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14 October 2018 / 10 Comments

Boracay in the Philippines - tourist paradise

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Writer: Helena Bergström

Boracay in the Philippines is an island paradise with a long, beautiful sandy beach and plenty of hotels, restaurants and boat trips. Earlier this year, the country's authorities shut down the island because it was perceived to have been destroyed by tourism. After months of cleaning, it's about to reopen, and we're taking the opportunity to share our top tips for Boracay.

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The paradise island of Boracay in the Philippines

During our trip to the Philippines in the winter of 2013/2014, we visited the capital, among other things Manila and Sabang and Puerto Galera on the island of Mindoro, before travelling by boat to the tourist-friendly island of Boracay. Earlier this year, the island was closed down, as the authorities judged that it had been destroyed by tourism and needed to be cleaned up.

Update in 2023: In the winter of 2022-2023, we revisited the Philippines. Below you can read our new guide with tips on things to see and do in Boracay.

Boracay - värme i vinter

It feels sad that it has to come to this, but at the same time it's great that the authorities are addressing the problem and doing something about it. If we understand everything correctly, the plan is for the island to reopen for tourists on 26 October, but we recommend that you check this out before booking a trip.

Also be aware that restoration work may still be ongoing and that there may have been changes on the island. For example, the authorities have said they want to limit the number of tourists and remove partying from the beaches.

Boracay i Filippinerna
Walk between the beach and the shops, Boracay, Philippines.

Welcome to Boracay!

Along the western coast of Boracay in the Philippines runs a long fabulous sandy beach, White Beach. The beach is usually a mecca for tourists from all over the world: Americans, Russians, Chinese and Swedes. All around is everything tourists could want: restaurants with tables on the sand, shops with beachwear and souvenirs, massages in fancy parlours and boat trips, diving courses and paragliding.

filippinerna
Boracay - one of the most beautiful islands in the Philippines?

It's stunningly beautiful, and it's impossible not to fall in love with the white sandy promenade and the small casual restaurants with live music. Compared to Sabang and Puerto Galera, where we were just before, this destination is much more "perfect", for better or worse.

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The beach is more beautiful, the hotels are better and you can find every kind of restaurant you could wish for. On the other hand, it's a little more expensive and a little less 'real'. You just have to choose what you like best - or maybe a combination.

Boracay och Tyfonen

Beaches White beach

White Beach is the largest and most famous beach in Boracay. This playa is perfect for lazy days in the sun. There are plenty of sunbeds to rent and lots of little restaurants, cafes and juice bars selling freshly squeezed juice from every imaginable (and unimaginable) fruit. If you get tired of lazing around, there are boat trips and all sorts of water sports to choose from.

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Boracay
Sandstranden på White beach är ca tre kilometer lång
The sandy beach at White beach is about three kilometres long.

An interesting activity while lying on the beach is watching other tourists. Of course, we understand that people are individuals and different, but we still noticed some national traits that were hard to ignore.

Scouting the beach, we noticed that the Chinese are floral (floral dress, flower in the hair and shoes with little flowers on them), the Russians are matched (a cerise dress is accompanied by a wide-brimmed cerise hat and cerise high-heeled shoes) and the Americans have T-shirts with prints (I love Boracay or I love LA). What about the Swedes? Well, they're a little bit like that, you know ...

Stränder Filippinerna

Sailing trip with Philippine boat

Boracay offers many possible activities on the water and we tried sailing on a traditional Filipino sailboat, twice. The first time we experienced really rough weather. The plan was to sail around the entire island, but because the wind was so strong, the plans had to be changed. The captain decided that we had to turn around, and there was a slightly shorter trip to the large island of Panay, where we were offered coconuts before it was time to sail back.

Filippinsk båt
Segeltur Filippinerna

Sailing at sunset

We also did a sailing trip in the evening, when we booked a so-called "sunset sailing". We crawled out on either side of the boat, on the long poles you see, and sat here while we sailed into the sunset. Magic!

Sunset sailing
Filippinerna Sunset sailing

Restaurants in Boracay

Boracay is full of restaurants, especially along the long stretch of White Beach. Whether you want Italian, Chinese or Thai, you'll find what you're looking for.

However, you cannot be sure that the Italian dishes are served in the right order or that the different alcoholic drinks are served in the glasses you are used to. It is quite possible that the primo piatto and secondo piatti come in at the same time and that the red wine is served in a drinking glass, but it will probably taste good anyway!

Traditional Filipino food is almost more unusual, but even that can be found of course. Apart from the slightly bizarre speciality of eggs with developed chicken fetus (which we didn't try), you can get spicy and tasty Filipino stews.

Mat Filippinerna

One evening we had dinner at the Italian restaurant Caruso, which belongs to the exclusive hotel The District. The food and service were excellent, but what made the experience special was the great location on the sand, right next to the sea.

Caruso
Restaurang Boracay
Lovely dinner restaurant in Boracay, Philippines

Nightlife in Boracay

Nightlife in Boracay is lively. There are plenty of restaurants and bars along the beaches, and it's not hard to find nightclubs that play well into the night. We settled on a bar called Red Coconut, located at the Red Coconut Beach hotel. Here we experienced many nice evenings while drinking whiskey in Martini glasses (!), competing to build the highest "tower" with blocks and bubbling with other guests.

