Top 10 Marinas in the Philippines
The Philippine archipelago encompasses 7,641 islands spread across an area roughly the size of Italy, with 36,289 kilometres of coastline — more than any country in Southeast Asia. For sailors, this translates into an almost incomprehensible abundance of anchorages, channels and passages. The infrastructure to support visiting yachts is thinner than in Thailand or Malaysia, but the sailing grounds more than compensate: the Tubbataha Reefs, the Sulu Sea passages, Palawan's lagoons, and the island chains of the Visayas offer some of the most dramatic cruising waters in the world. Typhoon awareness is essential — the Philippines is one of the most typhoon-affected countries on earth, with the season running roughly June to December.
Manila Yacht Club, Manila Bay
Founded in 1930, the Manila Yacht Club is the oldest sailing club in Southeast Asia and the social and administrative heart of Philippine yachting. Located on the Roxas Boulevard waterfront in Pasay City, the club maintains over 200 berths in a well-protected basin with fuel, maintenance facilities and a full social programme. The surrounding Manila Bay is large enough for serious training and short racing; the offshore waters south of Corregidor Island provide an entry to the South China Sea. The club's race calendar runs year-round; international offshore events including the Manila to Subic Bay Race keep the offshore fleet active.
Subic Bay Yacht Club, Zambales
The former US Naval Base at Subic Bay, converted to a freeport zone after the American military withdrew in 1992, now hosts one of the most comfortable marina environments in the Philippines. The bay itself provides excellent protection from all but the most extreme typhoon swell; its depth and size allow vessels of considerable size to berth. The Subic Bay Yacht Club has around 150 berths; facilities include a fuel dock, travel-lift and workshops staffed by experienced technicians. The surrounding freeport zone offers chandlery, provisioning and customs facilities attractive to transpacific passage makers.
Cebu Yacht Club, Cebu
Cebu, the second city of the Philippines and the commercial heart of the Visayas, has a yacht club with modest but functional marina facilities on Mactan Island — the same island that witnessed Ferdinand Magellan's death in 1521. Around 80 berths serve resident and visiting yachts; the position gives access to the Cebu Strait and the extraordinary sailing grounds of the Visayan Sea. The inter-island channels among Cebu, Bohol, Leyte and Samar offer hundreds of anchorages; the water visibility in the calmer months of February to May regularly exceeds 25 metres.
Bohol Yacht Club, Bohol
The island of Bohol, with its famous Chocolate Hills and the tarsier sanctuaries near Corella, also has a small but welcoming yacht club in Tagbilaran. Access from the Bohol Sea to the west and the Camotes Sea to the north means the club sits at the crossroads of several popular cruising routes in the Visayas. The reefs around Balicasag Island, reachable in under 15 nautical miles, offer world-class diving. Passage sailors staging for the Sulu Sea route south toward Palawan commonly stop here.
Puerto Princesa, Palawan
Puerto Princesa, the capital of Palawan Province, serves as the gateway to the Palawan archipelago — a chain of 1,780 islands running 400 kilometres from south of Manila to within 75 kilometres of Borneo. The marina facilities are modest; the position is everything. The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies 80 kilometres to the north by road. Offshore, the Sulu Sea to the east and the South China Sea to the west offer open-ocean sailing in either direction.
Coron Town, Calamian Islands
Coron Bay on Busuanga Island, at the northern end of Palawan, is a gathering point for cruising boats exploring the Calamian Islands and the adjacent Linapacan Strait. The strait between the Calamian group and the main Palawan island has a reputation for strong currents and sudden squalls but contains scores of pristine anchorages. Coron Bay is famous for its World War II wreck diving — the bay holds more than a dozen Japanese vessels sunk in October 1944. A small marina handles visiting yachts; provisioning is basic but adequate.
El Nido, Palawan
El Nido, at the northern tip of Palawan, is the jewel in the Philippine cruising crown. The surrounding Bacuit Archipelago — a cluster of dramatic limestone karst towers rising from turquoise water — offers anchorages of extraordinary beauty. There is no proper marina; boats anchor off and check in with the local coastguard. The area is managed as an ecotourism zone with regulations on anchoring to protect coral. Wind conditions in the channel between El Nido and the Calamian Islands can be fierce in the northeast monsoon (December to March), with gusts exceeding 35 knots.
Taal Lake Yacht Club, Batangas Province
Inland from Manila in Batangas Province, Taal Lake fills the caldera of one of the world's most dangerous volcanoes — itself contained within a larger lake on the main crater island. The Taal Lake Yacht Club maintains a small fleet of keelboats and dinghies on this scenic freshwater lake; the sailing is sheltered and predictable, making it the premier training ground for Philippine sailors who will eventually venture offshore. The volcanic island in the centre of the lake is accessible by outrigger bangka.
Sundowners Marina, Manila Bay Area
Located in the Cavite area on the southern shore of Manila Bay, Sundowners Marina is a private facility serving a mix of liveaboards and visiting yachts. It offers a more relaxed alternative to the Manila Yacht Club's formal environment; berths are available for longer-term stays, and the surrounding Cavite province has a long maritime history as a Spanish colonial shipbuilding centre. Passages from here to Batangas and the Visayas corridor are well-established routes.
Ocean View Marina, Manila Bay
Another Manila Bay facility located in the Las Pinas–Paranaque coastal area, Ocean View Marina caters primarily to motorboats and smaller sailing yachts. Its position south of Manila's downtown port area reduces exposure to heavy commercial traffic on inbound and outbound passages. The marina serves as a starting point for short offshore passages to Mindoro Island, where the reefs of Apo Reef — the second largest contiguous coral reef in the world at 34 square kilometres — lie about 140 nautical miles to the southwest.
Explore on the map
The Philippines' 7,641 islands create one of the world's most complex and rewarding sailing environments, from the sheltered Visayan passages to the open South China Sea crossings west of Palawan. Use the interactive map to locate all the marinas listed here and plan your route through this extraordinary archipelago. Whether you are staging a Manila Bay race, exploring the Calamian Islands, or routing a passage to Borneo, the map shows anchorages, reefs and marina positions across the full island chain. The Philippines on the map reveals the spectacular geography of this sea-girt nation.