A guided wade-and-swim through a dark limestone cave system in Pilar, where headlamp beams catch stalactites and roosting bats before the passage opens into a sunlit gorge with a cool, spring-fed natural pool. The finale is a rope swing and jump into startlingly clear green water. It's short, muddy, slightly spooky and enormous fun.
Natural infinity pools carved into a reef shelf in Pilar, revealed only when the tide drains away to leave glassy, jade-green basins deep enough for cliff jumps. A giant balancing boulder (the 'pungko') looms over the flats, and the surrounding beach is a beauty in its own right. At high tide the whole thing disappears under the Pacific.
An emerald river sliding between walls of coconut palms, made famous by a bent palm trunk with a rope swing beside the highway bridge. The original leaning palm fell in Typhoon Odette, and a man-made jumping platform of varying heights now stands in its place. Paddle a dugout canoe upriver and the crowds vanish into a silent, jungle-lined waterway leading to a small lagoon.
The biggest of General Luna's three offshore islands ('daku' means large), with a long white-sand beach, swaying palms and a small fishing village. This is the lunch stop of the island-hopping circuit — local families grill fresh fish and serve boodle-fight spreads under shady beachfront cottages. The swimming and snorkelling just off the beach are excellent.
At the northernmost tip of Siargao, Alegria unfurls some of the whitest, softest sand on the island beside shallow, glass-clear water that's calm enough for proper swimming — a rarity on the reef-guarded east coast. The long ride up through rice paddies and palm forest is half the experience. Few tourists make it this far, so weekdays can feel private.