PH · Curated travel guide
Visayas, Mount Pinatubo, Mayon and 7 more — what each one is, and why it is worth the detour.
Chosen from everything Wikidata knows about Philippines and ranked by how many Wikipedia language editions describe them, which is about as close to "famous" as open data gets. One is on UNESCO's World Heritage list.
Archipelago in the Philippines
Also called the Visayan Islands, one of the Philippines' three main geographical divisions, with Mindanao and Luzon. In the middle of the archipelago, it is made up of several islands, mostly around the Visayan Sea, and is also seen as the northeastern end of the whole Sulu Sea.
Photo: JL 09, CC BY-SA 3.0
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Active stratovolcano in Luzon, Philippines
An active stratovolcano in the Zambales Mountains on Luzon, in the Philippines, where the provinces of Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales meet. Few people knew of its history of eruptions until it stirred to life early in 1991.
Photo: Wildfire2383, Public domain
Stratovolcano in Luzon, Philippines
Also called Mount Mayon or Mayon Volcano, an active stratovolcano in Albay province, Bicol, in the Philippines. A popular sight, it is famous for its "perfect cone", so regular is its shape, and is held sacred in Philippine mythology.
Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Nopira assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public domain
Highest mountain in the Philippines
The Philippines' highest peak, 2,954 meters (9,692 ft) above sea level: a large, dormant, solfataric stratovolcano in the Apo-Talomo Mountain Range on Mindanao island.
Photo: Bro. Jeffrey Pioquinto, SJ, CC BY 2.0
World Heritage
Protected area in the middle of the Sulu Sea
Also called the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, a protected area of the Philippines in the middle of the Sulu Sea: a sanctuary for marine life and birds made up of two huge atolls plus the smaller Jessie Beazley Reef, 97,030 hectares in all.
Photo: Simon Hefti, Schweiz ( de:User:Nikswieweg ), CC BY-SA 3.0
Volcano in Batangas, Philippines
Also called Taal Caldera, a large caldera in the Philippines filled by Taal Lake, in Batangas province about 50 kilometers (31 mi) south of Manila. It is the country's second most active volcano, with 39 confirmed historic eruptions, mostly on Volcano Island near the middle of the lake.
Photo: TheCoffee (Mike Gonzalez), CC BY-SA 3.0
Geological formation in Bohol, Philippines
Spread across more than 50 square kilometers (20 sq mi) of Bohol, a Philippine province: a geological formation of no fewer than 1,260 hills, and perhaps more than 1,776.
Photo: P199, CC BY-SA 3.0
Mountain in Davao Oriental, Philippines
A mountain in Davao Oriental province, Philippines, 1,620 metres (5,315 ft) high.
Photo: Kleomarlo, CC BY-SA 3.0
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Volcano in the Philippines
Also called Bulusan Volcano, a stratovolcano on the Philippine island of Luzon, in Sorsogon province, Bicol Region. Mayon Volcano lies 70 kilometres (43 mi) away to its northwest, and Manila approximately 390 kilometres (240 mi) away in the same direction.
Photo: Audioboss at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
Officially the Republic of the Philippines, a Southeast Asian island country in the western Pacific, made up of about 7,641 islands covering about 300,000 square kilometers in all, broadly grouped into three main geographical divisions.
Officially The Republic of the Philippines.
Based on the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0: the facts are Wikipedia's, the wording is this site's.
This guide lists 10: Visayas, Mount Pinatubo, Mayon and Mount Apo and others. Tubbataha Reef is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
By machine, from open data, with no human ranking them and nobody able to pay for a place on the list. Everything Wikidata records in Philippines that is a building, a landform, a protected area or a tourist attraction, has coordinates, a photograph and an English Wikipedia article, is ranked by how many Wikipedia language editions wrote about it. Provinces, cities, airports, stations and stretches of sea shared with the neighbours are filtered out.
1 of the 10 in this guide: Tubbataha Reef. That is not the full count for Philippines, only the listed sites that made this guide.
Filipino, English. The currency is PHP.
A travel eSIM is usually the cheapest way, and avoids a roaming bill. The plans suggested at the foot of this guide start at $2.47 for 2GB per day. The eSIM is data-only and sits alongside your normal SIM, so calls, texts and WhatsApp keep working on your own number.
Globe and SMART. Your phone picks whichever has the best signal where you are, the same way a local phone does.
Maps, tickets and translation all want data, and roaming is the expensive way to get it. A Computatus eSIM eSIM connects to Globe and SMART once you land, and installs by QR code before you leave.
| Plan | Data | Valid | Price | Order |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2GB per day Cheapest | 2 GB | 1 day | $2.47 | Get it → |
| 2GB per day | 2 GB | 1 day | $2.95 | Get it → |
| 3GB for 15 days | 3 GB | 15 days | $3.94 | Get it → |
| 3GB per day | 3 GB | 1 day | $3.94 | Get it → |
| 3GB for 30 days | 3 GB | 30 days | $4.19 | Get it → |
| 3GB per day | 3 GB | 1 day | $4.76 | Get it → |
No app needed. Install by QR code before you fly, keep your own number for calls, and it connects the moment you land.
A commission on plans bought through these links is what pays for this guide. Nothing above depends on it: the places are chosen before any price is looked up.
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