Tue 3 Mar 2026 • Sara Balaban
SurfYogaBeer Philippines: The Best Kept Secret I Can’t Keep to Myself
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After exploring Palawan, Philippines with SurfYogaBeer, I’m sharing why this group travel experience took the top spot and why it might just be your next best yes.
Psst. Hey you! I need to tell you a secret about my recent SurfYogaBeer Philippines trip...but I'll tell you later.
Okay, it's later. I simply can't hold this in anymore.
As I feverishly type this out, I'm still riding the high of the dream island-hopping adventure in Palawan, Philippines, my seventh SYB trip since 2023. And, while each trip has had me going home, sobbing over photos with memories of the "best trip ever," this one actually just snagged my number one spot…
Ready to hear why?
Let's go.
Palawan's beautiful beaches
The Philippines lets you go from 100 to 0—in the best way.
As a New Yorker, I'm wired for efficiency. I optimize for location and my one-block-from-the-Q-train convenience. I pride myself on my ability to weave in and out of heavy foot traffic to shave even two minutes off my Google Maps route. But speed comes with a cost.
Coming home to my Upper East Side shoebox after this trip? I realized I'd auction that convenience off in a heartbeat for more of what I found in Palawan because this wasn't just an island-hopping expedition to secret beaches. It was slowing down to savor moments that felt unfiltered in places that felt untouched, with people who made me feel wildly alive.
Sleeping in ocean-front beach huts and waking up to waves instead of traffic. Early-morning chats under navy skies bursting with stars brighter than the New York City skyline. Hands permanently pruny from boat day every day (I've had worse problems). Inhaling cotton-candy sunrises and exhaling electric sunsets.
Philippines beach huts
It was putting my phone down. Truly down, for the first time in years. Trading breathwork on my couch for consciously breathing through a snorkel mask, gliding over glassy turquoise waters, screeching at the sight of schools of Nemo fish and the biggest pink starfish I've ever seen.
Five days without looking in a mirror, and zero concern about what the humidity was doing to my hair. It was slow meals together instead of grabbing something on the go. And it was crying from the deepest belly laughs and quiet moments together, somewhere, who knows where, in the middle of the Palawan paradise.
More than a vacation, it was a nervous system reset. A reminder that we aren't meant to live in a constant state of fight or flight mode. We're meant to feel present. Alive. Connected.
Sunrise yoga in Palawan
Trading auto-correct to auto-connect
I think about this often on my morning commute, looking around at a sea of dropped necks on the subway. Faces buried in phones. Connecting with nothing but a finger swipe across a glass screen on a dating profile or another TikTok doom scroll.
So I'll ask you the same question I asked myself before I said "F*ck yes" to booking SurfYogaBeer Philippines group travel:
When's the last time you put your phone down? Not face down. Not airplane mode. Like, actually put your phone down and picked your head up long enough to meet someone's eyes?
On this trip, I threw my phone in my dry bag and let my senses and the incredible people around me do the work. No lens. No question of battery life. Just real-time living.
When the freshest food (caught straight from the ocean to our plates) hit the table, my phone didn't eat first (or at all). I did. And so did everyone else. Together. Bare feet. Hair still wet from the ocean. Plates piled high with Filipino power (rice). Laughing at stories that somehow got funnier every time they were retold. The only real point of contention? Who got the next cuddle with our boat pup, Yuri. (Yes, this trip came with a dedicated boat doggo!)
Yuri, our boat pup, suits up for pirate day!
I sat at the water's edge at sunrise with pen to paper, but I wasn't alone for long before someone joined me. We clinked pineapple-shaped glasses of jungle juice and didn't shift our eyes for a mid-conversation notification check. We danced. On the boat. On the beach. Some even danced in huts before bed.
In city life, especially NYC, we've perfected the art of avoiding human contact, but on this adventure through Palawan, Philippines, we found connection and a shift in perspective. From day one, we embraced temporarily living without materialistic privileges like cell service, closed-door showers, or AC, and it was those very things that enriched our shared experience.
