Philippines Travel Guide

Philippines consist of 7,107 beautiful tropical islands. It means there are thousands of scenic spots to explore and enjoy. Traveling to the Philippines gives you memorable experiences to cherish as you grow older. Listed below are some travel tips for you to discover and enjoy the country’s sheer beauty to the fullest!

When to Go?

*If fiesta or festival is your purpose in visiting this stunning tropical paradise, then have it on January, May and December. Numerous colorful fiestas or festivals are held during these months. Enjoying the serenity of azure seawater and white sand beaches are fantastic on summer days, which will begin from March to May. Furthermore, these are the months to behold the breathtaking sights of the Philippines as the weather is pleasurably warm.

What to Bring?

*It would be great if you travel light as most of the things you will need are available in here. Choose only the items that are necessary and important to you. Furthermore, do not forget to bring your sturdy footwear for an exciting mountain climbing and island hopping adventure and flip flops for an ultimate beach getaway.

What to Wear?

*Just like any tropical countries, you should dress for the weather- hot! Bring light clothing because it is ideal for whole year round and wear only thick ones for cold nights. However, observe proper dress code when you will visit temples, churches or business offices. Although, dining establishments and hotels do not impose strict dress code but wearing slippers and shorts are deemed inappropriate.

Tipping
*It is normal to leave a tip when someone rendered a service. On major restaurants and hotels, a 10% service charge is added to your bills, which serves as a small token of gratitude. There are also some business establishments like shopping malls where tipping is not allowed. However, it depends upon the costumer if he/she is going to tip or not, thus making the tipping optional. Apart from major restaurants, hotels and shopping malls other small commercial establishments as well as cab drivers also look forward for extra money in return for the service rendered.

Business Hours

*Public and private offices operate from Monday to Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with lunch breaks from 12:00-1:00 p.m. There are other private establishments, which will open on Saturday. Banking hours is from Monday to Friday that will open 9:00 a.m. and closes at 3:00 p.m. Other banks are open on Saturday except for public holidays. As for shopping malls or department stores, they do not usually have a fixed schedule or business hours due to several factors like on Christmas Day that needs an early opening and late closing.

Time
*Philippine is 8 hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). For example, when it is 12 in the afternoon in this tropical country, it is 3:00 am in London, 8:00 the previous evening in San Francisco and 11 in the evening in New York.
Currency

*the official currency in the country is Philippine Peso. Notes are issued in the following denominations of 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 whilst coins come in 5, 10 and 25 cents, 1, 5 and 10 peso

Last Minute Philippines

Are you travelling Last Minute to the Philippines for the first time? The beautiful islands of the Philippines are great destination spots for tourists all over the world. In fact, it has world-famous beaches that can be found in Boracay, Cebu, Bohol, Palawan, and other places. Not to mention the beautiful landscapes of its tropical forests.
And if you love adventure, the beautiful islands of the Philippines have a lot of adventure-filled activities in store for you! You can go surfing, white water rafting, ziplining, rock climbing, mountain climbing, biking, wakeboarding, jet skiing, and many more. Adventurous people will never get bored in the Philippines.
On the other hand, if you love relaxing and pampering yourself, you will find many beaches, resorts, hotels, and spas all over the country. You can find a quiet nook in one of the breathtaking beaches in the Philippines. Or you can treat yourself to a very relaxing massage in the different spas. In fact, most hotels and beach resorts have a spa where you can avail of their services and pamper yourself.
If you decided on the last minute, and do not know where to stay, you need not worry. There are many last minute Philippines hotels that can accommodate you. With the huge number of hotels all over the Philippines, you will definitely get a last minute Philippines hotel. Accommodation is not a problem most especially on lean months.
One of the very famous islands in the Philippines is Boracay. Here you will find long stretches of white fine, sandy beaches. If you love partying at night, you will find the famous night spots lots of fun! If you love water sports activities, you can go scuba diving, snorkelling, swimming, kayaking, and many more.
With regards to Boracay accommodation, you will find 5-star to 1-star hotels and beach resorts. In Boracay alone, you can get last minute Philippines accommodation because of the multitude of hotels, beach resorts, and apartments that you can rent. There you can find the world-famous Shangri-la’s Boracay Resort & Spa, Discovery Shores Boracay, Friday’s, Escondido, Le Soleil, Pinjalo Villas, and many many more. And if you are a bit tight on the budget, you can still enjoy good last minute Philippines accommodations in Boracay.
Boracay is only one of the very beautiful places that you can visit in the Philippines. If you are on a last minute Philippines travel, do not worry because you will definitely find a great place to stay in.

Boracay Island

There are many islands located in the Philippines, and one of them is the Boracay, which covers three kilometers of white beach.

