We've spent enough time on the island to know that the non-surfers in a group often end up with the fuller itinerary. So this guide covers ten favourites, with travel times, rough costs, and the timing details that make the difference between a good day and a great one.
If you're still working out your dates, start with our guide on when to visit Siargao. A few of the spots below depend on tides and season, and it's worth getting that right.
1. Island Hopping: Naked, Daku, and Guyam
The classic Siargao day out, and deservedly so. The tri-island tour takes in three very different islands a short boat ride from General Luna. Naked Island is exactly what it sounds like: a bare sandbar in the middle of the sea, no trees, no shade, just white sand and water in every direction. Daku is the biggest of the three, with palm trees, beach huts, and locals grilling fresh fish for lunch. Guyam, the last stop, is a little circle of palms that looks like a child's drawing of a desert island.
Boats leave from the General Luna wharf in the morning. A shared tour costs around 1,500 to 2,000 PHP per person including lunch, and a private boat for your group runs roughly 3,000 to 4,500 PHP, which usually works out better if there are six or more of you. Bring cash, reef-safe sunscreen, and nothing you'd mind getting wet. And say yes to the grilled fish on Daku. It's the best lunch on the tour by some distance.
2. Sugba Lagoon
On the west side of the island, near Del Carmen, Sugba Lagoon is a wide, still stretch of jade-green water folded into jungle hills. There's a wooden pontoon with a diving platform, paddleboards and kayaks to rent, and water so calm that even the reluctant swimmers in your group will relax into it.
Getting there is half the fun. Drive about 45 minutes to the Del Carmen wharf, then take a boat through the mangrove channels to the lagoon. Boats cost around 1,600 to 2,000 PHP and carry up to six people, plus a small entrance fee per person. Go early if you can. The tour groups start arriving mid-morning, and the lagoon is a different place at 8am: quiet, glassy, and entirely worth the alarm.
3. Magpupungko Rock Pools
Near Pilar, about 45 minutes north of General Luna, Magpupungko is a set of natural rock pools that only reveal themselves at low tide. Deep, clear, and sheltered from the open sea by a shelf of rock, they disappear completely when the tide comes back in. Timing is everything here, so check a tide chart before you go (we use tide-forecast.com) and aim to arrive within a couple of hours either side of low tide.
Entrance is around 100 PHP. The pools are deep enough to jump into in places, but ask the locals where. The rock shelf is uneven, the safe spots move with the water level, and they know exactly where you can and can't leap. Reef shoes help if you have them.
4. The Del Carmen Mangroves
Del Carmen sits at the edge of one of the largest contiguous mangrove forests in the Philippines, thousands of hectares of channels, roots, and birdlife. Local boatmen at the wharf offer outrigger trips through the channels, and late afternoon is the time to go. The light softens, the water goes still, and the whole forest turns the colour of honey.
It's a slower, quieter experience than the lagoon crowd next door, and one of the few outings on the island where the loudest sound is the paddle. Pair it with Sugba Lagoon and you've got a full west-coast day.
5. Sohoton Cove and the Stingless Jellyfish
Technically this one's on Bucas Grande, the island just south of Siargao, but no list like this is complete without it. Sohoton Cove is the biggest day trip here and arguably the most memorable: boats wind between limestone islets into an enclosed system of caves and lagoons, and in season there's a sanctuary where you can swim among thousands of stingless jellyfish. It sounds unnerving. It's actually one of the gentlest things you'll ever do in the water.
Tours from General Luna run around 2,500 to 3,500 PHP per person and take a full day, with the crossing dependent on sea conditions. The jellyfish typically appear between March and June, though numbers vary year to year, so ask locally before booking if they're your main reason for going.
6. Ride North to Pacifico and Tangbo
Rent a motorbike, fill the tank, and head north. The coastal road up the east side is one of the island's underrated pleasures: villages, palm forest, and long empty stretches where the sea keeps appearing between the trees. Pacifico, about an hour and a half from General Luna, is a quiet town with a long beach and almost none of the crowds you'll find further south. Keep going past it and you reach Tangbo Beach, where fishing boats sit at anchor, the horizon runs unbroken, and a small shop sells cold drinks to the handful of people who made the trip.
Make a day of it. Leave mid-morning, swim and eat in Pacifico, and time the ride home so you catch the viewpoint on the climb between Pacifico and Burgos before the light goes. There's no sign and no facilities, just the road, the bay below, and the kind of view that makes everyone pull over.
7. The Maasin River and the Palm Forest
Ten minutes north of General Luna, the Maasin River bends through a forest of leaning coconut palms. You'll recognise it immediately, because it's in roughly half the Siargao photos you've ever seen. There's a rope swing over the river, boatmen offering short paddles upstream, and a viewpoint above the palm forest where the trees run unbroken to the hills.
It's an easy stop rather than a full outing, which is exactly its charm. Fold it into any trip north and give it half an hour.
8. Tayangban Cave Pool
On the road to Pilar, Tayangban is a short guided wade-and-swim through a cave system that opens into a small, clear pool lit from above. The whole thing takes half an hour or so, costs very little, and pairs naturally with Magpupungko since it's on the same route. Do the cave while you wait for the tide to drop. That's the local move, and it works.
Expect to get fully wet, and wear shoes you can swim in. The guides are local, friendly, and know every rock you're allowed to jump from.
9. Eat Your Way Through General Luna
Siargao's food scene has quietly become one of the best in the Philippine islands: a real mix of Filipino kitchens, beachfront grills, and cafés run by people who came for a surf trip and never quite left. General Luna is the centre of it all. Fresh fish at the boulevard grills, kinilaw done properly, long slow breakfasts, and coffee that holds its own against any city's.
A rest day spent doing nothing but eating, swimming, and reading isn't a wasted day here. Some would argue it's the point of the island.
10. Chase the Sunset
Siargao faces east, which makes its sunsets a pleasant surprise. The island does them well, you just need to know where to stand. Close to General Luna, the road towards Secret Beach fills with locals and travellers at golden hour, food stalls and all. Catangnan Bridge is the quieter option, with a wide view over the water and an easy bar just before it. And on the west coast, the Del Carmen mangroves at dusk give you the genuine sun-into-the-sea moment the east side can't.
However you spend the day, end it outside. The last hour of light is the island at its best.
Planning Your Days
A rhythm that works: alternate the big outings (island hopping, Sugba Lagoon, Sohoton) with slower days built around one nearby stop and a long lunch. Almost everything on this list is reachable by motorbike from General Luna, and all of it gets better with company, which is rather the point of coming as a group. For wider context on the island itself, the official Philippines tourism site has a useful overview of Siargao.
If you're still in the dreaming stage, read why people fall in love with Siargao, then sort the practical side with our complete guide on how to get to Siargao.
And if you're looking for a base to come back to after days like these, somewhere quiet, self-sufficient, and just outside the crowd of General Luna, The Grove House opens in December 2026: a four-bedroom villa with a private pool, built for exactly this kind of trip.