Because the truth is, we don't need the WiFi password. We need real-life connection, and I found it in the amazing people who said "F*ck yes" and joined me in the Philippines.
Chalking up before beach volleyball
Okay. So you're probably wondering what group travel with SurfYogaBeer in the Philippines looks like right now…right?
If you've done SurfYogaBeer Nicaragua and loved it, the Philippines is your next adventure. If you're new to group travel, but salty hair, swimsuits, and no sign of shoes anywhere is your idea of heaven, Palawan with SurfYogaBeer is for you. No Google Maps needed here, because an elite local team guides you through every inch of the experience from island to island, meal to meal, and even ensures you have a water taxi (AKA a kayak) if you need a swim break.
Think yoga with your crew as the morning sun paints the sky. Boat day. Every single day. Sharing the freshest foods to fuel you from sunrise to sunset, followed by beers after full days of swimming in the ocean. Jaw-dropping scenery, from under the ocean up to the sky. Beach volleyball. Group massages. Kayaking and chilling in lagoons, cackling together as children at uniquely shaped corals scooped from the sand.
Ocean-front beach huts that cradle you to sleep by the sound of waves and buzzing cicadas. And yes. There are showers and toilets, even on these super-remote islands! (Though we totally support embracing your inner caveman and letting the ocean clean you up). Basic needs (and then some) are covered, and the experience is structured enough that you don't have to plan a thing, yet loose enough that it never feels rigid. Because…island time. 🤙
#SYBPalawan is the perfect blend of adventure and mindfulness, a trip that will inevitably pull at your heartstrings long after you've washed the salt out of your hair.
You can't manufacture this experience
Everything about this experience was perfect. Otherworldly even. But that magical perfection wasn't the serenity of the blue waters or limestone cliffs. It was the people I experienced it with.
Sure, you can explore Palawan solo. You can book a tour and see some gorgeous beaches, and maybe meet a cool person or two along the way. But you can't manufacture shared inside jokes or pre-plan sandy group yoga accompanied by a boat pup digging up shells and dropping them onto your yoga mat (your sarong) during downward dog. There's no algorithm to assemble an innocent karaoke night that turns into thirteen adults scream-singing Afroman's "Because I Got High" like it's the most beautiful ballad ever written. That kind of magic? It's part chemistry and part saying "yes," before knowing how any of it will unfold.
Boat poses on a boat, somewhere in the middle of the sea
And that's where group travel hits different. There's a quiet courage in booking a trip where you might not know a single person, where you have no idea if you'll be sharing a beach hut with a stranger, where your Type A brain spirals through every possible "what if" scenario but leans in anyway.
And that "yes" changes everything.
In our group of thirteen, I saw a part of myself reflected in each person. Different home addresses. Different lives. Open energy matched. "Same same, but different," in the best way.
Because when you throw a bunch of open-hearted, adventurous people into a week of island living, something shifts. Guards drop faster. Laughs get louder. And strangers start to feel like mirrors.
That's not something you can replicate on a random tour. (Trust me, I've done A LOT of them.)
Post-workout with our incredible local leaders, the lost boys!
The secret? It's saying yes.
Okay, so that secret about the Philippines with SurfYogaBeer? Maybe it's not a secret at all. The Philippines isn't a secret. Palawan and all its glory exist. All Google-able…the beaches, the boats, the palm trees. But what you can't Google is how it feels to be there with the right group of people. Because you can't predict which sunset yoga intention will make your heart flutter, or how the lack of digital connection will make you feel more connected than ever. And, you can't schedule the exact moment your nervous system will finally exhale, leaving you feeling like you're exactly where you're supposed to be with who you're supposed to be with.
That part's the secret.