Visitors can either decide to join a guided tour or hire a tourist guide for their group alone. Rain forests offer a huge variety of tropical fruits, such as bananas, papayas, pineapples, durians, mangoes, and many others. The natural landscapes, the climatic conditions, the tropical animals, fruits, and vegetables found here make the Philippines a beautiful place to visit.

Tourist Destinations:

-Bohol is also blessed with a numerous white sand beaches, and Panglao Island is one of the famous destinations, having powdery sand.
-White Beach, Boracay Boracay Island is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country.
-The province of Palawan is an island in the South China Sea.

Luxury resorts will often also be in based in exceptionally desirable and strategic worldwide locations, from beautiful tropical islands, to snow caked mountains, to scenic lakes and rivers, to exhilarating cities. Boholanos, as what the natives are called, are very proud of the natural wonders that are bestowed in the island. Everyone head for the nearest beach so if you don’t want to feel crowded when you’re sunbathing, set your travel date for another time of the year.

Foods:

The Filipinos also eat uncooked seafood that is stuffed with onions and wrapped in a banana leaf. People, who have sensitive taste buds and are ready to experiment with different cuisines, can try the dishes cooked by the Philippines. To the Filipinos, simple cooking basically means fish and its varieties, fetched directly from the sea.

The American culture has brought with it major fast food giants, such as KFC, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, and Burger King.

The Philippines’ recipes reflect the tastes of India, China, and Japan, as well as Spain, Portugal, and even the US.

Events:

-The World Pyro Olympics is held in the Philippines every year starting from December 2005.

-The Santacruzan during May and which each and every town parades its most beautiful residents in a walk around town.

-The flower season of Baguio-described as the summer capital of the Philippines because of its perennially cool weather-is something to look forward to.

Shopping:

Prices of the goods for Philippine bargains are comparable to the ones in Thailand and in China. Bargains in the Philippines are cheaper compared to the bargains in Singapore and Hong Kong. For personal gifts or gifts for the home, you will find an enormous selection for Philippine online shopping at Internet malls.

You can join now for free..to get more information about the Philippines.

A lot of cunning people have been scamming foreigners lately, using online trickery so that they can earn a lot of money. This is why you should be careful when joining a dating site, there is always a risk that can either give you positive or negative effects.

Although it is undeniable that there are many dating site scams nowadays, there are still genuine Filipina dating sites that are really devoted in helping individuals find the love of their lives like Filipina Love Hearts.

Here are some tips to distinguish real from fraud to avoid getting scammed by dating site scams:

Check if the website is genuine

Before you sign-up, do some researches on the websites first by searching for testimonials and reviews; satisfied users or web review sites usually post this kind of information.

If the site is sending you spam emails or private messages that were supposedly sent by beautiful attractive ladies, then you should think twice before responding. This is a commonly used method by scammers; they pretend to be beautiful women to milk money from men who are searching for partners.

By checking the genuineness of the site before joining and by being cautious of the messages you receive, you can avoid falling for these heartless tricks. A legitimate Filipina dating site like Filipina love hearts would never resort to trickery and other desperate measures just to fish-out clients.

Does she frequently ask for money?

Money is the root of all greed and evil and it is the primary motivation of a scammer. If you have a female acquaintance who keeps on requesting money for various reasons, she is most likely just treating you like a source of income. They are most likely frauds who plan on milking money out of you.

True Filipinas are not naturally materialistic and they are accustomed to working for what they want. You can a lot of real Filipinas at Filipina love hearts.

She doesn’t want to show herself in a webcam

One of the Internet’s greatest advantages can also be considered a drawback when it comes to detecting scammers and other frauds. Anonymity can be helpful in several occasions but can also be utilized by scammers to trick you.

Majority of those who participate in online dating sites have access to a webcam. During chat sessions, scammers usually place face status profiles and images to fool their victim.

Meet real Filipina women at Filipina Love Hearts.

If you are on this site, it means you are interesting in meeting and engaging for Philippine or Asian women. Filipinalovehearts.com is devoted and committed to help you find not just gorgeous women but sincere, loving, caring and dedicated Filipina women. We are very careful and cautious as much as we can be to meet the criteria of our women members to be good civilized, upright and respectable women. We also see to it that our women have a sincere purpose in meeting a compatible and well-suited man and not just being in touch and concerned about the thickness of men’s wallet. We do not trade our women nor cause for marriage brokers because of quickly arranged marriages nor order brides service. You need to exert effort to win women’s heart and well as these ladies must win yours. We will assist men from the world over and Philippine women who wish to meet one another through personal introductions and with anticipation to develop a relationship of mutual love and commitment.

