After a long journey, we arrived in beautiful Boracay via a shuttle-boat-shuttle transfer from Caticlan airport. Our hotel, Henann Palm Beach was situated centrally at Station 2 in the middle of the action at the absolutely stunning White Beach. It was the perfect start to our vacation wading in the warm, knee deep waters, and powdery sand. We spent our time here engaging in water activities like a jet ski and banana boat, and Ayaan spent hours paddle boarding and playing with Ariana and his friend, Ivan, that he met while on the paddleboard. Ariana got her braids done, and Anjali and I had a well deserved massage. The hotel had a rooftop pool overlooking the beach and we ate our way through Filipino food and seafood. One of the highlights was a local sailboat at sunset with our feet dipping in the water. We wished we had spent another day here, but it was time to head to our next destination – Bohol.

It was another long travel day via flight, ferry and tuk tuk to get to our hotel in Bohol – Chez Judy. The kids were delighted since we had a villa to ourselves with a private pool and a PS5 console. A new preteen parenting challenge for us was getting the kids off their devices while traveling and keeping them engaged in activities – we are so grateful we timed our big trip in 2024 when they were the perfect age and didn’t need convincing to experience the most amazing beaches in the world. The hotel had two labradors that kept Ariana distracted. On our first full day we rented a private car to take us around the massive island of Bohol. We started with the beautiful view of Chocolate hills, a collections of tens of hills that were coral millions of years ago. The kids highlight was an ATV tour in the area, where Ayaan drove for most of the time and Ariana enjoyed her first time on it through the fields, rivers and tracks. Our guide was fantastic and captured some incredible shots! Our second stop was seeing the cute Tarsiers, which are tiny koala bear like stuffies with big eyes and fixed eyeballs. Our final destination was a boat tour on the Lobok river with lunch, music and a local dancing. The drives were long with the kids, but it is definitely worth exploring what Philippines has to offer outside of the awe-inspiring beaches. We spent our evening eating fried chicken, devouring local shave ice (at a place called Ice Flakes) and watching a fire dance show.

We woke up very early next day to be disappointed that our whale shark tour was cancelled. We made the most of the day though taking a boat out to Balicasag island, which is a haven for sea activities though the infrastructure could be better. Kids were amused sitting on a motorcycle for the first time as part of our transfer to the boat. At the island we took a small boat out to first snorkel with tons of fish, and then swam with turtles. The water was crystal clear as you’ve seen in images of Philippines. After we got back to the main island, we spent the rest of the day chilling at Alona beach, eating some Thai food, more shave ice, dipping in our pool, getting a massage and dining at an Izakaya. On our final day in Bohol, we spent the morning in ankle deep water at the Bohol beach and hanging out at a local beach shack. The kids love the mango milkshakes and coconut water that you only get in tropical Asia.

Our next stop was the epic El Nido where we landed just in time to have a nice New Year’s Eve dinner where we each reviewed our performance against our 2025 goals, and set our 2026 goals. Our inn, the brand new Amari was set right against the limestone cliffs with a rooftop pool. El Nido is a lively little town with restaurants, bars, craft coffee shops, live music and massage spots all over. You cannot make a trip to Philippines and not visit El Nido. Each evening we tried a new dinner spot and either got Halo Halo/gelato or massage, or sometimes both. Anjali and I got a chance to get out for a drink or live music most nights. The highlight of course were the all day boat tours that took us to absolutely stunning beaches, caves, sandbars and lagoons. We took tour B, A and C on three consecutive days, each making 5 stops. Tour B was a great introduction with the highlight being the sandbar at Snake island where we were able to buy beer and coconut water from a guy on a kayak. It was breathtaking surrounded by limestone formations on all sides with very minimal people around us. The kids enjoyed jumping off the boat many times, and climbing into one of the caves. Every stop had a bar and we ate a local Filipino lunch on one of the pristine islands.

Tour A is the gem and a must do, and we got lucky to get a really nice double decker boat with an amazing crew (because we booked through the hotel). After some amazing snorkeling with a turtle sighting, we spent time at the stunning Seven Commando beach where the kids enjoyed hand swinging over the clear waters. The highlight of tour A was kayaking in turquoise waters a at big lagoon through limestone cliffs and caves. Ayaan and Ariana jumped off the boat about 50 times each including Ariana doing a front flip of the tip of the boat. The crew on the boat were amazing with the kids, and Ariana was extremely popular on the boat as a result!

Tour C was the most intense as the waters were very rough to its destinations and the stops had strong currents near the shore. It started with us swimming through the waves with coffee, crepe and bags in hand – which was quite an adventure and sight. The hidden beach had us swimming through very strong currents and over shallow coral rock to a shallow beach nestled deep in the limestone formations. The kids did better than us, as we got back to the boat with bruises. The ride back was windy and rough, and we were sandy, wet and cold by the time we got back to our hotel to once again chill by the rooftop pool. Tour C is skippable with kids particularly during high tide and rough waters, and we hear D is even more intense.

Our final stop was a night in Manila before our flight back. We stayed at the Conrad and the kids were delighted at being at a fancy Asian hotel. Opposite by the sea side was a Christmas market with lights and rides (Ferris wheel, pirate ship) where we spent our night after an amazing meal at Din Tai Fung at the Mall of Asia. After a sumptuous buffet breakfast, we spent the late morning walking through the Spanish intramuros area visiting Fort Santiago, the cathedral and St Agustin church. It was time to hop on our flight back to home via Taipei.

Philippines was definitely a bucket list destination with the most amazing beaches we’ve been to. We were on at least one flight or boat every single day of our 11 day vacation, so definitely not the easiest or most relaxing travel experience. We’ll definitely be back to Boracay, El Nido and more! Happy 2026 to all!