I’m tossing this subject out there, mainly for an open discussion, and also because I have a ‘friend of a friend’ who is struggling with that question right now. Said friend doesn’t feel I have addressed this question often enough, or clearly enough. That’s a fair enough criticism, but I’m not sure this article is going to make things all that much more clear for those who are totally at sea on this question.
The definitive answer, in my view is, there is no best place to live in the Philippines. Since we are all individual thinking humans and not sheep (thank God), our needs are all different and the things that make us happy are all very personal.
But I can make a few general observations that may help. These are some major questions and differentiators to think through before you get to the point of pinning things down to a particular province or town.
Countryside or City: You really need to give this one some thought. Especially if money is a big consideration in your plans. I’ve listened, ad nauseum, to years of argument on this topic. “It’s expensive to live in Manila”, “It’s cheap to live in province X”, etc., etc.
There’s even an official publication of the Philippines government that says something like the cost of living in major provincial cites like Davao and Cebu is roughly 80% of the cost of living in Manila, and the costs of living in smaller provincial towns is 80% of the cost of major provincial cities.
This appears to be a yardstick for budgeting certain government programs here. There is some usefulness to those guidelines, but do not take them to the bank.
First of all, they are figures for Filipinos. The costs for a foreigner, or a Philippine-foreigner couple, are not likely to vary as much, from what I have seen. The possible savings from living well out in the provinces are very likely to be offset by the increased costs of imported items, medical care, continual travel to major cities for immigration issues, other government actions, etc.
One thing for sure. If I were down to scraping my last few dollars, I am darn sure I could find a cheap roof over my head (pension house, hostel, seaman’s bunk house, bedspacer, etc.) and cheap food in Manila more than in any far-flung province.
The majority of people reading this (even Filipinos thinking of relocating ‘back home’ after along time abroad) are not going to live at the bottom of the economic scale.
Spouse’s Family: You will find a heck of a lot of advice online about whether or not you should live in close proximity to the Filipino spouse’s family. Opinions vary from adamantly opposed to encouraging a close relationship, and the confusing thing is, virtually every piece of advice is valid, at some time or another.
If you live really close to your spouse’s immediate family (I do, by the way), there may be times it wears on you. Times when it seems your spouse is busier with her family issues than your own couple’s concerns.
But there will also be times when there is no possible better place to live. I am close to almost all of my wife’s family. They have given us invaluable assistance in getting settled, making a life here and sometimes nothing more than having someone trustworthy to talk with when decisions have to be made.
So for me, living almost next door to the family home has been wonderful. And I never spend money on trips home, either 
But if you don’t know your spouse’s family well, or you know them and don’t get along so well, there’s a lot of advantages to living farther away. All my advice here “depends” on personal circumstances, but this area of decision is likely the most sensitive of all. Not only do you have to discuss this throughly with your spouse and weigh all the plus and minus factors you can, mutually, you have to be sensitive to the fact she may be saying where she wants to live based on what she thinks you want.
This is a very common problem here, not just between married couples. Getting a Filipino spouse, relative or even a neighbor to tell you what they prefer doing can be very, very difficult. One of the most maddening phrases you are going to have to deal with is the famous, ” ‘Sup to you.”
Finding out the real underlying desires require patience, understanding and, well let’s face it, a little luck also.
Climate: This id one of the more scientifically provable decision factors. One that a lot of people spend way more time studying and pondering about than the decision warranted.
Since I often tend to write too long for some people’s tastes, I’ll make this parts simple.
Wherever you chose to live it’s going to be hot. Period.
You’ll run into endless online discussions, even arguments about “A” being better than “B” because it’s cooler there. Mostly, these discussions are just noise … with a few minor exceptions I am gong to cover in a few more paragraphs down the page.
Here’s a wonderful, free tool that is far underutilized. A page with dozens of Philippine weather conditions … and if you explore around you’ll find tons of historical data by drilling down into the selections for the cities you are interested in. Highly recommended.
But you are going to find very little variation. At least not enough to make much difference in deciding where to live. With one important exception.
Altitude. It’s really about the only thing that makes any difference. One piece of writing of mine on “Where to Live in the Philippines” I have always liked is this one:
Your Altitude Determines Your Attitude
Altitude versus Attitude?
