The 13 Best Resorts in the Philippines

The airstrip on Pamalican Island exists for one reason: getting you to this resort. Amanpulo holds a Michelin Key and occupies an entire private island in the Philippines, ringed by coral reef and reachable only by charter flight the hotel arranges from Manila. Casitas follow the local bahay kubo style, thatched roofs and all, with bathrooms nearly as large as the bedroom. Diving, snorkeling, and windsurfing are on offer, but the reef mostly just sits there looking unreasonably good.

A wooden pagoda rising from a tiny offshore islet announces this barefoot, sustainably built resort on Siargao's southern coast. Villas are freestanding and generously spaced, with private porches and tropical gardens; the bathrooms are so lavish the designers apparently added benches so you'd linger. A circular bar, a sunken lounge, an infinity pool, and hammock pods hung from coconut trees round things out. It holds a Michelin Key.

The infinity pool at this beachfront resort sits at the tip of the Punta Engaño peninsula, so the water just bleeds into the sea beyond it. Dusit Thani is a long-running Thai luxury brand, and the house style, warm formality softened by genuine ease, translates well to Mactan Island. Rooms are bright and generous, balconies face the sunset, and the Namm Spa delivers exactly what a Thai hotel spa promises. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key.

The casino is the main event, but the hotel towers above it in more ways than one. Two skyscrapers divide the rooms, with the newer Sky Tower angling toward guests who prefer their soaking tubs very deep and their square footage generous. Floor-to-ceiling windows frame Manila Bay in both buildings, and the pool deck, Broadway theater, and restaurant lineup give the whole compound a Vegas-in-the-tropics energy that it leans into without apology.

A three-tiered infinity pool cascading into a private beach sets the tone at this full-service resort on Mactan Island, twenty minutes from Cebu's airport. The 40 private villas come with plunge pools and ocean views; another 250 rooms offer the same comforts with slightly thinner walls between you and your neighbors. Two restaurants, a beach club, a sports bar, and a 14-room spa ensure you never need a plan. The Michelin Guide has it among its Selected Hotels.

Rooms here run large enough that you might forget you booked a beach resort and think you've moved in, with private balconies, soaking tubs, and garden or sea views. The six-room spa, kids' club, watersports, and a big pool cover every mood, and the dining swings from Nikkei to Mediterranean without apology. Selected by the Michelin Guide, it sits half an hour from the airport on a white-sand stretch of Mactan's coast.

Tagaytay is Manila's preferred escape when the city gets to be too much, cooler by several degrees and perched above Taal Lake. Anya is a 82-suite resort spread across manicured gardens, with rooms built around indigenous materials and Filipino craft. Chef Chele Gonzalez runs the signature restaurant, Samira. The Niyama Wellness Centre handles the yoga, retreats, and spa treatments, because you didn't drive an hour just to check email.

Three infinity pools face the Sulu Sea from a private white-sand cove that sits well clear of Boracay's busier strips. Crimson is a full-scale beach resort with a glass-walled pavilion cantilevered over the water, a spa, beach yoga, and a children's club built around a pirate ship, which covers most negotiations at check-in. Dining runs from a Latin grill to an all-day café to a beach club pulling in Japanese, Korean, and Indian menus.

Water cottages on stilts sit over Bacuit Bay, with limestone cliffs behind and 45 islands in front. This is a stylish, sustainable island resort on Lagen, part of the El Nido Resorts group, where rooms are built from antique Filipino hardwood and open onto private terraces. Sea kayaks and snorkeling gear pull guests out to the bay; lagoon tours and dive courses go further. The pool is four feet deep because the tree roots underneath had other plans.

Stilted cottages built directly over the water, thatched bungalows notched into the cliffside, and about fifty rooms total on a small forested island in Bacuit Bay. This is a resort in the quieter, more stripped-back sense of the word. Floors and walls run to native wood and bamboo, sliding doors open onto private patios, and the infinity pool faces a white sand beach calm enough for snorkeling. Windsurfing, hiking, and lagoon boating are all on offer, though the palm-shaded chaise longue makes a compelling counterargument.

A single forested hill rising out of the Palawan archipelago, reachable only by a half-hour boat ride from a very small airstrip. The resort's villas line a half-mile white-sand beach or climb above the jungle canopy, all with generous indoor-outdoor space and some with private plunge pools. Local materials keep the crisp, contemporary interiors from feeling airlifted in. The water does most of the heavy lifting: diving, kayaking, and paddling in a setting that barely seems plausible.

Sipalay sits on Negros Occidental's southwest coast, well outside the usual Philippine circuit, and Manami is the only luxury resort here, which gives it a certain quiet confidence. Eighteen villas are tucked into five hillside hectares where forest meets the Sulu Sea, with bamboo walls, pitched timber ceilings, and wide balconies facing ocean or jungle. The restaurant leans into Negrense cooking with Spanish threads, and the sunset deck is built around the trunks of living trees.

Nawa Wellness is a resort on a sleepy peninsula south of Manila built around Hilot, the ancient Filipino healing tradition, rather than around a pool bar and a gift shop. Rooms range from a colonial Manila-era house to thatched Malay cabanas, with a presidential villa sitting somewhere in the middle of generous gardens. The Panari Spa folds traditional Filipino practice into modern therapy, and the kitchen serves food that is, against the odds, both medicinal and delicious.