Routes.
Mispriced Philippine routes, covered with full editorial depth. Each one shows the direct flight, the cheaper multi-modal alternatives, what you eat along the way, and where the spend lands.
4 to 8 day round-trips and loops.
The duopoly arbitrage proper. Skip the direct flight, take the country, come home a different way.
Cebu ↔ El Nido
The same Lio monopoly, priced from Cebu — and the same way around it, through Puerto Princesa.
Manila ↔ El Nido
El Nido's tiny airstrip has exactly one airline. Fly into Puerto Princesa instead — and take all of Palawan home.
Cagayan de Oro ↔ Camiguin
Camiguin is across a narrow strait. To fly there you'd backtrack 200km out to Cebu and in again. Locals just take the ferry.
Cebu ↔ Bohol
There's no nonstop flight between two islands a two-hour ferry apart — so booking a 'flight' connects through Manila for ₱7,500. The fast craft is ₱1,600.
Manila ↔ Sagada
There is no flight. There has never been one. The bus is the answer the duopoly cannot price.
Cebu ↔ Dumaguete
The Ceres bus drives straight onto the barge across the strait. One ₱372 ticket, no flight — and the gateway to Apo Island and Siquijor.
Manila ↔ Siargao
Same beach. But when the direct flight spikes to ₱27,000, you fly through Davao instead — and see it.
Manila ↔ Camiguin
The canonical Isla case. No commercial direct exists. Tour bundles fill the gap and overcharge.
Manila ↔ Catanduanes
Puraran is the second-best break in the Philippines. The duopoly bills it like it is the first.
Cebu ↔ Siquijor
Three ferries away from the mainland and the rates have not changed since 2018.
Manila ↔ Boracay
Boracay's own airstrip is a tiny 950-metre strip. When it spikes to ₱14,000, fly into Kalibo instead and ride in by land.
Manila ↔ Coron
Two ways into the wreck dives. The cheap one runs through El Nido.
2-day trips, Friday-night-to-Sunday-night.
No flight arbitrage — overland and ferry escapes the lifestyle cohort already does, priced honestly. The right bus, the right hostel, the right break.
Manila ↔ Marinduque
The overnight-ferry classic almost no one in Manila has done.
Manila ↔ Baler
The surf weekend La Union does not want you to find.
- · Manila → Batanes (honest constraints)
- · Manila → Bantayan (via Cebu / Hagnaya)
- · Manila → Romblon (via Tablas or Sibuyan)
- · Manila → Donsol whale shark season
- · Manila → Calaguas (weekend)
- · Cebu → Camotes (weekend)