Where to stay in the Philippines

Hard to say! The Philippines have more than 7000 Islands so there are too many oportunities. How can I give an advise about where to stay, on which of the islands? In fact, you have to find that place by yourself.

Another big group of foreigners end up at the place where they first landed on their mighty first holiday in the Philippines. You should really travel around and have a look at different places before you decide where to stay. There is so much to see.

For myself, the only place where I don't want to stay in the Philippines is any big city in the Philippines. A lot of foreigners tend to stay in cities because they are used to or they like the nightlife, or they found an appartment in the Internet or they think that this is the only place where their kids can go to school.
All wrong!
Philippine cities are a nightmare for me. They are expensive, dirty, polluted and have always a very high crime rate. Houses in residencial areas have high walls around the houses, so you can't even look out.
If I would want to stay in a city, I would probably stay there back home in Germany but not in the Philippines.

When I think about staying in the Philippines, I think about white beaches, palm trees, clear water in the ocean and stuff like that. I want to go swimming, diving and do other sorts of watersports. You can't do that in a city.

So if I finaly would have have to give an advice where to stay in the Philippines, I would reccomend to look around on the Islands of Bohol, Camiguin, Siquijor, Dumaguete or even Cebu, if you can find something out of Cebu City. But there are other nice places, too. I just haven't seen them all, yet.

Last not least, another place where you maybe don't want to stay is the area of Leyte. Leyte is nice but its always hit by typhoons and really bad weather. So if you don't want to rebuild your house every year, don't stay in Leyte!