Hmm, don’t you have that headline wrong, Dave? I’ve seen that saying a dozen times or more in motivational literate and it always seemed to read, “Your attitude determines your altitude”. Well, yes, that is likely the most usual way it is used, but here in the Philippines a lot of things we ‘know’ from the Western world don’t always seem exactly the same as they were before. One “minus” about living in the Philippines that can’t be ignored is … it is hot here. When I watch the news about blizzards in Colorado and ice storms in New England I enjoy the warmth, but here in our little low-lying town it’s hot… (go ahead and read the rest of the article on how cclimate is affected by altitude if this snippet got your attention)
Frankly, I don’t like the heat all that much, although I certainly have grown quite used to it by now. Why don’t I live in Baguio or another higher altittude place? Good question.
To me they are all too far off the beaten track, too crowded,(in the case of Baguio, polluted worse than Metro Manila) and too rich for my blood.
But you may find them ideal. Ad the expression goes, YMMV.
I could write a lot more words, but I doubt I could say that much more on the subject. I will be happy, though, to chat with anyone individually who wants more information on a particular place.
Where would I go if I had no friends or family here? In my case, easy choice. Olongapo/Subic or Angeles City, st least for y immediate landing zone. A good place to get my feet wet in the Philippines and lots of other foreigners and foreigner-oriented businesses and infrastructure.
Since I do have some friends in the Philippines already, my own personal choice would be Davao City. Been there twice now, taking a whole tour group there in March, like the place, and lover the fact there are no typhoons.
Bottom line? I don’t think there is any one single best place to live in the Philippines, except, without argument from me, the one which suits you the best.
I have only been in the Philippines since April of 2010. I must defer to my wife’s wisdom. She has lived and worked from Manila to Davao and many places in the Visayas. As a Bible woman she really got to know the people. Some good and some NOT so good. She was born and raised in Bukidnon.
For her Tagum City is the best place she has ever lived. GenSan is number 2 on her list. I have been told that Davao is the safest city in the Philippines but it is the biggest city in area also. It takes forever to get from one place to another. We have nice malls here but no movie houses. So it is off to Davao to the picture show. Maybe the new mall they are building will have a least one but it doesn’t look like it. If you like to walk Tagum has great sidewalks. I was talking to a expat here at the mall the other day and he was mad that the electricity went off everyday. Ours does not, it stays on most of the time.
Safe? People die here. That happens in the States too. I even know of a policeman that the NPA took out in the woods and shot him. His widow now lives part time in the US with her kano husband. Her son is also PNP so life goes on. The people are so nice to me here. Better than Michigan. The heat is better for my health. NO aircon. No car yet. I have a good doctor here and spent one night in the hospital so far. Much like staying in the Holiday Inn, no wait that isn’t true. The room was bigger at the hospital.
Not all expats like it here. Roads are narrow and the houses are a few inches away from each other. You better like music if you live anywhere in the Philippines. It gets loud at times. I played my music loud in the States too so I keep my mouth shut. Perfect? Nope but I like it. Like Paul Thompson said today on Facebook. No one knows what a snow plow is here. How can you beat that!
73,
Gary
@Gary Wigle (ID 4865): Hi Gary, thanks a million for this comment. That’s exactly what I was hoping for … some info from others who are “doing” for real. There are so many self-styled experts who don’t live in the Philippines and so many people write me with comments like, “I was thinking of living in “X”, but _they_ all say that such and such is no good in “X”. My response (which I suspect gets on a few people’s nerves is), “Who the heck are “they”?
There are thousands and thousands of good places to live here, and even though I’ve been at the ‘”Live in the Philippines business” for well over 10 years now, I really know little or nothing about so many places. One thing for sure, it’s likely not wise to come here bound and determined you are going to land and take root in one specific place. Much better, in my view, to make the move in stages. Go someplace that sounds good to you in general and travel around and explore quite a bit before you make yur final choice.
A note on the traffic you mentioned. When I was in Davao last, going back almost two years ago, I thought the traffic was blessedly light in comparison with Manila. Bob Martin and others have mentioned it has gotten much worse since then. I’m taking a group there in march and that is one of the things I’ll evaluate, personally.
Traffic is a big consideration in some cases. Example, I live what would be an easy drive from Tagaytay and other lovely places. But Metro Manila lies between me and them. I virtually never go there … facing the traffic just takes all the pleasure out of it for me.
tahnks again Gary, for always keeping this place alive and informative. Godspeed.
Dave,
Perhaps you could ask your Phils resident readers to contribute a short piece on why they choose to live where they do in the Phils.