And maybe it remains one until you experience it for yourself. SurfYogaBeer is heading back to Palawan in 2027, and I hope, more than anything, that you say "F*ck yes" to joining.
SurfYogaBeer island-hopping through Palawan
Psst. Hey you! I need to tell you a secret about my recent SurfYogaBeer Philippines trip...but I'll tell you later.
Okay, it's later. I simply can't hold this in anymore.
As I feverishly type this out, I'm still riding the high of the dream island-hopping adventure in Palawan, Philippines, my seventh SYB trip since 2023. And, while each trip has had me going home, sobbing over photos with memories of the "best trip ever," this one actually just snagged my number one spot…
Ready to hear why?
Let's go.
Palawan's beautiful beaches
The Philippines lets you go from 100 to 0—in the best way.
As a New Yorker, I'm wired for efficiency. I optimize for location and my one-block-from-the-Q-train convenience. I pride myself on my ability to weave in and out of heavy foot traffic to shave even two minutes off my Google Maps route. But speed comes with a cost.
Coming home to my Upper East Side shoebox after this trip? I realized I'd auction that convenience off in a heartbeat for more of what I found in Palawan because this wasn't just an island-hopping expedition to secret beaches. It was slowing down to savor moments that felt unfiltered in places that felt untouched, with people who made me feel wildly alive.
Sleeping in ocean-front beach huts and waking up to waves instead of traffic. Early-morning chats under navy skies bursting with stars brighter than the New York City skyline. Hands permanently pruny from boat day every day (I've had worse problems). Inhaling cotton-candy sunrises and exhaling electric sunsets.
Philippines beach huts
It was putting my phone down. Truly down, for the first time in years. Trading breathwork on my couch for consciously breathing through a snorkel mask, gliding over glassy turquoise waters, screeching at the sight of schools of Nemo fish and the biggest pink starfish I've ever seen.
Five days without looking in a mirror, and zero concern about what the humidity was doing to my hair. It was slow meals together instead of grabbing something on the go. And it was crying from the deepest belly laughs and quiet moments together, somewhere, who knows where, in the middle of the Palawan paradise.
More than a vacation, it was a nervous system reset. A reminder that we aren't meant to live in a constant state of fight or flight mode. We're meant to feel present. Alive. Connected.
Sunrise yoga in Palawan
Trading auto-correct to auto-connect
I think about this often on my morning commute, looking around at a sea of dropped necks on the subway. Faces buried in phones. Connecting with nothing but a finger swipe across a glass screen on a dating profile or another TikTok doom scroll.
So I'll ask you the same question I asked myself before I said "F*ck yes" to booking SurfYogaBeer Philippines group travel:
When's the last time you put your phone down? Not face down. Not airplane mode. Like, actually put your phone down and picked your head up long enough to meet someone's eyes?
On this trip, I threw my phone in my dry bag and let my senses and the incredible people around me do the work. No lens. No question of battery life. Just real-time living.
When the freshest food (caught straight from the ocean to our plates) hit the table, my phone didn't eat first (or at all). I did. And so did everyone else. Together. Bare feet. Hair still wet from the ocean. Plates piled high with Filipino power (rice). Laughing at stories that somehow got funnier every time they were retold. The only real point of contention? Who got the next cuddle with our boat pup, Yuri. (Yes, this trip came with a dedicated boat doggo!)
Yuri, our boat pup, suits up for pirate day!
I sat at the water's edge at sunrise with pen to paper, but I wasn't alone for long before someone joined me. We clinked pineapple-shaped glasses of jungle juice and didn't shift our eyes for a mid-conversation notification check. We danced. On the boat. On the beach. Some even danced in huts before bed.
In city life, especially NYC, we've perfected the art of avoiding human contact, but on this adventure through Palawan, Philippines, we found connection and a shift in perspective. From day one, we embraced temporarily living without materialistic privileges like cell service, closed-door showers, or AC, and it was those very things that enriched our shared experience.
