If the path is beautiful, ask where it leads to. But if destination is beautiful never mind about the path, keep walking. – Patrick Idowu
Have you ever plan of going to a certain place every year yet always falls through due to few circumstances that comes in your way? Well I do. A lot of times in fact and this trip is one of my example.
You see, I’ve been planning to visit Batanes since 2014 when I was able to snatched a very cheap air ticket c/o SkyJet but I got a new job and as a new employee I didn’t have leave credits yet so I let it slide. Then, 2nd attempt was 2015, another promo ticket too bad the weather wasn’t in my favor and as a full time employee I can not just move my leave dates anytime I want so another chance slipped away.
Last July 2016, I’m supposed to travel end-to-end places (Batanes & Tawi-tawi), sadly the weather’s not good during my travel dates to Batanes and work also gotten it’s way on a good note I was able to push through my Tawi-Tawi trip.
Months came and asked myself the “when” question. When will I push my Batanes trip as I’ve seen pictures of it in my feed and I got envious of it it. From there, I decided I’d visit it before the year ends or perhaps spend my New Year there despite the costly airfare which happened.
I was there for 8 days – purchased a regular round trip ticket through Philippine Airlines and SkyJet and toured around like any ordinary traveler.
Weather’s quite bad for the past few days and when I step foot at the island, Mr. Sun’s about to come out. Lovely is it?
Days spent there and I can surely say it’s worth the costly airfare.
The place is too beautiful to describe that even cameras can’t capture it well.
No offense to other locals but the Ivatans are too good to be true.
I can’t say so much so I’ll proceed with my itinerary…
1st day – December 31, 2016
0800 – ETA Basco Airport
0930 – Start of South Batan Tour
- Chawa Viewing Deck
- Mahatao Shelter Port
- Mahatao Town Tour
- Racuh a Payaman
- Alapad Hills & Rock Formation
- Sitio Song-song
- Uyugan Town Tour
- Honesty Coffee Shop
- Ivana Town Tour
- House of Dakay & Spanish bridge
- White Beach & Spanish Lagoon
1530 – End tour
1600 – Back accommodation: Chilling while waiting for New Year
2nd day – January 1, 2017 New Year’s Day
1000 – North Batan Tour
- Valugan Boulder Beach
- Japanese Tunnel
- Basco Idjang
- Tukon Chapel
- Tukon Radar Station
- Basco Cathedral
- Vayang Rolling Hills
- Basco Lighthouse and Naidi Hills
1230 – End tour
- Lunch at Beehan
1300 – Free whole afternoon
3rd day – January 2, 2017
0700 – ETD Itbayat Island
1100 – ETA Itbayat Island (Chinapoliran Port)
1115 – Checked in at Levinda Lodge
1130 – Start of Land tour
- Torongan Cave
- Torongan Hills
- Torongan Cliff
- Lunch
- Mt. Karoboban view deck
- Yawran Village
- Barrio Riley
- Kavaywan Lake
- Itbayat Airport
- Itbayat old PAG-ASA Office
- Paganaman Port
1800 – End tour
- back to accommodation
4th day – January 3, 2017
0700 – Breakfast
1300 – ETA Basco
1330 – Back to Accommodation: IVATAN INN
1400 – Free time (toured around BASCO)
5th day – January 4, 2017
Sabtang half day tour
0700 – ETD Sabtang Island
0730 – ETA Sabtang Island
- Savidug Village
- St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel and Old Beaterio
- Chavayan Village
- Chamantad-Tinyan Viewpoint
- Visit the zipline place
- Morong Beach
- Nakabuang Cave
- Mahayao Arch
- Sabtang Lighthouse
- San Visente Ferrer Church
- Conscience Store
1330 – ETD Sabtang Island
1400 – ETA Ivana Port, Batan
1500 – FREE TIME
- sunset at Naidi Hills
6th day – January 5, 2017
FREE DAY
- Sunrise at Valugan Boulder Beach
- Visit some sites in South Batan
- Fountain of Youth
- Fundacion Pacita
- Cafe de Tukon
- Bike around Basco Airport runway
7th day – January 6, 2017
FREE DAY and LAST DAY
- Sunrise at Valugan Boulder Beach
- Visit Mahatao’s Blank Books library
- Visit Fountain of Youth again
- Swimming at Spanish Blue Lagoon
- Visit Alapad rock formation
- Casa Napoli
- Sunset at Naidi Hills
8th day – DEPARTURE TIME
CONTACT PERSONS:
EXPENSES:
A. Accommodation
| NAME | RATE | DESCRIPTION | TOTAL |
