Philippines 6 day Budget trip under 47k (USD700) all inclusive- Expense Guide!

I recently returned from a 6 day trip to Philippines. While the main ticket was booked 9 months earlier in an Air Asia sale, rest of the plan was finalized only about 2 weeks before travel, as there were some uncertainties. I stayed at some of the cheapest hostels, managed without a check-in bag and roamed around as much as I could during my day visit. If you’re considering visiting the Philippines and need some idea on how much various things would cost, below is the expense break up of my trip. This is the cheapest I could manage. If you plan for more luxuries your cost will go up. I will write more posts over next few weeks explaining places I visited and other details based on my experience in Manila, Cebu and Palawan.

Philippines 6 day trip under INR 50k all inclusive- Expense Guide.
(Note; Approx 700 USD. 1 USD= 50 PHP approx)

#	Category	Description	Amount	Amount in INR*	Remarks
1	Flight	Chennai-Manila Return		15286	Booked 9 months earlier, hand bag only
2		Manila-Puerto Princessa return	5670 PHP	8500	Booked 2 weeks earlier
3		Manila- Cebu return	3449 PHP	5170	Booked 2 weeks earlier *1
4	Stay	Hostel in Manila, 1 night	450 PHP	700	1, River Central
5		Hostel in Puerto Princessa, 2 nights	800 PHP	1200	TreeHouse Inn
6		Hostel in Manila, 1 night	1165 PHP	1800	Jovielle, includes breakfast and airport transfer
7		Hostel in Cebu	465 PHP	700	The StopOver Hostel
8	Site-seeing	Underwater caves with lunch	1500 PHP	2225	List price 1800 PHP, 20% discount
9		Firefly watching with dinner	1100 PHP	1600	Got some 10% discount
10		100 caves entry fee	450 PHP	700
11	Local Transport	Bike rental in Puerto Princessa, 3 days	2000 PHP	3000
12		Fuel for bike	250 PHP	375
13		Approx amount spent on 5-6 taxi hires	800 PHP	1200
14		Money spent on bus/jeepney/MRT rides	200 PHP	300	Approx
15	Food	Approx for 5 days, including fruits, coconut, water etc	1200 PHP	1800
16	Misc	Visa	-	-	(Free entry based on US visa)
17		Puerto Princesa airport departure fee	200 PHP	300	In addition to ticket fare
18		Food purchase in airport/ in-flight	INR, MYR, PHP	1200	Approx
19		Chennai airport local transport		220
20		ATM cash withdrawal cost	200 PHP	300
21		Entry fee San pedro fort Cebu	30 PHP	45
		Total		46621 INR

*I have used an easy to calculate 1 PHP= 1.5 INR conversion. Actual rate is little less at about 1.4 to 1.45 after factoring conversion fee etc.

Add Rs 6000 for Chennai-Manila sector if you plan to take upto 20kg check in bag. Few k more for other domestic flights.

Manila Puerto Princesa and Manila Cebu was booked last minute. I could have saved considerably here if I had finalized my plans few months earlier.

*1: I feel the visit to Cebu could have been either avoided (I could have spent one more day in Palawan itself) OR I could have booked return ticket from Cebu to Kuala Lumpur to Chennai, instead of Cebu-Manila, Manila-KL and KL-MAA. If you can plan well, either enter or exit via one of the island cities other than Manila, so that you don't have to fly in and out of Manila multiple times unnecessarily. 

I have used hostels. You can try couch surfing or AirBnB etc for even cheaper options- but if you need a more luxurious stay, factor higher budget

It was not easy to get Indian veg food in Philippines. I managed with fruits, tender coconut, cup noodles and stuff like that. A proper meal in mid range restaurant will bump up your spending.

I was fortunate enough to have a US Visa which got me free on arrival visa for Philippines. If you don't have US/UK/Singapore visa you will need some more spending on visa processing.

Stay tuned for more posts from Philippines.