I would appreciate some advice on car hire and getting around the Philippines. In order to get relevant feedback, I figure it’s best to explain what I’m aiming to do first; so please bear with me whilst I try to do that. My wife and I shall be arriving in Manila in Jan 2015 on a 59-day visa. We regard ourselves as fairly seasoned expats and travellers, having lived and worked in the Middle East for over 10 years and travelled world wide, including pack packing for 6-months through developing countries such as India (and the Philippines many years ago). Still fit, healthy and enjoying life, we are now considering retiring to the Philippines, so the purpose/ aim of our trip is to visit as many locations as is reasonably possible within the given period and identify a location suitable for our retirement. Having said that, we have no intention of racing around from location to location, as in our experience, this only serves to tick a load of boxes and one ends up learning very little about the people or the locations. With so many places to see, we’ve decided that it’s advisable to choose only a few of our preferred locations and check those out. As we initially feel drawn to the Central/ Southern Philippines, we want to check out Davao, Cebu, Bacolod and Iloilo first, time permitting.
I’ve read loads of articles on various websites advising visitors/ tourists against driving a car in Manila and I get that. We shall use taxis and jeepneys to get around Manila. However, when it comes to Davao and the places mentioned above (we intend to catch an internal flight from Manila down to Davao or Cebu), we would like the freedom that comes with having a hired car. For example, we like the concept of being able to plonk our suitcases in the boot of a car and driving! Not booking hotels in advance, but simply driving up to one that we like the look of and if it’s unsuitable, just driving on to the next one. Having the freedom of being able to explore the surrounding areas of the large cities at our leisure. The benefits of being able to check out different areas for potential retirement locations, in detail if we want, without having to catch a string of jeepneys or depend on taxis.
I believe the flexibility of having a car to get around for our purpose cannot be overstated. I’m not going to mention the negatives because you guys will probably do that. As soon as we’ve seen enough of one particular area, we are considering returning the hire car and then travelling/ flying to the next location where we would start the process again. The thing is:
(1) Will this method of travel work in the Philippines?
(2) If you don’t agree with the car hire concept, how would you go about exploring the areas mentioned above, bearing in mind that we want to be as free, independent and flexible as possible in order to achieve our aim? (aim mentioned above)
(3) What do you perceive to be the negatives/ benefits of our plan to hire different cars at different locations, bearing in mind that we are continually moving on and cars usually have to be returned to the original pick-up-point?
(4) Can you recommend any decent, reliable, honest and reasonable car hire companies, either national or local?
(5) Are there any particular ‘quirks’ or scams for that matter, related to hiring cars in the Philippines that we should be aware of?
(6) We have valid UK driving licences. How long are they valid for in the Philippines?
I appreciate that local transport is supposed to be frequent in most places and inexpensive. However, please remember that we only have 59 days on our first visit and would like to make best use of our time. If we decide to settle in the Philippines, we shall have plenty of time to enjoy the jeepney and taxi experience at that stage.
Finally, our itinerary is flexible; if we find it is all becoming too much, rather than stick to a schedule, we shall simply get to a nice place, relax and enjoy ourselves. The most important aspect is to make sure that we have an enjoyable experience. Any advice from members already living in the Philippines would be appreciated.
I’ve read loads of articles on various websites advising visitors/ tourists against driving a car in Manila and I get that. We shall use taxis and jeepneys to get around Manila. However, when it comes to Davao and the places mentioned above (we intend to catch an internal flight from Manila down to Davao or Cebu), we would like the freedom that comes with having a hired car. For example, we like the concept of being able to plonk our suitcases in the boot of a car and driving! Not booking hotels in advance, but simply driving up to one that we like the look of and if it’s unsuitable, just driving on to the next one. Having the freedom of being able to explore the surrounding areas of the large cities at our leisure. The benefits of being able to check out different areas for potential retirement locations, in detail if we want, without having to catch a string of jeepneys or depend on taxis.
I believe the flexibility of having a car to get around for our purpose cannot be overstated. I’m not going to mention the negatives because you guys will probably do that. As soon as we’ve seen enough of one particular area, we are considering returning the hire car and then travelling/ flying to the next location where we would start the process again. The thing is:
(1) Will this method of travel work in the Philippines?
(2) If you don’t agree with the car hire concept, how would you go about exploring the areas mentioned above, bearing in mind that we want to be as free, independent and flexible as possible in order to achieve our aim? (aim mentioned above)
(3) What do you perceive to be the negatives/ benefits of our plan to hire different cars at different locations, bearing in mind that we are continually moving on and cars usually have to be returned to the original pick-up-point?
(4) Can you recommend any decent, reliable, honest and reasonable car hire companies, either national or local?
(5) Are there any particular ‘quirks’ or scams for that matter, related to hiring cars in the Philippines that we should be aware of?
(6) We have valid UK driving licences. How long are they valid for in the Philippines?
I appreciate that local transport is supposed to be frequent in most places and inexpensive. However, please remember that we only have 59 days on our first visit and would like to make best use of our time. If we decide to settle in the Philippines, we shall have plenty of time to enjoy the jeepney and taxi experience at that stage.
Finally, our itinerary is flexible; if we find it is all becoming too much, rather than stick to a schedule, we shall simply get to a nice place, relax and enjoy ourselves. The most important aspect is to make sure that we have an enjoyable experience. Any advice from members already living in the Philippines would be appreciated.