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How Much Money Do I Need To Travel the Philippines?

9th October 2019

With over seven thousand islands to explore, you better get cracking if you want to see them all this lifetime. The Philippines is a country where 1AUD in PHP will get you pretty far - you can travel for as little as $30AUD a day and still have a phat time; where rum is often cheaper than a soft drink and a delicious seafood dinner might set you back $5.

How to budget for your Philippines trip

When piecing together your travel budget for the Philippines it can get rather daunting pretty quickly thinking about everything at once. Splitting expenses into different categories can make it easier to remember everything and keep track of expenses as you go. The local currency across all 7000 islands is the Philippine Peso (PHP), so acquaint yourself with that too.

Pre-departure Expenses

These are the expenses that can sneak through until the very last minute causing those hair pulling moments in the last minutes before heading off on holidays. Think things like: visas, immunisations, passport renewals and of course, travel insurance!

Holiday Expenses

These are the big expenses that take the chunks out of your hard earned dollars. Things like flights, accommodation, activities and transport around The Philippines all come under this category and are going to require some fine tuning to get it all right.

Unexpected event Funds

What great holiday doesn’t have at least one unexpected event pop up? If you fail to plan for something popping up, you increase your chances of something happening by 75%. I just made that number up but it sounds about right. Have some emergency funds put away to save an awkward phone call home to the parents or trying to kick start a Go fund me from a Philippine Island.

Holiday budget calculator

Don’t have time to calculate the cost of every little aspect of your trip, or don’t know the cost of the little bits and pieces in the Philippines? We don’t blame you, knowing everything is hard, that’s why we’ve left it to some pretty funky algorithms to do all the hard work for us.

The holiday budget calculator tool is locked and loaded with all the major costs for planning your trip, it’s as easy as pie to put in your details and it’ll spit out a pretty good idea of your basic costs. Thanks science.

Try it out below!

How does the Holiday Budget Calculator work?

Well, we’ve broken it down to 5 easy steps:

Step 1:
  1. Enter in where your destination
  2. Pick your travel style
  3. How long are you travelling for?
  4. Choose your currency AUD/PHP

Step 2

Here's where we start breaking down your daily expenses to get an idea of your cost per day and how that is going to add up over the length of your trip. If you’re planning on treating yourself to a restaurant dinner every night, and we don’t see why you shouldn’t, put it down here and our magic budget planner will add it all up for you. It even knows the cost of a beer in Manila.

Step 3

Is for the shoppers and souvenir fiends. Don’t ask me how, but our holiday budget planner knows how much items of clothing are and you’ll have the opportunity to put in any other spending you plan on making.

Step 4

Is where we take a look at the transport other than your major flights. Chances are you’ll be taking tuk-tuks or cruising around on your own bike if you’re the more adventurous type (don’t forget travel insurance) and taxis can be on the more expensive side.

Step 5

Is where you sit back and relax and let the holiday budget planner tool add up your meals and souvenirs in its head and spit out the grand total of your holiday expenses. Keep in mind that these are the most basic expenses. Don’t forget to add in travel insurance, other daily expenses like food and drinks, sightseeing, activities and leave some extra room in the kitty for any shopping sprees and emergencies too!

 

Philippines holiday budget examples

After a little bit of study, a rough budget for the big ticket items for your Philippines trip could look like one of these bad boys:

The lovey dovey couple’s retreat

Transport From $933pp Brisbane to Manila on quickest flight option
Accommodation From $862 for a private room in 3 star resort for 8 nights  
Food $500 for both  
Activities $400  
Total $3628 for both  

 

The family getaway

Transport From $3288 Brisbane to Manila for 2 adults 2 kids
Accommodation From $1500 for 8 nights Mid range city hotel
Food $900  
Activities $600  
Total $6288 for all  

 

The solo traveller’s trip

With a little bit more flexibility to choose the cheapest flights, the solo traveller can save a bit of money initially, but accommodation expenses rack up pretty quickly when you’re solo. If you’re short on time and want to look at having more inclusions in your trip, don’t forget about group tours. They’re a great way to make new friends and most of the time they’ll include accommodation, breakfast, transport, entry to parks and you’re not going to spend hours lost because your GPS sent you down the wrong street. Savings galore.

 

Transport From $800pp Brisbane to Manila return on a non-direct flight
Accommodation From $482 for budget hotel for 8 nights  
Food From $250 for 9 days  
Activities $200 Massages/beaches
Total From $1732 pp  

 

Don't forget

Budgeting doesn’t have to be a dirty word. It might not be the most fun part of your holiday, but it is one of the most important parts.

  • Research your ‘per day’ budget and include the things you really want to do. Once you know the costs, you have a goal to save for and some flexibility to work with
  • Most things are cheaper to book in advance (especially if you’re going near peak times) but some things can be cheaper to purchase in the US
  • Don’t forget to factor in your pre-travel costs (e.g. travel insurance, immunisations and visas).
  • Budget for cheap eats some days so you can treat yourself on others.
  • Don’t forget other cheeky costs like airport transfers, tours and tipping

 

Flight costs based on search from www.flightcentre.com.au and are indicative costs only, based on prices available on 04 August 2019. ^Accommodation costs are based on an average per night price for budget, moderate or luxury hotels, as indicated in the table. ~Food based on the average cost of 1 coffee, 1 fast food meal and 1restaurant meal per person, per day. 
COST COMPARISON TABLE: All costs are based on estimated approximate costs from major metropolitan cities. “From” costs indicate costs that start from the indicated price and may be higher than shown. Average prices indicate a typical estimated cost you would pay for the indicated item. Prices may vary from time to time, and in different cities and towns within the Philippines.
This blog is provided for information only and does not take into consideration your objectives, financial situation or needs.  You should consider whether the information and suggestions contained in any blog entry are appropriate for you, having regard to your own objectives, financial situation and needs.  While we take reasonable care in providing the blog, we give no warranties or representations that it is complete or accurate, or is appropriate for you.  We are not liable for any loss caused, whether due to negligence or otherwise, arising from use of, or reliance on, the information and/or suggestions contained in this blog.