@Laurence (ID 4879): Hi Laurence. Thanks again for a very good comment/suggestion. I think I should indeed do that … ask them directly instead of indirectly as I did in this article. I already have a couple nice comments, including ones that introduced me to places I didn’t know before. A valuable line of exploration I think. By the way, Laurence, have you decided on the best place in the Philippines for you?
I keep changing my mind every time I read or hear about a new place !
I think it will be best to move in the first instance to a place where we know some people, just to help us settle in to life in the Phils. After that we can travel around and maybe find the place of our dreams.
We liked Zambales (around Bortolan) when we last visited and we met some very nice expats there, so we may make that our first home. It’s also a convenient place being near Clark and Subic.
Dave;
The phrase “Sup to You” is by far the hardest challenge a man will ever face. It’s like walking on egg shells filled with TNT. They give you no clues and are very brief in their statments often to brief. You have to go it alone and don’t be wrong or you’ll get “I told you” and they really didn’t say anything. I find my clues in her body language. If I mention something she approves of she lights up, if not a shake of the head.
That’s how I figured out that Subic Bay was the right place for she and myself. I mentioned living in Silang Cavite with her family and she was not open to that. She explained that even though she loved them she was different in many ways. (Do you think traveling the world with me and 30 yrs in the States had something to do with it ?). When I mentioned Subic Bay her eyes lite up and a smile of approval appeared. BINGO!!
I asked her why and she explained that it was a combination of Filipino culture and American culture. We still had friends over there and some of her friends are moving to the same area shortly. I could get some american goods and see many of our american friends have the benifits of the RAO and other services. In short it would be all around good for us. In short the best place to live is were both of you will be happy not just one.
I guess all I
@Bruce (ID 4883): Mike, I htink you’ll go far in life (oh, excuse me, you already have
), becuse you are a man who has two important talents … wisdom … and the ability to apply that wisdom.
Why do I call out those talents separately? Quite simply, becuase in my observation at least, the world is filled with wise men who can figure out how to use their wisdom. I actually think ‘applied wisdom’ might be another good name for what we often call “common sense” … and we all know how uncommon that common sense sometimes is.
Coming here to live, even by yourself, is a learning experience. No matter how much you research in advance and how much you think you know, you’ll learn. (or else go back to the States, very disenchanted with the whole experience). Coming here as a couple will prove even more of a learning experience. In addition to learning the ‘tricks of the trade’ of making their life here happy in terms of the way things differ in the Philippines, a successful couple will learn a lot from each other (or, again, become very unhappy).
For you and your wife, I predict happiness. It’s all about sharing, caring and balance. Godspeed.
Philly, I have been a RSS subscriber for few months now and well, this will be my first to reply. Gotta start somewhere right? This topic is so hard, because as you say it all depends on you. I’m very much accustomed to Kidapawan, even though it’s a city, it feels more like a town. There’s not much really to do there. I was talking to one of my batch mates who earns, P30,000.00 per month. They are raising 4 kids all together (not all hers but non-the-less 4 kids). They also have 2 maids. Based on current exchange rate (Australia-peso) that’s about AUD$697 dollars to live on. Not bad.
I also have “new” family living in Tagum and well they don’t mind that as well. My family currently lives in Surigao, and I’m supporting her with AUD$500.00 per month, which equates to about P21,000.00. From that, including all the bills etc, she has to pay she’s still saving P5,000.00. She’s renting a property for P5,500.00 which I think is more on the middle market housing-but I’m not familiar with any of those.
For me though? As I am more accustomed to Kidapawan, that’s where I’ll be. We call this place, the Spring in the highland. For me it’s one of the best weathers there is out there in Philippines. Just bring a light jacket though because it can get a little chilly at night. But warm during the day.
There’s not much to do there though. So you need to either have a lot of friends who wants to hang out with you or go to places like Agco and few others for hiking etc.
@JC (ID 4884): Thanks for contributing, JC, and for letting us know something about Kidapawan. That web site you provided, http://www.kidapawan-online.com/, is an excellent resource. I’s like to oint out that there are many similar sites (Google is your freind) centring on other places in the Philippiunes .. and for those who are intersted in a place and can’t find agood information site, just make one. I’m not spouting my online earnigs spel here, but all money making starts from somehting … and it’s impossible to put up even a one page site about a place and not learn alot about the place during the process.
This ties into exactly you cautionary last paragraph. By far the biggest ‘danger’ I see for foreigners anywhere is the lack of simehting to do if you don’t make something for yourself to keep busy with.
