True Beauty: Batanes, Philippines

I've been sitting on this blog post for about 2-3 months now. I've been quite busy with work, class, and just being an all around dad and husband.  But now, that I've been sick for a bit due to the flu and I have some free time to write this. :)

Anyways, the wife and I have always wanted to go to Batanes.  The beautiful scenery and awesome feedback from friends and family who've been there has peaked our interest.  And what better way to help our tourism industry by touring our own country right?

So it happened one day that we were up and about before midnight and a notification popped up on my Facebook page that SkyJet was having a sale.  Since it was just a few minutes away I decided to check it out.  And OMG!  The first dates I checked for a Batanes trip coughed up a P88 one way trip.  Thinking it was a website error I tried it again.  And yet again it came up with the same price.  Curious, I decided to book it for a date in August of 2015 and voila!  A total of around P580 for the round trip fare to Batanes per person!  Can you believe the luck!?

On average a regular ticket to Batanes costs around P8000 pesos per person on a good day, but to get it for only P580 is a real steal!  So you can't imagine our excitement!

SkyJet, Basco, Batanes Airport

Next, we booked a hotel for our Batanes adventure and the wife has specific requirements.  It has to have its own bathroom.  No sharing. So that pretty much eliminated most of the hostels on Batanes and we went for the Batanes Seaside Lodge.  The Seaside Lodge was a bit more on the expensive side but since we got our tickets fairly cheap we didn't mind spending a bit more on the accommodations.  It's also near Basco town proper  and you could take a stroll whenever you need to.  The Batanes Seaside Lodge is a lovely place to stay at, is right next to the beach, and the rooms are clean and quite large.  Although the hotel is right next to the beach there wasn't a real access to the beach.  Which I found really strange because the beach was quite clean and nice to take a dip in.

Room

Front of Hotel

View from Balcony

View from front of the hotel

One thing about Batanes that hits you right away is the quiet.  I mean we are so used to the hustle and bustle of Manila and its traffic that it is somewhat unnerving to find a place in the Philippines that is so quiet.  The only thing I could really hear where the waves lapping onto the beach.  After a few minutes of that I was pretty much on vacation mode already.

We opted for a 4 day 3 night vacation on Batanes and it was a bit tiring but all worth it.  I would suggest at least 5 days so that you can relax a bit more.  There are plenty of things to do on Batanes but the main things are:

• North Tour
• South Tour
• Sabtang Island Tour
• Itbayat Island Tour

Now, depending on your budget you can opt for the packaged tours from the hotel or you can just hire any of the local tricycle drivers to drive you around.  The hotel can recommend plenty of drivers or you can make a quick Google search of the local drivers.  If you opt for the packaged tours be ready to pay big moola.  It doesn't come cheap.  If you're on a budget and more of the adventurous type I'd go for the tricycle tour.  For one, you get to "really" see the island and it's way cheaper.  Since we were there for only 4 days we got to take 3 tours while we were there.  The first three on the above list.  The North tour cost around P800, while the south tour was around P1200.  The Sabtang Island tour was around P400 for the tric to the pier (one way) then about P75 for the boat ride to the island.  The tour itself was around P800.

Now, I don't want to go spoiling everything by giving it all away in this blog.  All I want you to understand is that if you want peace and quiet, go to Batanes and experience it.  It's nothing like you've ever experienced.  It's one of those places that you can go to, watch the sunset, and think about what life means and what the universe means.   It's that deep.  Another thing is, don't forget your camera, because you'll have plenty of things to take pictures of, a lot of history, and a lot of landscapes. Let the pictures below make the statement for me:  Visit Batanes.