The 12 Best Places to Drink and Do in the Philippines

Limestone cliffs spike straight up behind a strip of white sand, and the visual contrast is the whole argument for the boat ride out here. Entalula holds the number one spot on the World's 50 Best Beaches list, and the relative quiet confirms why: access is by boat only, so the crowds that pack El Nido's more reachable shores never quite materialize. The water is clear enough to make swimming feel like an afterthought you'll spend an hour doing anyway.

Kalanggaman is a sandbar, essentially, a sliver of white sand so narrow you can see ocean on both sides at once. The water is shallow and clear enough to walk out absurdly far, and the near-total lack of development means nothing interrupts the view in any direction. Getting here takes a boat ride, which keeps the crowds manageable. It landed at number 25 on the World's 50 Best Beaches, and the shape of the place makes the case without any help.

The name means "sound" in Japanese, and the all-vinyl playlist is not a gimmick. Oto is a cocktail bar in Poblacion where the menu runs from daiquiris and dirty martinis through to signatures that fold in tamarind syrup or wheat beer, and a riff on the Breakfast Martini that nods to Salvatore Calabrese. The room is striking enough that the drinks have to compete, and the drinks are up for it.

Melbourne is the unlikely muse for this all-day café and cocktail lounge tucked into the Alabang commercial sprawl. The drinks menu is illustrated like a coffee-table book and written like one too, walking you through strawberry distillates and acid blends without making you feel like you need a lab coat to order. A Difford's Guide pick and a The 50 Discovery selection, it leans modern and precise in a neighborhood that doesn't always expect that.

The sliding wooden doors that conceal the bar during daylight hours open at night to reveal what is, by day, an architectural firm. That dual life shapes everything: the cocktail bar keeps the office's concrete-and-glass bones and its minimal, industrial calm. It sits inside Lamp Quarters, a retail complex in Marikina City, and works best for small groups settling into corners that, a few hours earlier, someone was billing clients from.