Sitting around doing nothing gets old, b=very fast, and your wife/girlfriend/significant other will be drawn into a lot of things which you won’t necessarily be excluded from … but won’t have much interest in. I stated this site, PhilFAQS, strictly for that purpose .. not for making money. I learned a lot, and had a lot of information squirreled away, so I decided to make the site mainly just to share and meet people. It’s exceeded my wildest expectations, but it would still be worthwhile even if it had 10 readers a day and earned nothing. It keeps me off the street and out of the bars, and I learn a lot … mnauily from the great people who hapen by and share their knowledge.
HI Dave! Greetings from one of the provincial guys over in rural Guimaras, the sweet mango island, in Western Visayas, total population over 141,000 on a good day if no one’s died from drinking too much tuba wine. If you like a laid back lifestyle, a nightlife that ends at 6 pm (unless there’s a fiesta somewhere), and jeepneys dodging carabao on the main road, then Guimaras is the place for you! Is is cheaper to live in our province instead of Manila or Cebu. Yeah, probably. We spend about 700 US Dollars a month and support 5 people on that, but we sure don’t live fancy, plus my wife bought our house and property years ago when she was an OFW working in Taiwan so we don’t have a house payment.
But is Guimaras the best place to live in the Philippines? Nope, like you say in your article, Dave, there really is no best place to live in the Philippines, it’s all a matter of personal choice. Guimaras has lots of friendly folks living here, and it’s fairly safe, but the local provincial hospital sucks, and if I had a heart attack I would be dead by the time I took the ambulance and pump boat ride to Iloilo City, and another jeepney ride to a hospital in Iloilo. I’m just rolling the dice, and hoping God gives me a few more years until my wife and I can move elsewhere in the Philippines with closer hospitals and more shopping. That pump boat ride to SM City in Iloilo to stock up on groceries can also get old after awhile. Where are we considering moving to? Well, the asawa wants to move close to Novaliches in Metro Manila since she has so many sisters living there. I probably will defer to her on that.
But relatives? Here is my own personal advice. As far as mother-in-laws go, I would love for mine, who lives with us at “The Compound,” to be a MILLION, BILLION MILES FROM ME! She’s 77 years old, almost deaf, sneaks around and peers into our room whenever she gets a chance, has a built-in-radar and DAILY knows whenever I go to the small back kitchen, even if I change the time of my meals, and manages to get in my way or open the back door so the wind coming in can snuff the flame of our LPG cooker that I’m using. God bless her, she gets up at 4 am every morning to light her candles and pray, and I can only hope she prays for me because I admit, I do have some issues with her living with us. Oh, that I would have married someone from the Blackfoot Indian tribe that demands the mother-in-law never return to the tepee of her daughter and new husband the day after the marriage ceremony is held. But great article, Dave, hope you get a lot of input on it.
@Dave DeWall (ID 4905): Sorry I missed responding to this earlier. Thanks for the good info on Guimaras, I’ve already incorporated in my new “Best Places” map page. Novaliches, eh? That’s very close to me. In fact we almost bought a house right on the border of Novaliches, but couldn’t make the deal come together. One thing for sure, it will be a different world than where you are living now, that’s for sure. Do let me know if you ever are coming up this way, we’ll see some sites and hoist a few.
@Philly—that’s pretty much exactly why I did this for my site. It all started because I wanted to know a bit more about my roots, where I was born and how they are going. It had nothing to do with monetization and to date the primary isn’t about monetization but rather information. I wanted to learn about my past and I google searched and looked at EVERY PAGE of that search result and found a handful of good resources but a lot of not so useful. So I thought why not. just do it. It will only cost me US$16 or so a year as it is parked on an existing website. I did get some into a little bit of something though which I won’t mention who, but I guess would be easily worked out. I wanted to know what events are there for the year so I can’t at least update my site so I can be informed (not every one else but just me) and I got an email back that they don’t really appreciate it because I’m a competitor.. erm.. no. I don’t charge for anything I”m just putting good information—whatever I can find online until somebody locally can directy post it there…. but anyway. I’m sidetracking to much. All I know now is there’s 2 other websites that were created with similar concept as far as content but using a wordpress as a platfrom. Mine is a forum as it’s supposed to be a forum.
