Mount Apo, the country’s highest walk

Mount Apo, between Davao and North Cotabato, is the highest point in the Philippines. The popular routes take more than a day. You sleep on the mountain. You hire local porters because that is the system the communities around the park built, and because your knees will agree by the second descent.

Permits and guide requirements are real. A resort in Davao City is not a base camp. Treat the climb as the whole trip, with a rest day afterward before you fly.

The summit crater and the boulders are the pictures. The trail is mud, roots, and a cold morning. Pack for both. Altitude here is modest by Himalayan standards and still enough to punish a group that drank on the bus.

If you want a single sunrise without the logistics, Pulag is the more common first highland. Apo is the one you train for.