Happier Abroad Forum Community

I am heading to Mindanao for a longish vacation (3 weeks) over the Chinese New Year away from the Kryptonite island of Taiwan - as Winston likes to describe it.

My main purpose is to have some R&R, have some fun with the ladies, do some sightseeing, explore the island and/or the city or cities for possible retirement in the the years to come.

Any suggestions as to where to go and what to see to make the best use of my time would be welcome. I like to see at least Davao and CDO and the island of Samal and Mount Apo(?).

Any hotel/resort recommendations? I would like to keep it under $30US a night.

There are a couple of recent threads on here that mention Davao in detail - do a search. As for finding a hotel there for under $30, don't expect decent quality for that money. I stayed at MyHotel in downtown DVO that has a walk-in promo rate of less that 1000Php, but I really couldn't recommend it for a comfortable stay. Jun n' Dell Apartelle is a lot better but a little way out of the centre, for 1200Php. Hotels in the Philippines are poor value compared with Thailand and Vietnam.

Hotel sampaguita runs about 500 pesos a night in davao. It's a decent budget place. CDO should be cheap.