Please get through our site very cautiously and read what we have to say. Asian women particularly Filipinas have desirable characteristics and qualities that other cultures don’t have. Philippine women are much more familiar with and adaptable to American culture compared to other Asians. As for beauty and intelligence is concerned Philippine girls also rock, we are very confident and certain that our women can speak and write English and this makes communication very effective, efficient and successful. We should also see to it, that we will introduce you to your well suited and well liked women. We can assure you that our women are loving, caring, respectful, faithful, decent, and can be trusted. We don’t want to introduce you to those harmful and unidentified girls. This site can be very useful if you are finding for a serious relationship but it also vary from individual’s need. If you want to find serious women you, yourself need to be serious also, if you are just finding for little fun and temporary romance with, we cannot accommodate you. We also need to protect and ensure the interest and purpose of our women.

On the other hand we would like also to make a few things clear about the scenery of this type of service that we provide. Business such as this are often times confusing and mystifying as matchmakers, mail order brides, foreign bride, Filipina brides or marriage brokers. We would like to confirm that we do not organize or pose marriages to individual or suggest to man to get married hurriedly and quickly to our women from Asia or Philippines . We do not organize and conduct any form of negotiator or dealer for any men to marry women and nor we do not have particular and specific meeting or congregation of many men and attain of women that the men can become familiar and get as possible brides or partners. We are very tactful and diplomatic of both men and women who would like to meet each other in a confidential and classified environment on an individual and one on one basis. We value and obey personals discretion but we do not partake in any dishonest, unlawful or doubtful movement. So we just suggest that each one of you will be careful and responsible for yourself.

Globe
This only works from one globe phone to another globe phone.
To pass a load, Text ‘AMOUNT’ and send to the other 2 + globe cellphone number. For example, to send P20 to cellphone number 0916xxxxxx, your message should just have “20” and, you send it to ‘2916xxxx’. If you noticed, the first 0 of the cellphone number was replaced with the number 2.
Each text for a pass-a-load costs P1 in addition to the load you send.
You should get a text message confirming the transaction.

Smart
This only works from one smart phone to another smart phone.
To pass a load, your message should have the number of the cellphone you’re sending and the load you want to send (to send P20 to 0918xxxx, your message should look like “0918xxxx 20”). The message should be sent to 808.
Each text for a pass-a-load costs P1 in addition to the load you send.
You should get a text message confirming the transaction.

Sun
This only works from one sun phone to another sun phone.
Like the smart method, just send the amount to the other Sun number. For example, if you want to send P10 to the sun number 0922xxxxx, your message should look like “10 0922xxxxx” then sent to 2292.
Each text for a pass-a-load costs P1 in addition to the load you send.
You should get a text message confirming the transaction.

Look out for ways to maximize your load!
There are seasonal promos among the different networks allowing for bundled or discounted rates to text or call. Some popular promos are unlimited calls and texts among networks for an entire evening, or P20 for a 20 minute call between cellphones. These only last for a few months per year, so ask your cellphone service provider if there are any available promos. This will help you make the most out of your load, while staying in touch with the people you meet in the Philippines.

To get started with text, you need your own cellphone. Cellphone brands such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Samsung are widely available in the Philippines, and you can get for cheap or second-hand in the market areas of Makati Cinema Square or Greenhills. For service, you can choose between prepaid or postpaid services from several cellphone service provides in the Philippines such as Smart (http://smart.com.ph/), Globe (http://globe.com.ph), and Sun (www.suncellular.com.ph/). Prices vary for calls and texts per network, but on the average it costs around 50 centavos to P2 pesos per minute between local cellphones, P5-P10 to call from a local cellphone to a local landline, and around 50 centavos to P75 centavos for a text.

Postpaid Services
Are better for people who stay in the Philippines long-term. Getting postpaid service is like getting a home number (or landline, as Filipinos call it). You’ll need to get an application form at the service provider’s office, and submit it with documentation from the bank, and proof of residency. If you are approved for postpaid service, you will be billed at the end of the month for your use of the cellphone.

Prepaid Services
Prepaid services are easy to get from almost any store in the Philippines, be it from the cellphone store itself or your local neighborhood convenience or sari-sari store. You just purchase a sim card for about P115 and insert it in your cellphone, and ready for use. This method is the best for those who don’t use their phone often, those on a budget, and short-time visitors.

The first time you buy the SIM it comes with a “load” of about P100 to make calls, texts, and use other telecommunication services. You can easily reload when it runs out, or add to your load by purchasing prepaid cards at the same places. Prepaid load cards come in denominations of P100, P300, P500, and P1000. Some stores add a retail fee of P5 more when you buy load, but most of the time you can get the prepaid card for the flat rate.

You can also ask the stores if they have Autoload, a service that can send load for as low as P15. To get autoload, request it at the counter, and you will be asked to write down your number and the amount you wish to load. The clerk will send you the load using the store’s cellphone. You should get a text message confirming your transaction.

These are just some ways to maximize your stay in the Philippines, especially when staying in touch with your loved ones!