Boracay drink
Boracay bar
Peter is concentrated to build the highest "tower"

Living in Boracay

There are lots of hotels along the beaches of Boracay, ranging from very simple and cheap places to the most luxurious hotels imaginable. Station 1 is in the far north of White beach and has several nice hotels, station 2 is in the centre and station 3 is further south, with more cheap hotels.

Filippinerna hotell

We stayed at Eriko's House, which is quite far on the cheap and easy side of the scale. We had to sneak into a small alley to find the inconspicuous reception and stairwell. For 300 SEK per night (2013/2014) we had an excellent room with AC and minimal balcony. It was not luxurious by any means, but both the bed and the bathroom were perfectly fine. In addition, we only had about ten metres to walk to the beach.

Hotell Boracay
Again luxury right away... but perfectly ok and close to the beach!
Hotell Filippinerna
View to one side (towards another hotel)

Breakfast was not included in the price, but we found a café/bar by the beach where we went and had breakfast every day. A little omelette, fruit, coffee and juice is not expensive in the Philippines.

Strandbar Boracay

By the way, outside the hotel there was a small religious statue of Mary when we arrived. One night it was smashed by a drunken Australian. Not so bad, he thought? Well, wrong country to destroy a religious symbol in! We ended up spending two days in jail and paying 15,000 kronor to the Catholic Church. A tip is to not destroy religious icons when you are in a religious country!

Boracay
View of the sea in Boracay, Philippines.

Travelling to Boracay

To get to Boracay, you first have to go to the Philippines, for example by flying to the capital Manila. From there you can fly to the island of Panay, which is just south of Boracay. From Panay you can then take a boat for the last short distance to Boracay. Another option is to travel by boat from one of the other islands in the Philippines. We travelled with boat from Mindoro Island to Panay, which took ten hours.

All in all, we are very happy with our trip to Boracay in the Philippines. Have you also been here or are you thinking of travelling here? Please tell us!

Filippinerna
Our top tips for the Philippines. Click on the image!

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FREEDOMtravel Avslut
14 October 2018 6:00
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  1. Ditte says:

    Nice to see Boracay and that it is now open again. The recognition factor here is high.
    We stayed at the far end of "Station 1", at Friday's, which was a great hotel but not really that big but a very good choice we thought. The hotel consisted of different bamboo villas, nicely nestled in the garden and in different sizes. This part of the beach was in our opinion the best. (The hotel had its own part as well.) Otherwise, we probably did what you did and I did a couple of dives. Really memorable.
    We flew from Manila to the neighbouring island of Kalibo in 45 minutes, taxi to Caticlan and then 10 minutes by boat directly to Boracay. Truly a memorable trip and great holiday. Great pictures from your visit.

    14 October 2018 - 11:15

    Reply

  2. åsa/nalta norland says:

    Sorry sorry sorry sorry 😉 but I have very ugly thoughts about the Philippines,
    and about Thailand too for that matter 🙁
    The reason is simple... I associate these two "holiday havens" with "old single man in his best (!) years finds a wife to exploit" and "young foreigner from poor country moves in with old man to get a better standard of living".
    Well, we have Thai women, Filipino women and women from South America/Brazil who have come here on a tourist visa and stayed with men at least 20 years older.

    Now your pictures are very nice and I understand that it is not only the kind of tourism that I am now thinking of.

    14 October 2018 - 15:39

    Reply

    • Comment by post author

      Helena says:

      This kind of "tourism" also exists (and I also find it problematic because it is of course about unequal power conditions) but it is not the major part. What I found most sad in the Philippines was all the street children in Manila, which among other things seems to be related to Catholicism and the reluctance to use contraception. The "regular" tourism contributes with income to everyone who works in the tourism industry, which hopefully can contribute to a better economy.

      14 October 2018 - 17:31

      Reply

  3. Matts Torebring says:

    No matter how nice it is, we don't want to go without the "House Bus". At least it's good that some people are travelling and relieving the pressure at home.

    14 October 2018 - 15:55

    Reply

  4. BP says:

    What a great advert for Boracay. It really looks like a paradise. Just hope that the tourists don't continue with the littering. But a ban on beach parties should give results, I think.
    The pots looked incredibly delicious.

    14 October 2018 - 19:30

    Reply

  5. Ruth i Virginia says:

    A place that has everything I don't like. Excuse me!
    Fortunately, you don't have to travel there. 🙂
    (all I can think of is SAND, SAND everywhere)

    President Duterte is a brutal man.
    Swedes did not travel to Spain during Franco's regime,
    and they wouldn't travel to the Philippines now either.
    Not that it would have any effect, but it is the principle.

    15 October 2018 - 4:50

    Reply

  6. Lena - gott för själen says:

    What a lovely place it seems to be. Good that they slowed down a bit. Hope they don't open up too early!

    Hug Lena

    16 October 2018 - 19:06

    Reply

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