How to get to the Philippines cheap: all the ways

I share my knowledge on how to inexpensively get to the Philippines from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and other cities of the Russian Federation and the CIS. We find out how much the cheapest tickets cost, whether there are good promotions, which low-cost airlines fly to the Philippine islands from other Asian countries.

More recently, R and I completed our independent trip to the Philippines and returned to Vietnam a year later. In a series of publications, we will share our experience in organizing a trip to Manila and the islands of Cebu, Bantayan, Bohol and Panglao.

I will make a reservation that we ourselves flew to the islands not from Russia, but from Malaysia after our acquaintance with the island of Borneo. But in a couple of years of writing travel tips and tracking airline stocks, enough knowledge has accumulated about all the ways to fly to the Philippines from Russia cheaply to be covered in this guide.

Exchange rate: 1 Philippine Peso (PHP) ≈ 1.5 RUB. By default, airfare is indicated for a round-trip flight (unless otherwise agreed).

How much are tickets to the Philippines

First you need to figure out how much tickets for regular flights usually cost.

There are no direct flights from Russian cities to the Philippines (it was previously reported that Cebu Pacific will start flying to Moscow and Vladivostok, but the start date of flights is still unknown). Most of the options for flights with one stop: Hong Kong, Doha, Istanbul, Beijing, Bangkok, etc. Sometimes you can find cheaper tickets with two stops.

From Moscow

Inexpensive tickets to the Philippines (to Manila) can be considered those that cost 30-35 thousand rubles (from $ 400). Cheap tickets can be found with China Southern, Air China, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines. One-way tickets cost from 20-25 thousand rubles.

Tickets to other cities in the Philippines usually cost from 40-45 thousand. As a rule, the cheapest way is to fly first to Manila, and for a domestic flight to the desired island to buy tickets for flights of local low-cost airlines (one-way cost - from 1-2 thousand rubles. ).

An example of cheap tickets from Moscow to the Philippines from Air China (flight with a convenient 12-hour daily connection in Beijing, which can be used to explore the city according to our instructions):

From Saint-Petersburg

Getting to the Philippines from St. Petersburg will be significantly more expensive than from Moscow. Tickets, as a rule, cost from 35-40 thousand rubles and almost always with two transfers. Therefore, it is easier to fly from Moscow, and get to the capital by train or by catching inexpensive plane tickets (for 2-3 thousand in both directions).

From Yekaterinburg

It is possible to fly cheaply to the Philippines from Yekaterinburg only in one case - in the event of disruptions to the airlines. They often happen at Qatar Airways (read more about this below). Usually tickets cost from 42-45 thousand rubles. The best way to save money is to fly to the capital on Pobeda flights, and fly to the Philippines from Moscow. An alternative option is to fly from Novosibirsk, but the savings are insignificant.

From Siberia and the Far East

• Quite inexpensively you can get to the Philippine Islands from Vladivostok... The cost of flights to Manila and Cebu is from 25-30 thousand rubles with a connection in Hong Kong (S7 and Dragonair / Cathay Pacific flights).
• The same applies to flights from Irkutsk.
• For about the same price, you can fly to the Philippines from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (2 connections: Vladivostok and Hong Kong).
• Flights of the same airlines can fly from Krasnoyarsk (connections in Beijing and Hong Kong), but cheap tickets are less common, and from Of Novosibirsk (connections in Hong Kong, price from 34 thousand).

From Minsk

Tickets from Minsk to Manila usually cost at least $ 600-650, so in most cases it is easier for Belarusians to fly from Moscow, which is easy to reach.

From Astana and Almaty

The cost of tickets to Manila is from $ 600, but more often from $ 750. This is mainly a flight on Air Astana flights to Kuala Lumpur, and from there by Malaysian or Filipino airlines to Manila. In order to save money, you can try to get to the Philippines from Moscow, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk or through China, but all this will greatly increase the travel time.

Cheap tickets as part of promotions

I have repeatedly written about interesting promotions that made it possible to inexpensively fly to the Philippines from Moscow and other cities of Russia. For example:

• tickets for 25 100 rubles. (from Moscow on Air China flights with a transfer in Beijing);
• for 22 300 rubles. (from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan on Turkish Airlines + Philippine Airlines flights with transfers in Istanbul and Hong Kong).

But the most interesting options, allowing an incredibly cheap flight to the Philippines, appear when airlines errors and failures in pricing. For example (read the details by clicking on the links):

• tickets from Moscow for 16 800 rubles! (for 8,300 rubles it was possible to fly one way, on New Year's dates there were tickets for 22 thousand rubles, also for 19-24 thousand it was possible to fly to the Philippines from Kazan, Samara, Sochi and other cities - it was a glitch Qatar Airways);
• tickets to Asia and Africa for 9.6-16 thousand rubles.

I always keep track of the most interesting promotions for air tickets, and in order to be the first to know about them, follow the news in our special section, or rather subscribe to news in our VKontakte group. This way you will not miss anything interesting.

Where to fly cheap to the Philippines

You can't fly cheaply from Europe to the Philippines: the distance only increases, low-cost airlines don't fly, prices are European. So the options with a flight from Helsinki and other cities close to Russia are no longer valid.

But from Asian countries, it is extremely cheap to get to the Philippines. This option will be of interest to those who are going on a long and long journey visiting different countries. Also, this method can be used to fly to the Philippines in the event that suddenly, due to some action or an error of the airline, cheap tickets appeared to another country in East Asia (Thailand, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia).

For example, you can fly to Manila inexpensively from Kota Kinabalu (from $ 60 - we flew like that), Kuala Lumpur (from $ 90), Hong Kong (from $ 100), Guangzhou (from $ 120), Shanghai (from $ 180) , Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi (from $ 150 - we flew like that). The easiest way to find inexpensive tickets is from Hong Kong and Malaysia - so, when planning a trip to the Philippines, it is worth looking closely at tickets / promotions for these destinations.

Low-cost airlines in the Philippines

The two main low-cost airlines in the Philippines are AirAsia Zest and Cebu Pacific. The above examples of low-cost tickets are offered by these very low-cost airlines. Also, on their flights, you can cheaply travel within the country (from $ 20-100 per flight). During promotions, tickets can be purchased from these low-cost airlines at an even lower price. Usually such sales are arranged 4-7 times a year.

The cheapest way to fly to the Philippines

1. Of all the cities of the Russian Federation and the CIS that we have considered, the cheapest way to get to the Philippines is from Moscow, Irkutsk, Vladivostok and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Residents of other cities can try to fly from the listed ones, if they can find cheap tickets to them.
2. The best way to buy cheap flights is to catch the right promotion or the wrong fare. Ticket prices can be 20-50% lower.
3. It is worth watching not only for promotions on flights to the Philippines, but also to other Asian countries (especially Hong Kong and Malaysia), then from there you can fly inexpensively to Manila or to the desired island on low-cost flights.