since 1607. A panoramic drive past the Cultural Center and the modern towers of Bonifacio Global City rounds it off, leaving the afternoon for rest or shopping.

After breakfast, the short flight to Busuanga airport (the fare is not in the package; we book it for you). The road to Coron town crosses a hilly, lightly populated island, about forty minutes. After check-in, choose one easy outing: the steps up Mount Tapyas, several hundred of them, to a big cross and a sunset view over the bay, or the Maquinit hot spring, where warm salt water collects in stone pools beside the mangroves and is best after dark.

A beach day, starting with a longer boat ride east. Malcapuya has a long white beach and a coral reef close to shore for snorkelling. Ditaytayan is a small island whose sandbar stretches out into the sea at low tide, with clear shallow water on both sides. Bulog Dos has another sandbar and some of the softest sand in the area. Being on a shared boat, the programme is set, with swimming time at each stop; bring a hat, since shade is scarce.

Coron Island is the ancestral land of the Tagbanwa people, who manage its lakes and allow visits to only a few of them. Kayangan Lake is reached by a steep path of about three hundred steps, past the famous viewpoint over the bay, then down to clear water between limestone walls. Barracuda Lake is a deeper, stranger place, where warm water sits over cooler water and divers come for the effect. Twin Lagoon is two pools joined by a narrow passage in the rock. Snorkelling stops at a coral garden fill the rest of the day.

Breakfast, then the drive back across Busuanga to the airport for the flight to Manila and your connection home. We book the return from Coron with enough margin for the occasional weather delay. With a later flight, the morning is free for a last walk around town or a cashew and dried-fish stop at the public market.