There’s two trains of thought on this place. To the adventure traveler who seeks out the unknown and the less-touristed life – you might not love Boracay Island, but for the ’embrace the situation’ travelers like us, you’ll want to go back. Here’s how we spent our three days in Boracay, more specifically the bit about getting there and choosing where to stay. Plus, a little on why we love this place, just to get you in the mood.
Getting to Boracay
We flew via Manila to Caticlan Airport, flight time of just under an hour on the lovely Cebu Pacific. You land on the island of Panay and then need to board a bus to start your transfer to Boracay Island. Tickets are available outside the terminal and the operators will organise your ferry ride over to the island too. It’s a chaotic hour or so transfer, but you’ll finally get dropped off at your end location on tricycle (the local transport).
There’s a few companies that do the transfers to the island and they all seem about the same price, so you might as well make your life as easy as possible and rely on one of them to get you there. Just in regards to flights, we recommend searching for flight options for Philippines both on Skyscanner and direct on the airline websites, as they don’t necessarily all show up when you search.
Choosing what station to stay at
Boracay has this thing where the main beach area on the island is divided into three ‘Stations’. Station 1, Station 2 and Station 3. White Beach is very long, so I guess these invisible markers help with navigating it. Station 2 and 3 are where you’ll find all the restaurants and majority of hotels, with Station 1 The quiet end of the beach with the flash resorts. We stayed on the brink of Station 1 and 2 and it was pretty perfect for us. It meant we could easily wander up the far end of the beach away from the throngs of tourists, but still had easy access to all the restaurants, shops and bars. Below is right at the end of White Beach (Station 1), see what we’re saying?!
Where we stayed
We weren’t that impressed by the prices in Boracay, being a little higher than everywhere else in SE Asia. The best we could find for our money was Boracay Backpackers. We stayed 4 nights in a private room and we paid PHP 5,800 and it was fine. It’s located down a ramshackle alley way, only 50m or so from the beach. You ideally want to stay close as possible to White Beach, as everything happens on the beach front.
Why we loved Boracay
The powdery white sand and phenomenal blue of the water is nothing short of beautiful. The way the palm trees sit on the edge of the beach and frame the views from the restaurants is something else. While we didn’t eat the amazing Filipino food that we’d come for, we had a fair share of decent meals and cheap beer. Here’s where we ate and enjoyed our food.
Navigating the island via sailboat was one of the coolest things we’ve done. All you need to do is head down to the beach and talk to one of the guys selling all the activities. They’re part of a co-operative so it doesn’t really matter who you go with, except the prices on their activity list, aren’t what you should expect to pay. I think it might help also arriving later than those going out on group tours in the morning, so there’s more negotiation room. Definitely work it out when you get there, rather than trying to book anything online beforehand.
The boat trip was a couple of hours long, took us right around the island with a stop off at the glorious Puka beach. This place has cocktails and sun loungers to give you a chance to sit back and enjoy the scenery. Our guides also showed us some beautiful snorkeling spots, which is one of our fave activities.
Our favourite spot on the island is Diniwid Beach, the next bay round from White Beach. It’s a beautiful spot, a sheltered bay with far less people enjoying it. There’s a couple of resorts and restaurants on the beach, but we preferred to get our cold drinks from a shack just back from the beach. It’s the far end of Diniwid that you’ll find Spider House Resort and Restaurant, one of the most epic lunch spots we’ve ever found. More on this magical spot here.
And finally, you can’t beat a Boracay sunset. The boats against that glorious sky and you have yourself a picture. Lots of people opt in for the sunset cruises, but I reckon you’ll have just as much fun watching with everyone else from the beach with a drink in hand.
While we only had three days in Boracay, this island paradise stole our hearts and we’ll be back for sure. Check out what we ate while we were here.