About the Philippines

The Philippine archipelago lies in a strategic position in South-East Asia. It consists of 7,107 islands, of which only 30% are inhabited and no more than 500 are larger than one square kilometer. The largest islands are Luzon in the North and Mindanao in the South. They, together with the Visayas Islands that separate them, represent the three principal regions of the archipelago.

The archipelago is located in the Philippine plate, which is squeezed between the Eurasian and Pacific tectonic plates. Close breaking points in the earth's crust leave their mark in the Philippines as volcanoes and earthquakes. Strong earthquakes are fairly rare, but there are light tremors from time to time. The most famous volcano, Mt. Pinatubo, is located less than 100 kilometers from the capital city of Manila.

Manila, the capital of the Philippines, is located on the west coast of Luzon within the National Capital Region (NCR), Metropolitan Manila, which consits of 7 cities and several neighboring municipalities. Makati City is the main business center of the Philippines.

The second largest city in the country, Davao, is located on the south coast of Mindanao. Davao is profiling itself to be the center of East ASEAN trade and business, although most of the business of the southern regions of the Philippines is still done from Cebu.

The Philippines has a tropical marine climate with two distinct seasons, hot and dry from November to June and rainy from July to October. January is the coolest month and May the hottest. The average temperature ranges from 25 to 30 degrees centigrade throughout the year. The Philippines suffers annually from typhoons. These can occur from June to January, although August to December are the peak months. The best time to travel in the Philippines is from December to May, when it is cool, but still dry.