Regarding Kidapawan though, I still think it’s a great place to live in PROVIDED that you are not expecting to have some sort of activities like regular shopping—you have to go to Davao for that! Do any bowling or what not. The main attraction there is the Mt. Apo and I think that’s what the Kidapawan Tourism is really pushing. Online search such as youtube you’d find plenty. But you have to source out which onces are worth watching. I have no choice you see because of what I started—for personal use that now turned for the whole of the community and I have to flag anything kidapawan related and look at it.. And that’s how I’m learning about my birthplace!
@JC (ID 4911): Thanks for that ‘backstory’ JC, and maybe some other folks will read this an get inspired to build up interest in their own home towns or places of interest. If I’m not mistaken, you are using the Simple Machine’s Forum software with a static home page, yes?
For those who are interested in doing something similar, perhaps you’s even care to write a “How I Did It’ post for me here .. I’ll give you plenty links … you’ve already written pretty much a well-rounded article with your last two comments.
In fact, I’ve just launched anew page/feature here on Philfaqs and you (Kidapawan) will be right up there from the beginning. Announcement follows soon.
Thanks Phil. Much appreciated. Yes, SMF is a forum. I did it this way because it was meant to be that. I could have done it using, Joomla, WordPress or some other forum software, but for what it is supposed to be doing. Forum is the best option for it. I do have other sites that uses wordpress. and Joomla. The website itself though is completely forum based with various plugins. The ones that you see there right at the front page is a front page module. Quiet different to WordPress’s static page.
For anyone interested in creating a forum based site, SMF is ok to use and there are other forums software. But unless you know a thing or two, SMF can be a bit tricky to setup-unlike wordpress where it literraly takes about 5 minutes to set up….. anyone wanting to set up a forum… I guess I can help out a bit.. but otherwise read up at http://www.simplemachines.org/ ….. that’s how i did it anyway.. took about 2 weeks for me to learn bits and pieces and set up.. . don’t woryr.. took me over 2 months to work out joomla!
@JC (ID 5161): Thanks for the update. And thanks for the offer. To those who are ‘thinking about’ a website, start ‘doing’ instead of thinking. There is no mistake you can make that is more serious than doing nothing.
The WordPress blog software I use is free … but it’s also not always the best choice for a web presence … you may not be as verbose as me
Look at the totally kewl little Kidapawan forum site JC has already built and is building … that’s free too, and he just offered free help in getting it set up. So now the reason you are not doing instead of thinking is ???
Hi guys! I’m just new to this forum so just bear with me.I’m a filipina who is married to an american and planning on buying a vacation home in Phils.I haven’t been home for almost 26 years so I guess a lot had changed.I’ve been surfing in the net looking for the best place to live in the Phils. I don’t want Manila because of too much going on and the heat and pollution but I don’t want going to Samar either because of safety of my family.I want a place that is free of pollution , cool and not prone to flood.I came up to a conclusion that Tagaytay will answer all my wish list.I need your input please.
Hi guys! I’m just new to this forum so just bear with me.I’m a filipina who is married to an american and planning on buying a vacation home in Phils.I haven’t been home for almost 26 years so I guess a lot had changed.I’ve been surfing in the net looking for the best place to live in the Phils. I don’t want Manila because of too much going on and there’s heat and pollution but I don’t want going to Samar either because of safety for my family.I want a place that is not suffocating , cool and not prone to flood.I came up to a conclusion that Tagaytay will answer all my wish list.I’m just wondering why no one mention Tagaytay as one of the best places to live, is there any reason?Where is the best place for expats to live? Thank you and hope you are enjoying the weather
Good day Philly,
I have been going and coming to Philippines for 8 years and have lived in Boracay, Manila, Zambales and currently in Angeles.
Have been thinking about writing articles about Zambales for about three years but just to damn lazy and not sure if what i write would be of interest to anyone.
I have been inspired about your articles and im going to give it a try. As they say nothing ventured nothing gained.
Will look up the format you provided and go from there an if you know of any other sites that can help me i would appreciate it.
Kind Regards.
Noel
Noel,
Not sure where you plan to publish the articles, but I can assure you, I’m very interested in any articles about Zambales (my wife and I own property there), and it is impossible to write anything that someone isn’t interested in. The most popup;ar articles here on PhilFAQS often surprise me, I never wrote them with any thought as to who might be interested, except me, myself and I.
People come here searching for the most surprising things … stop thinking and get writing. Three years? wow, how many article could you have written and gotten published in that amount of time? Why wait … you know what Nike says, “Just Do It”.