Because the truth is, we don't need the WiFi password. We need real-life connection, and I found it in the amazing people who said "F*ck yes" and joined me in the Philippines.
Chalking up before beach volleyball
Okay. So you're probably wondering what group travel with SurfYogaBeer in the Philippines looks like right now…right?
If you've done SurfYogaBeer Nicaragua and loved it, the Philippines is your next adventure. If you're new to group travel, but salty hair, swimsuits, and no sign of shoes anywhere is your idea of heaven, Palawan with SurfYogaBeer is for you. No Google Maps needed here, because an elite local team guides you through every inch of the experience from island to island, meal to meal, and even ensures you have a water taxi (AKA a kayak) if you need a swim break.
Think yoga with your crew as the morning sun paints the sky. Boat day. Every single day. Sharing the freshest foods to fuel you from sunrise to sunset, followed by beers after full days of swimming in the ocean. Jaw-dropping scenery, from under the ocean up to the sky. Beach volleyball. Group massages. Kayaking and chilling in lagoons, cackling together as children at uniquely shaped corals scooped from the sand.
Ocean-front beach huts that cradle you to sleep by the sound of waves and buzzing cicadas. And yes. There are showers and toilets, even on these super-remote islands! (Though we totally support embracing your inner caveman and letting the ocean clean you up). Basic needs (and then some) are covered, and the experience is structured enough that you don't have to plan a thing, yet loose enough that it never feels rigid. Because…island time. 🤙
#SYBPalawan is the perfect blend of adventure and mindfulness, a trip that will inevitably pull at your heartstrings long after you've washed the salt out of your hair.
You can't manufacture this experience
Everything about this experience was perfect. Otherworldly even. But that magical perfection wasn't the serenity of the blue waters or limestone cliffs. It was the people I experienced it with.
Sure, you can explore Palawan solo. You can book a tour and see some gorgeous beaches, and maybe meet a cool person or two along the way. But you can't manufacture shared inside jokes or pre-plan sandy group yoga accompanied by a boat pup digging up shells and dropping them onto your yoga mat (your sarong) during downward dog. There's no algorithm to assemble an innocent karaoke night that turns into thirteen adults scream-singing Afroman's "Because I Got High" like it's the most beautiful ballad ever written. That kind of magic? It's part chemistry and part saying "yes," before knowing how any of it will unfold.
Boat poses on a boat, somewhere in the middle of the sea
And that's where group travel hits different. There's a quiet courage in booking a trip where you might not know a single person, where you have no idea if you'll be sharing a beach hut with a stranger, where your Type A brain spirals through every possible "what if" scenario but leans in anyway.
And that "yes" changes everything.
In our group of thirteen, I saw a part of myself reflected in each person. Different home addresses. Different lives. Open energy matched. "Same same, but different," in the best way.
Because when you throw a bunch of open-hearted, adventurous people into a week of island living, something shifts. Guards drop faster. Laughs get louder. And strangers start to feel like mirrors.
That's not something you can replicate on a random tour. (Trust me, I've done A LOT of them.)
Post-workout with our incredible local leaders, the lost boys!
The secret? It's saying yes.
Okay, so that secret about the Philippines with SurfYogaBeer? Maybe it's not a secret at all. The Philippines isn't a secret. Palawan and all its glory exist. All Google-able…the beaches, the boats, the palm trees. But what you can't Google is how it feels to be there with the right group of people. Because you can't predict which sunset yoga intention will make your heart flutter, or how the lack of digital connection will make you feel more connected than ever. And, you can't schedule the exact moment your nervous system will finally exhale, leaving you feeling like you're exactly where you're supposed to be with who you're supposed to be with.
That part's the secret.
And maybe it remains one until you experience it for yourself. SurfYogaBeer is heading back to Palawan in 2027, and I hope, more than anything, that you say "F*ck yes" to joining.
SurfYogaBeer island-hopping through Palawan
