Travel to Philippines - Getting There

The Philippines are a large group of islands in East Asia popular with visitors for the many white sand beaches along its many coasts, which also offer plenty of great diving opportunities. The most common way for travelers to arrive in the Philippines is to fly into the capital city, Manila.

Manila International Airport is connected to most other Asian capitals by daily direct flights, making the journey to the Philippines an easy affair. Being an archipelago, traveling by boat is common for inter-island travel, with some other major ports in neighboring countries accepting ferries from Manila.

The Philippines is still a poor country and despite the fact that road conditions in Manila are slowly but steadily improving, roads outside the capital can be poorly maintained and unsafe. There are decent expressways leading in and out of Manila from Bagulo and San Fernando the north and the Legzapi and Sao Paulo in the south.

Buses also make use of the expressways that connect the far corners of the Luzon region. There is no main bus terminal in Manila, as bus companies operate from their own specific facilities. Philtranco is one of the biggest companies and buses leave for Davao, Mindanao Island, Sorosogon and Legazpi from its terminus in Pasay City. For destinations north of Manila, Victory Liner has daily departures from Manila to Alaminos, Bagulo, Iba, Dagupan, Olonaop and Tuguegarao.

The Philippines only has one train line, from Manila to the southern city of Legazpi. Riding the rails is slow going and can be dangerous as well. If you choose to experience Philippine train travel, there are tourist, deluxe and economy coaches. In economy class, its upright seating all the way, while tourist and deluxe cabins offer reclining chairs that can swivel to face the opposite direction.