Filipino Paradise (Boracay)

Member Name: Trev11

Product:	Boracay
Date:	30/06/09 (37 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Perfect white sandy beaches, good variety of accommodation, restaurants and bars

Disadvantages: A bit over-developed in places

Boracay is known as The Philippines' most beautiful island and regularly features in top ten lists for 'The best beaches in the world'. Being so highly rated, I decided I had to visit it in June 2008, to decide for myself if it really is that good.


*** Getting there ***

In order to get to Boracay, you have to fly from Manila to either Caticlan or Kalibo. There are many flights every day to both airports with various different airlines. The cheapest offers seem to be with Asian Spirit and Cebu Pacific. I flew with Asian Spirit and the short 1 hour flight was fine with them.

From Caticlan, you take one of the many small boats across to Boracay and there is a new jetty on the south of the island now to make things easier (before this was built you had to climb out of the boats directly on to the beaches). If you fly to Kalibo then you have to to travel by road for a couple of hours to Caticlan so it is preferable to pay a bit extra and fly to Caticlan if you can. It is a smaller airport however with less flights arriving and departing from it so if you are travelling in peak periods you will have to book further in advance. I was travelling in the off-peak season and managed to book my flights just 3 days before the departure date.


*** Where to stay ***

There is a large choice of places to stay on the island and most of them are along White Beach. On the budget end, it is quite hard to find really cheap accommodation compared with the typical backpacker guest houses you find at other islands such as the ones in Thailand. Most of the cheaper options are on the southern end of White Beach but after searching around for a while it became obvious to me that a lot of places have upgraded over the years and replaced the cheaper 'shacks' I had read about whilst researching places online.

The mid-range options are good value especially in the off-season with lots of promotions advertised everywhere as hotels try to maximise occupancy levels. When I visited there were several new hotels that had just been built and they were offering some amazingly cheap deals for very clean and comfortable rooms.

If you are looking for lots of luxuries then you can also find 5 star hotels with everything you could possibly need but expect high prices. Unfortunately I didn't have the luxury of staying in one of these amazing places and could only admire them from the outside whilst walking along the beach!


*** What to do ***

Your primary activity during the day will probably be relaxing on the perfect white sandy beaches and swimming in the clean and clear water! White Beach stretches for about 4km so you should have no trouble finding a quiet spot if that is what you want. That is what I spent a whole week doing and although the island is very developed, you do not get disturbed by hawkers trying to sell you things as is so often the case on comparable beaches in other places such as Thailand.

The middle of White Beach is where it is busier and the walkway adjacent to the beach is lined with various stalls and shops selling food, clothes etc. If you want to spend some time shopping then there is also the D'Mall area which is a very developed pedestrian area not far from the beach which has more expensive shops and restaurants.

There are lots of different bars to go to along the beachfront and most of them offer drinks specials in the late afternoon which is a perfect way to enjoy the stunning sunsets. At the far northern end of the beach there are various bars and clubs that get started later at night and run until the early hours of the morning if you want to party harder! In the off-season they are not incredibly busy but I was told that they are usually packed out during holiday periods.

Other activities on the island include the usual ones you get on most islands such as boat trips, snorkelling and diving as well as some you do not get on all islands such as windsurfing and playing golf. Being in such a paradise with the fantastic white beaches though makes you just want to sit back and relax whilst listening to the sound of the waves.


Overall I would definitely recommend visiting Boracay and it is definitely in my list of the top 10 beaches I have ever visted. I would have to visit a lot of other beaches though in order to make a valid opinion on whether it really is one of the world's top 10!

Summary: A real paradise island if you stay in the quieter parts of it.