| Ivatan Inn (Basco) | PHP 400 | 8 days of stay w/ breakfast | PHP 3,200 |
| Levinda Lodge (Itbayat) | PHP 250 | overnight stay, fan room only | PHP 250 |
B. Tours
| TOURS | RATE | DESCRIPTION |
| Registration Fee (Basco) | PHP 350 | |
| South Batan | PHP 1,500 | rate for 1-2 persons, additional 500 for the 3rd person |
| North Batan | PHP 1,000 | |
| Itbayat Island Tour | PHP 3,000 | |
| Sabtang Tour | PHP 1,000 | |
| Registration Fee (Itbayat) | PHP 100 | |
| Viewdeck Fee | PHP 40 | |
| Torongan Cave Fee | PHP 20 | |
| Registration Fee (Sabtang) | PHP 200 | |
| Blank Book Archives fee | PHP 50 | |
| Fountain of youth fee | PHP 50 |
C. Food
| DESCRIPTION | RATE |
| Lunch at Paulvanna’s | PHP 300 |
| Lunch at Beehan | PHP 380 |
| Pork Bbq | PHP 40 |
| Egg | PHP 15 |
| Water | PHP 40 |
| Nova | PHP 20 |
| Lunch at Itbayat | PHP 150 |
| Dinner at Levinda | PHP 250 |
| Breakfast at Levinda | PHP 100 |
| Lunch at Morong Beach | PHP 300 |
| Kamoteng Donut (10/pc) | PHP 30 |
| Buko Juice (30/pc) | PHP 90 |
| Dinner at Beehan | PHP 200 |
| Lunch at Monica’s | PHP 230 |
| Snacks at Café de Tukon | PHP 670 |
| Snacks at Casa Napoli | PHP 555 |
| Dinner at Beehan | PHP 260 |
D. Miscellaneous
| DESCRIPTION | RATE |
| Soap | PHP 120 |
| tshirt | PHP 400 |
| ref magnet | PHP 60 |
| shampoo | PHP 8 |
| surf powder | PHP 13 |
| gas | PHP 360 |
| bike rental | PHP 50 |
E. Fare
| DESCRIPTION | RATE |
| MNL-BASCO VIA PAL | PHP 4,891 |
| BASCO-MNL VIA SKYJET | PHP 6,412 |
| BASCO-ITBAYAT M/V ONE SPIRIT | PHP 400 |
| ITBAYAT-BASCO M/V ITRANSA | PHP 400 |
| FALUWA BOAT RT BASCO-SABTANG | PHP 200 |
REMINDERS:
- Batanes is located in the northern most part of the Philippines and consists of 3 major islands: Batan, Sabtang and Itbayat Island.
- Batanes is one of the few provinces in the Philippines that have moody weather, so better check your bag(s) if you packed the right clothes with you.
- It’s best to visit the place during summer season (April-June) so you won’t miss visiting Itbayat Island.
- What you read in other blogs regarding how they spent less than PHP 5,ooo in Batanes isn’t true, unless they purchased a promo airfare and they’re from the place or they know someone who adopts them there like accommodation and food free then it’s possible.
- You can tour around Batan (North and South) in one day without having a guide long as you know how to ride and operate a motorcycle then you’re good to go to follow the map but I rather you get a guide to help the locals as well.
- Basco town is so small but keep an eye on the arrow directions on the roads if it’s a one-way or two-way.
- You’ll never get wrong with Beehan’s food and its price.
- Don’t miss to eat Batanes’ specialty: uved, luñi’s, coconut crab, kamoteng donut
- Buy your souvenirs in Sabtang, it’s way cheaper than in Basco.
- Lunch is optional when you’re on your South Batan and Sabtang tours.
- Boat travel time from Basco to Itbayat vice versa takes 4 hours per way and expect huge waves as you’re crossing Pacific Ocean and Philippine Sea. (tip: be the first one to enter the faluwa boat so you can get a good space for you to sleep on during ride).
- Fountain of youth is NOT included in the tours as it’s quite far and it’ll take you roughly an hour to go there, make sure you won’t visit the place during Fridays as it’s cleaning day and no one from the registration office will tell you so and to not frustrate you.
- Going to Fountain of Youth? If you have someone with you from Batanes or who has been there then good but if not, the way is going to the Diura Fishing Village. There are no signs going there, also make sure you know the local name (Rakuh-a idi Spring) as locals aren’t so familiar of the name Fountain of Youth.
**questions/comments/clarifications just leave a comment or message me, I’ll try to answer you one by one. ^_~
Ang bigat sa bulsa hahaha but shocks bet ko
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Supeerrr pro madami na promo fares ngayon so di na ganun kabigat and ikaw pa ba? Kayang kaya mo yan 😉
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