Honestly, the longer the better! There is so much to see in the Philippines and getting from one island to another takes longer in comparison to some other backpacking destinations such as Vietnam. For UK citizens you are allowed an initial 30 days and that for me personally is minimum when visiting the Philippines. Obviously, it depends where you want to go but its not unusual for people to stay months at a time. We ended up extending our visa and staying for 6 weeks and we were still not ready to leave and to this day regret leaving so soon. But baring in mind money and other destinations we wanted to travel next we decided to leave. One regret we have was not visiting Siargao as many people on our trip recommended it and its no secret that people fall in love with this island. The hostels there commonly book for months at a time rather than weeks. If I could go back and do something different I would have visited Siargao and completed a work away in the Philippines so I could have stayed longer to volunteer and work for my accommodation or something along those lines!
For those who have been there.. How long would you recommend staying in Philippines?