Batanes or Bust

Background:
Batanes is the smallest and northern most province in the Philippines. It is also only about 120 miles away from Taiwan. According to our tour guides, as of 2015, the population of Batanes was 17,000 people.

Itinerary Highlights:
We flew out of Manila at around 7:30 AM for our 2 hour flight to Batanes.

Landing in Batanes, the first thing you notice are the lush green hills. And as you land you see that much of that magical green landscape is covered in trees. It was a cloudy day when we arrived and drizzling but the gray sky couldn’t dampen the beauty of the landscape.

We were transported by trike to our accommodations at Baletin Hometel. We had a small breakfast of fried egg, rice, and beef also known as tapsilog. It had been quite a long night before so we had lunch straight after breakfast. We dined on sizzling buttered chicken, chopsuey, rice, lobster, and steamed fish. Our first tour began after lunch and by that time the rain had subsided and the clouds were beginning to break just a bit.

Trike from airport to hotel. Photo by J. Lynn

Starting the tour I already knew I wanted more time to take in the sights. Our first stop was the Chawa view deck. To my left were hillside and to my right was the west Philippine sea. The waves were crashing into the rock formations and the sea was the most pure blue color, even the spray was blue. There were even a few goats hanging out and grazing. I was awe struck but to the goats it was just Saturday.

Soon after we made our way to Honesty coffee shop. This little store is unmanned and people are expected to pay using the honor system. Write down your purchase in the store book and leave your payment in the lock box.

Honesty Coffee Shop. Photo by J. Lynn

One of the most fascinating things I learned at this stop is that long this road yellow tip plants are planted because there are no street lights. At night they reflect the light of cars headlights to show drivers the boundaries of the road.

Yellow tip plants. Photo by J. Lynn

I can’t stress enough that each subsequent stop on our tour had better and more breathtaking views than the last. On the hills, the wind was high. At a few points I thought I might be blown over and I believe a small toddler would definitely be. However, our guide informed me that it’s only windy in this month and that during summer it’s not windy at all.

We finished day one at the Marlboro hills and the Tayid lighthouse. The lighthouse was probably my favorite sight of the day; it’s quite picturesque. Tayid is a private lighthouse so we weren’t allowed inside but the Basco lighthouse is open to the public which we visited on day two.

Tayid Lighthouse. Photo by J. Lynn

We finished our tour around 4pm and made it back to our lodging by 4:30pm. At that point we were all pretty tired and voted on nap time. Unfortunately, we all napped well past dinner hours.

Day two of our tour began at 6 AM. We took a boat to Sabtang island to see the Ivatan stone houses,  Nakabuang arch, and Tinyan viewpoint.

Tinyan view point was as windy as the rest we’d stopped at the day before. But the views! The scenerary is absolutely unmatched up there. Our tour guide called it a photographer’s dream. While there we got a quick snack of a camote (sweet potato) donut. 10/10 would recommend. At a local village some children were painting their basketball court with the Warriors logo.

Tinyan viewpoint. Photo by J. Lynn

We made our way to Morong Beach and saw the Nakabuang stone arch, very good spot for a photo op. We also had a set lunch here of fried fish, white and yellow rice (turmeric gives it the yellow color), fried pork, root veggies, soup and coconut bar for dessert.

Stone arch. Photo by J. Lynn

From Morong Beach we left Sabtang and headed to Basco lighthouse which looks very similar to Tayid lighthouse except Basco lighthouse is open to the public so you can climb to the top and see the views. We then visited Basco cathedral which is under restoration due to damage caused by the typhoon. Even without a roof you can still see its charm.

Basco Cathedral. Photo by J. Lynn

The tour ended at Boulder Beach which was by far my favorite site. I actually think it’s one of my favorite beaches I’ve visited. The breeze was subtle and the waves were relaxing to watch as they crashed on the boulders. Our tour guide was nice enough not to rush us along so we got to sit on the boulders and watched the sunset.

A small rock tower at Boulder Beach. Photo by J. Lynn

We ended the day with dinner back at the hotel. Venes (dried cabbage stew), vened balls (fish balls), paco salad (edible fern), green beans, and pancit canton were on the menu for an authentic Batanes meal.

Budget: The biggest expenses of this trip were the flight and tour costs. Our 2 day tour in a private van ran us about PHP 6,000 which is around $120. There are plenty of tour options, but the convenience of having it arranged by the hotel was nice. Also, the price is significantly reduced if you do the tour by trike. It’s worth noting that the tour is a 3 day tour which we compressed into 2 days. The flight from Manila via Cebu Pacific was PHP 14,500, equivalent to $290.

Tip: If you get motion sickness, be sure to bring some ginger chews or Dramamine for the boat ride to Sabtang. The water pretty gets choppy about halfway through the 20-30 ride.

Overall Experience: I’ve been in the Philippines for five months now and Batanes has been very near the top of my places to visit since I got here. I’m in no way disappointed. Batanes is the type of place you want to spend more time in. The sights are gorgeous and once you’re there you just want to slow down and take it all in.