Two weeks in the Philippines runs from about 30 000 PHP to 170 000 PHP per person on the ground, depending entirely on how you travel. The gap between a backpacker and a comfortable trip here is wider than in most of Southeast Asia, because the cheap end is very cheap and the islands at the top end are not.
What sinks most published budgets is not the daily spend, it is the fees collected separately: environmental taxes, checked baggage on domestic flights, and the visa extension past 30 days. The estimator below adds them.
Estimator
Your budget on the ground, line by line
The lines published budgets leave out
600 to 1,200 PHP a segment, 900 PHP used here.
What a day costs by style of travel
Three bands cover almost everyone, and the differences between them are mostly accommodation and how you move between islands.
| Style | Per person, per day |
|---|---|
| Backpacker: dorms, local food, shared tours | about 2 200 PHP |
| Mid-range: air-conditioned room, restaurants | about 5 000 PHP |
| Comfortable: resorts, private boats | about 12 000 PHP |
These are living costs on the ground. They exclude the international flight, and they exclude the separately collected fees covered further down.
The budget line by line
Within a day’s spend, the proportions are fairly stable whichever band you sit in.
Accommodation, the heaviest line
Accommodation is usually the single biggest item, ahead of food and often ahead of activities. Palawan sits materially above the Visayas at every tier, which is why an El Nido week costs more than a Bohol week for the same comfort.
Season swings it further, and the same room can double between May and December. Our guide on where to stay in the Philippines breaks the tiers down island by island.
Food and drink
Eating local keeps this line small. A carinderia meal costs a fraction of a tourist restaurant plate, and the gap is larger than the quality difference in most towns.
Alcohol is where budgets quietly drift. Local beer is cheap, imported spirits are not, and beachfront pricing applies everywhere with a view.
Getting around
Buses and ferries are inexpensive and slow. Domestic flights are the item that decides your transport budget, and they are cheap only if you travel with hand luggage.
Ferries fall in between, and the fares are stable enough to plan around, as our guide to the Cebu to Bohol ferry shows.
Activities
Island hopping tours, dive packages and canyoneering are the discretionary part, and they scale with what you came for. A diving trip and a beach trip of the same length are not the same budget.
The one structural rule is that boats are priced per hull, not per head. A private bangka split four ways costs each of you roughly what a joiner seat costs, which is why the same tour can be quoted at wildly different prices depending on who you ask and how many of you there are.
The international flight, which sits outside all of this
Manila is almost always the cheaper gateway than Cebu, and the difference is often large enough to justify a domestic connection rather than flying straight to the islands.
It is also the one line you can move without changing the trip. Shifting your dates by a fortnight around the December peak does more for the total than any economising on the ground.
The costs nobody budgets for
This is the section that makes the difference between a budget that holds and one that does not.
Local environmental fees
Municipalities charge their own fees, collected in cash on arrival or at the tour desk. They are small individually and they add up across an itinerary.
- El Nido, an ETDF environmental fee valid across several days on one receipt.
- Coron, an eco fee plus a separate entrance for Kayangan Lake.
- Boracay, an environmental tax plus terminal fees both ways plus the crossing.
Keep every receipt. Several of these are valid for a window and get checked again at the next tour desk.
Local fees are collected in cash, per municipality, and they are the line published budgets leave out. Across a two week itinerary touching Palawan and Boracay they run into four figures in pesos, per person.
Checked baggage on domestic flights
Philippine domestic fares are quoted hand-luggage only. Adding a checked bag costs 600 to 1 200 PHP per segment, and a multi-island itinerary has more segments than people expect.
Buy the allowance online when you book. Bought at the airport it costs materially more, and divers with kit feel this on every hop.
The visa extension past 30 days
Stay beyond 30 days and you owe 3 030 PHP for the first extension. It is a predictable, published amount, and it belongs in the budget rather than in the surprises.
The thresholds and the fee schedule are set out in our guide to the Philippines visa extension.
Two weeks and three weeks, totalled
Run the estimator with your own dates and it will produce the figure. As an order of magnitude, before international flights and per person, a fortnight looks like this.
- Backpacker, two weeks, few flights: comfortably under 40 000 PHP.
- Mid-range, two weeks, two domestic flights and Palawan: around 75 000 PHP.
- Comfortable, two weeks, resorts and private boats: 170 000 PHP and upwards.
Three weeks does not cost 50 per cent more than two. It costs slightly less per day, because the fixed items and the transfers are already paid, and slightly more in total once you cross 30 days and owe the extension.
Frequently asked questions
How much does two weeks in the Philippines cost?
Roughly 30 000 to 170 000 PHP per person on the ground depending on style, before international flights. Local fees and baggage add to that and are not included in daily-spend figures.
Is the Philippines cheaper than Thailand or Vietnam?
At the backpacker end it is comparable. At the mid-range it often works out higher, because inter-island transport is unavoidable and the popular islands price accordingly.
Which is the most expensive part of the country?
Palawan, especially El Nido, followed by Boracay. The Visayas give you noticeably more for the same money.
How much cash should you carry?
Enough for fees, boats and small towns, because card acceptance is patchy outside cities and resorts. Draw in a city before heading to an island rather than relying on machines when you arrive.
Do you need to budget for tips?
Tipping is not obligatory and is appreciated. Restaurants often add a service charge already, so check the bill before adding to it.
Are domestic flights worth it over ferries?
For long hops, yes, once you count the day a ferry costs you. For short ones the ferry usually wins on total time when transfers and check-in are included.
What is the cheapest month to go?
The wet months from June to November, when accommodation drops sharply. Christmas, New Year and Holy Week are the most expensive fortnights of the year nationally.