Why do you think I should go to palau while I am in the Philipines?

And yes I know I'm asking this on the Palau forum, but we are going to the philipines(1st time) for 3 1/2 weeks in May and I was wondering whether or not to fly to Palau for one to two weeks. There's not much in the way of beaches, diving I can do in the philipines.. yes I really want to go to Palau (the name alone helps) but why do you think we should go?

Thank you for your help!
Chris

I have been researching Palau for a sailing trip. People seem to say 'get out of Koror asap' and go to the Rock Islands for the diving. If you are will be doing heaps of diving in the Phillipines......?. I'm thinking you might find more varied destinations to spend your time in the Phillipines.

I spent a couple months in Palau researching my guidebook and while Koror is a metropolitan city with traffic and clutter, it also has museums, excellent restaurants and a large variety of lodgings in all price ranges. If you visit Peleliu, Angar or Kayangel you will receive a more rural experience. The Rock Islands and the waters surrounding them are the main attraction, but there is plenty to do for those who are not divers. I snorkeled some but do not scuba dive and I enjoyed Palau. Stop by the tourist board in Koror and they have brochures and maps to help you enjoy the natural sights. You may even want to pick up a guidebook for ideas. Before you leave visit the tourism website for ideas of things to do.

Papa Mike

I would be curious what made you conclude that "There's not much in the way of beaches, diving I can do in the philipines.. " - consisting of 7000 islands, the Philippnes certainly does not lack either beaches or diving spots.

PapaMike- describing Koror as metropolitan is a hoot. The entire country has 20,000 people. Koror is a very small town, poorly designed and not attractive. But the center of the country- restaurants, hotels, diving mostly takes off from there. Palau is spectacularly beautiful- the rock islands and the water left me astonished after 3 years of living there. And about 4 months of visiting before that. I have not been outside of Manila very far so it is hard for me to compare the places. But I don't think I have encountered more than one person who has regretted their visit to Palau. But- it is a very expensive trip. One problems with the PI is that some of the very areas that you would want to visit are very dangerous. that would be one reason to visit palau.

I spent a couple of seeks in Palau and, on and off, about 3 weeks in the Phillipines earlier this year.

Palau. The diving is truly amazing. If you do your research you can get accomodation and food relatively inexpensively. Koror is okay, certainly not the cess-pit the LP guidebook might make you think it is. If you're diving most of the dive boats leave from there, and you'll be out most of the day, so it's still probably the best place to be based. The downsides: the flights there, even from the Phillipines, are very expensive, and so is the diving, certainly compared to SE Asia.

The Phillipines 'dangerous'?? It certainly is a 'developing' country, so if you haven't been to one before it might be a bit of a shock to the system, but the vast majority of the country is perfectly safe if somewhat chaotic. The only area you might be best advised not to visit is Mindanao where there is a long running insurgency. Certainly all the places you might be thinking about diving are perfectly safe.

However, there is a lot to see and do in the Phillipines so if you only have 3 1/2 weeks I'd stay there the whole time.

Yes, parts of the PI are dangerous. Not developing country dangerous but terrorist dangerous. Much or most of the PI is not, but there are areas where kidnappings and murders are not uncommon.