Siargao

The best beaches are offshore. Island-hopping boats leave General Luna for Naked Island, a bare sandbar with nothing on it, then Daku with its palms and fishing village and little Guyam, all with clear, shallow, turquoise water and white sand. The sea stays around 28°C to 30°C all year. On the main island, the coast near General Luna is mostly reef flat and the swimming depends on the tide. At low water the lagoon drains to ankle depth, so swims are timed around it.

Further afield there are quiet stretches along the coast road towards Pilar and Burgos, and the Magpupungko rock pools, which fill with clear water at low tide. Beach life here is barefoot and unfussy, with no resort promenades. The calmest, sunniest months are roughly March to September.

Most of the eating is in General Luna and along the road to Cloud 9. For a small island the range is surprisingly wide: surfer cafés serving smoothie bowls and good coffee, wood-fired pizza, poke and Mediterranean plates, as well as simple Filipino eateries serving grilled fish, adobo and rice. The local thing to try is kinilaw, raw fish cured in coconut vinegar with chilli and onion. Lunch on island-hopping trips is usually grilled seafood eaten in the shade on the sand.

The scene is casual and depends on day-trippers. Outside General Luna the choice drops to roadside carinderias, and there is no fine dining or market culture worth seeking out.

Siargao has very little to see in the usual sense. There are no museums or historic quarters. Sightseeing means the wooden boardwalk and viewing tower at Cloud 9, the plain Catholic churches in the island's small towns, and the stilt-house fishing villages seen from a boat. People come for the sea and the slow life, and the island has nothing to visit on a rainy day.

General Luna has more going on after dark than its size suggests. Surfers and backpackers move between a few venues, and each night of the week has its usual party spot: open-air dance floors under the palms, reggae and house nights, and beach-bar gatherings that run past midnight. The crowd is young, sunburnt and sociable, and getting home means a tricycle or scooter down dark roads.

The scene is still small and all in one strip of town. There are no clubs in the city sense and no cocktail-bar culture. It is busiest in the surf season and over Holy Week and the Christmas and New Year weeks. Elsewhere on the island the evenings are very quiet.

Surfing is the main reason most visitors come. Cloud 9 is a powerful reef break off General Luna, and other reef breaks and beginner waves spread along the east coast. Teachers work the gentler spots, so learning is easy. The biggest swells usually arrive from about August to November, which is the main surf season.

Away from the waves, Del Carmen has one of the largest mangrove forests in the region. Paddleboarders and boats head through it to Sugba Lagoon, which is jade-green and ringed by limestone islets. Further south, Sohoton Cove on Bucas Grande has jellyfish lakes and caves you enter by boat. Inland there are coconut forests, rivers and the swing over the river at Maasin. The island is low and green, though, with little real hiking and no mountains.

Most outings from Siargao are boat trips to sandbars, lagoons and coves, not to other towns. The small fishing villages on Daku and the other nearby islands, and the island's own towns such as Pilar, Del Carmen and Burgos, make pleasant stops on a loop by scooter, but none is a destination in itself. Surigao City on the mainland is a ferry ride away, but it is a working port town that travellers pass through, not a place to spend the day.

Siargao can work for a relaxed family vacation built around the water. Children tend to love the boat trips to the sandbars and the shallow, warm water there, and the Magpupungko rock pools at low tide. Filipino culture is warm and welcoming to children. Older children can take surf lessons on the beginner waves.

There is nothing made for children, though: no zoos, aquariums or play parks. Most people get around by scooter or tricycle, and the roads have no pavements. The tides make swimming in front of General Luna awkward, and medical care on the island is basic. Families with toddlers will find it harder work than those with teenagers.

There is no public transport worth relying on. Most visitors rent a scooter, and otherwise there are tricycles, motorbike taxis and drivers hired by the day. The roads are mostly paved and quiet, and General Luna's main strip is short. But the road to Cloud 9 has no pavements and is dark at night, and riding in the rain or on gravel needs care. The lagoons and islands that matter most are only reached by boat, so plan for organised trips or a hired bangka. Reaching the island itself takes a domestic flight or a ferry from the mainland.

Shopping is limited to General Luna's main strip: surf shops for boards, rash guards and wax, a few small boutiques selling linen, swimwear and island-made jewellery, and stalls with woven bags and souvenirs. It is enough to replace a forgotten sarong, but there are no markets or crafts that make the island a place to shop.

Siargao costs more than most of the Philippines but still costs little by Western standards. Simple guesthouses and hostels, local eateries, scooter hire and massages are cheap. The international cafés in General Luna, boutique stays near Cloud 9, imported drinks and private boat charters cost noticeably more, close to what you would pay at home. Shared island-hopping tours and staying in simple places keep a long surf trip affordable. Room prices go up in the peak surf months and in the busy domestic vacation weeks around Holy Week and Christmas.

There is almost no live performance on the island. Some evenings a beach bar has an acoustic set or a cover band, and there may be a DJ or fire dancers at a party. There is no theatre, concert venue or regular cultural programme, and nobody comes to Siargao for it.

Siargao's wellness is informal and comes from its pace. Days follow the tides and the surf, there is little to rush to, and evenings outside General Luna are quiet. The town has yoga shalas, several with open-air sessions among the palms, as well as small retreat stays and many massage huts offering Filipino hilot and oil massages after a day in the water.

There is no bathing culture, no thermal springs and few spas beyond small resort treatment rooms. It suits travellers who relax through yoga, massage and a slow routine more than those looking for pampering.