Asia

Cost Breakdown: Two Weeks in the Philippines

The reason I love traveling to Asia so much, in particular, Southeast Asia, is because of how cost efficient it is. Yes, it’s on the other side of the world, but it can be cheaper to travel 19 hours to Asia then it is to travel within North America or to closer continents like Europe (from Canada).

In total I spent two and a half weeks in the Philippines, but since I’m a travel blogger and was attending for a conference, I had the last few days of my trip essentially for free. For the sake of the everyday traveler, I’ve cut those few days out of this budget and only counted what two weeks cost me. For two weeks I spent $1,887.75 USD. Below you’ll find a breakdown of where my money was spent to help give you a better idea for budgeting for a trip to the Philippines!

*Note: All prices listed were my portion of the trip. There were two people on this trip, therefore these prices may differ or have a single person supplements if traveling alone. All prices are in USD and are approximate due to exchange rates. 

Transportation

*Note: taxis that we took between places and from the airports were all included within the spending money amount below.

Return flight from Toronto, Canada to Manila, Philippines
$850.98/each

Internal Flights
$256.86/each
Manila -> El Nido (Return)

$49.77/each
Manila -> Tagbilaran (One-Way)

$55.75/each
Tagbilaran -> Manila (One-Way)

Overnight Bus
$21.49/each
Manila -> Banaue (Return)

TOTAL: $1234.85 USD

Accommodations

Manila
Manila International Youth Hostel

Length: 1 night
Room: 3 in a room (we reserved the whole room for the two of us)
Price: $21.47/each
*Note: We wanted to stay near the airport given our schedule for this night.

Orchid Garden Suites
Length: 3 nights
Room: Standard room
Price: $81.99/each
*Note: We could’ve done this cheaper but we wanted to be near the conference venue.

El Nido
Our Melting Pot
Length: 3 nights
Room: Basic single room with shared bathroom
Price: $87.86/each
*Note: Since we booked two singles, we were in a shared double room together.

Bohol
Nut Huts
Length: 3 nights
Room: Twin standard
Price: $28.47/each

Banaue
Banaue Homestay
Length: 2 nights
Room: Twin common bathroom
Price: $15.11/each

TOTAL: $234.90 USD

Tours

El Nido
Island Hopping Tour
$35.25/each

Inland Tour
$15.76/each

Bohol
Cave Hike
$5.20 (I did this solo)

Banaue
Three Treks 
$48.75/each

TOTAL: $99.55 USD

Spending Money

Food: $130 USD
Transportation: $37 USD
Souvenirs: $35 USD
Miscellaneous: $116.45 USD
*Note: These are estimates of what my total spending money was used towards.

TOTAL: $318.45 USD

Voila! Proof that you don’t need to be a millionaire to take trips to the other side of the world!

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4 Comments

  • Reply
    Jub
    December 21, 2016 at 10:29 am

    Yay! Definitely not to expensive, could imagine it’s possible to do cheap on the land as well (internal flights?).

    1. What are areas you saved cash pretty well?

    2. Could have save more on if you really wanted?

    • Reply
      Lauren
      December 22, 2016 at 10:45 am

      For sure. There’s definitely ways to do this a lot cheaper. I could’ve stayed in cheaper accommodations, as well as not taken flights places. Flying directly into El Nido alone was way more than flying to the Puerto Princessa airport. Also there were a few meals I had which I found to be overpriced.

      • Reply
        The Con Man
        August 9, 2018 at 10:12 am

        Hi I’ll be travelling to the Philippines come next week & I’m trying to get an idea about how much should I bring fora 14 day trip. I’ve already paid for the flight & the hotel.

        I just need a budget for food & taxis. I see that you spent over $300 in that dept. I’ve already exchanged $231 currency for 12,000 peso. Will that be enough for 2 people? We’re not gonna be drinking or shopping or enjoying the night life. Just being tourists, eating & buying bottled water.

        • Reply
          Lauren
          August 9, 2018 at 4:49 pm

          Hi there 🙂 Thanks for reaching out. You’ll love the Philippines. I would maybe take a bit extra to be safe – you can always exchange it back to your currency before you leave or when you get home. Especially if you’re heading out of the city centres it can be harder to find ATM’s sometimes so I always prefer to have more cash on me. Note also that my cost breakdown was for one person 🙂

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