48 Hours in Davao City
Davao City is the biggest metropolitan area in the Philippines' southern island of Mindanao. Intrepid travellers flying to the Philippines' deep south will be rewarded with a city experience that is nonetheless only a few minutes' travel from pristine beaches, excellent diving prospects, and mountain trekking trails.
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Another Philippine city worth your miles is Puerto Princesa, which is the jump-off point to some of the country’s top beaches.
If you only have 48 hours to spare, make the most of your Davao experience by following the itinerary listed below.
Friday night
For your Davao adventure, set up camp at one the city's first hotels, and still one of its best. Apo View Hotel (150 J. Camus Street, tel: +63 (0) 82 221 6430, www.apoview.com) towers over Davao's downtown area, just a short walk away from the shopping and dining around Ilustre Street.
Buffet-mad Davao residents swear by Apo View's Entrée restaurant and its groaning smorgasbord of delicacies. And gamblers can play all night at the basement casino. What's not to love?
Saturday morning
Start your morning with Davao's favourite breakfast: tapsilog, a combo meal of cured beef, fried rice, and fried egg. Walk over to Taps (Duterte Street, tel: +63 82 305 4090) for your quick, hearty breakfast fry-up.
Located next to Hotel Galleria on Duterte Street, less than five minutes' walk from Apo View, Taps stands out with its bright red signage; the venerable fast food chain has been filling Davao tummies since 1985 and shows no sign of slowing down.
Taxis in Davao are cheap, plentiful, and honest. With Taps' central location, the rest of downtown's best sights are easy to reach by cab, which you can take when you want to go shopping.
Aldevinco Shopping Center crams almost a hundred stalls in a tiny corner lot, but the staggering range of goods within makes it an essential shopping stop in Davao. Batiks, Maranao tribal weaponry, brass gongs, beadwork and rare pearls are yours for the taking; haggling is required to get the best deal.
Davao is famous for its fruit trade; what doesn't hit the export market hits Magsaysay Park (Quezon Boulevard) instead. Magsaysay Park's fruit stalls hawk the city's freshest durian, jackfruit, and mangosteen; you can sample for free before buying.
Saturday afternoon
An hour's drive away from downtown, the Philippine Eagle Centre (Malagos, Baguio District, tel: +63 (0) 82 271 2337, www.philippineeagle.org) displays live specimens of the endangered Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi). Through the Centre's breeding program and educational efforts, the Philippine Eagle manages to hang on in forests around the southern Philippines.
The Centre is also home to a considerable menagerie of endemic wildlife, including Brahminy kites, macaques and a large crocodile.
Saturday night
On the way back from eagle-watching at the Centre, take a detour to Davao's most scenic watering hole. Jack’s Ridge (Shrine Hills Matina, tel: +63 (0) 82 297 8831, www.jacksridgedavao.com) is set on the top of a cliff overlooking Davao City, and remains a popular evening hangout for locals.
Sunday morning
Just a ten minute-ferry ride from Davao, Samal Island offers plenty of diving, watersports and beach action for sun worshipers. Visit the Pearl Farm Resort (Kaputian, Island Garden City of Samal, tel: +63 82 221 9970, www.pearlfarmresort.com), Samal Island’s most luxurious spot, to get your fix.
After getting snorkeling or diving time in the waters around the resort, chill out at the Pearl Farm's infinity-edge swimming pool overlooking the Davao Gulf, or lunch at the resort's buffet restaurant. If you're planning to stay overnight, check into one of the resort's seaview villas, or check into one of its fancy, expansive Malipano Islet villas if you have cash to burn.
Sunday afternoon
To get around Samal, you'll have to hire a habal-habal, or motorcycle taxi. Habal-habal have no passenger compartments—instead, you'll ride pillion behind the driver. It's not for the unsteady or uninsured.
From Pearl Farm, the Monfort Bat Sanctuary (Barangay Tambo, Babak District, Island Garden City of Samal; tel: +63 82 221 8925) is about 20 minutes' habal-habal ride away. The Sanctuary's caves shelter about 1.8 million Geoffroy’s Rousette fruit bats (Rousettus amplexicaudatus). You won't be allowed to enter the caves, but you can look over bamboo railings to watch the fruit bats sleep while clinging onto the cave walls. The sheer number of bats makes for an overwhelming sight (and aroma).
Sunday night
Back in Davao, end your trip with a feast at Marco Polo Hotel's Café Marco (Claro M. Recto Street, tel: +63 (0) 82 221 0888, www.marcopolohotels.com), which serves Davao's longest buffet: taste the city's freshest delicacies, from tuna sashimi to roast beef to pasta to every dessert imaginable.
