Showing posts with label Batanes Itinerary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Batanes Itinerary. Show all posts

Half-Day Cultural Heritage Tour of Batanes (First Day)

July 19, 2012




Half-Day Cultural Heritage Tour of Batanes
(First Day)


If you stayed at Fundacion Pacita several years ago like we did, the package included a complimentary half-day cultural heritage tour of Batanes. The itinerary below is the complimentary tour we took at Fundacion Pacita in March 2010. We arrived in Batanes in the morning and took this tour in the afternoon. 

Since October 31, 2011, Fundacion Pacita phased out its complimentary tours. However, I still think this itinerary will be useful to those who wish to take half-day tours, combining a slow, relaxing morning with some sightseeing in the afternoon. The guide we used for this tour is Roger Doplito.

But take note: this half-day tour does not include all the must see sights on Batan Island, like Marlborough Hills. I still recommend that you take another half-day tour which includes Marlborough Hills. This tour is best taken in the afternoon of your arrival as a nice introduction to the Batanes you will see in the next few days. We also took another tour in the afternoon of the second day of our trip. More of that in a subsequent post.

Advantage of taking half-day afternoon tours
You don't need to wake up early and rush into sightseeing.

Disadvantage of taking half-day afternoon tours
You pay the guide twice instead of just once for the whole day tour. The van rental depends on the number of hours you use it. But the guide is paid on a per day basis. Everything however is negotiable. So perhaps you can negotiate a discounted rate with your guide, especially when you arrive during low season.


What is included in the complimentary half-day cultural heritage tour of Fundacion Pacita
The half-day tour is conducted the day of your arrival. It lasts from 2pm-6pm. The tour includes the ff:

2:00PM:
1st stop: Radar Tukon
Our guide, Roger Doplito, explaining how this device records 
how sunny it is during different parts of the day. When the 
sun is out, the heat of the sun burns a path on the piece 
of paper inserted in the device.

Because of the strength of Batanes winds, hedgerows are planted to shield their crops from the strength of the wind. 
The crisscross pattern that you can see above are the hedgerows.


3:00PM
2nd  stop: Chanarian View Deck 

The Chanarian view deck has stairs you can use to get a closer view of the site. 
This is halfway down the steps.

The view below. 
You can still go further down if you want to.

3rd stop: Mahatao: San Carlos Borromeo Church





4th stop: Oldest house




4:00PM
5th stop: Ivana

Ivana Church




Ruins of the 1st Church of San Jose




Ivana Port with Jackstones




Honesty Coffee Shop
Outside Honesty Coffee shop

Inside Honesty Coffee Shop
The Rules inside the coffee shop

Vakul (Batanes headress) for kids
being sold at Honesty Coffee shop





5:00PM
6th stop: Naidi Hills


A Batanes woman wearing the traditional vakul







6:00PM
7th stop Basco lighthouse






7:00PM
Dinner at Basco lighthouse
Note: We paid driver and van overtime because we went beyond 6pm

Half-Day Cultural Heritage Tour of Batanes (to complement the Free Cultural Heritage Tour included with the Fundacion Pacita accomodations) Summary and Tips

October 24, 2010


Half-Day Cultural Heritage Tour of Batanes 
(to complement the Free Cultural Heritage Tour included with the Fundacion Pacita accomodations)
Summary and Tips

As I've said in my previous post, if you book Fundacion Pacita accomodations, the package includes a free half-day cultural heritage tour of Batanes. You can view what is included in the the free half-day cultural heritage tour of Batanes here.

To complete our heritage tour of Batan Island, we booked another tour the next day. Below is a summary of our itinerary. To see more details, photos and description of the tour below, see here.

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Arrival at Pension Ivatan, ordered food, explored Basco town while waiting for food to be prepared.
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Municipality of Basco:
3:30PM - 4:00 PM
Municipality of Basco:
Valugan Boulder Bay
4:30PM - 5:00 PM
Municipality of Basco:
Japanese Tunnel
 5:00PM - 5:30 PM
Municipality of Mahatao:  
Marlborough Hills
5:30PM - 6:00 PM
Municipality of Uyugan:
Old Loran Station, Songsong Ruins 
6:00PM - 6:30 PM
Back to Fundacion Pacita

Free Cultural Heritage Tour of Batanes (as included in your Fundacion Pacita Accomodations): Summary and Tips

October 11, 2010


Free Cultural Heritage Tour of Batanes 
(as included in the Fundacion Pacita Accomodations)
Summary and Tips

If you book Fundacion Pacita accomodations, the package includes a free half-day cultural heritage tour of Batanes. When I booked Fundacion Pacita, I wondered whether the cultural heritage tour is complete and includes all the must see sights of Batanes. It does not. Firstly, it only covers Batan Island. Batanes has 3 islands, but the other island that visitors can go to, which is Sabtang Island, is not covered by the cultural heritage tour. And even if it only covers Batan Island, it does not cover all the must-see sights of Batan Island, such as Marlborough Hills.

What is included in the free half-day cultural heritage tour
The half-day tour is conducted the day of your arrival. It lasts from 2pm-6pm. To see more details, photos and description of the tour below, see here.

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Municipality of Basco:
Radar Tukon
3:00PM - 4:00 PM
Municipality of Basco:
Chanarian View Deck 
Municipality of Mahatao:
San Carlos Borromeo Church
Municipality of Ivana:  
House of Dakay

4:00PM - 5:00 PM
Municipality of Ivana:
Ivana Church
Ruins of the 1st Church of San Jose
Ivana Port with Jackstones
Honesty Coffee Shop

5:00PM - 6:00 PM
Municipality of Basco: 
Naidi Hills

6:00PM - 7:00 PM
Municipality of Basco: 
Basco Lighthouse

7:00PM onwards
Dinner at Basco lighthouse
Note: We paid driver and van overtime because we went beyond 6pm


My tip:

1. Book another half-day tour of Batan Island the day after your free tour to have a complete Batan island tour. 
The regular Batan Island tour is actually composed of the Northern and Southern parts of Batan Island. And it usually needs a whole day to complete a tour of the whole Batan Island.

2. If you are in a big group, you can hire the same guide, driver and van you used the day before. 
It will not be too expensive per head

3. If you are only a couple, I do not advise that you hire the guide, driver and van for your exclusive use. 
It will be too expensive per head if you hire them for your exclusive use. What is more practical is to talk with the same people you were with the day before and ask if they wish to share the same van, driver and guide the next day. They too would most probably want to have a complete tour of Batan Island like you and will be amenable to sharing the fixed cost of driver, van and guide. Whether you are 2 people or 10 people, the total cost will be the same because the driver and van fees and the guide fees for a half-day tour is fixed. They do not charge on a per head basis.

Note: the rental of van with driver is fixed for a certain number of hours, while the guide fees is fixed for a day, which means, whether or not you use your guide for a half day or a whole day, the rate is still the same. What you really save in the free cultural heritage tour is the half day rate of the van and driver.

My Batanes Itinerary

August 9, 2010

My Batanes Itinerary
(4 days and 3 nights at Fundacion Pacita)
(Free and Easy Tour)

My Tip:
If you are going to Batanes for the first time and would like to get full value for the trip, my suggestions are:

1. Stay at least 4 days.
  •   This means that Day 1 is the day you arrive and day 4 is the day you depart. As of this writing (August 2010),  only SEAIR flies to Batanes. Their daily Manila-Batanes flight is scheduled in the morning and the Batanes-Manila return flight is also in the morning. Therefore on Day 4, you no longer have a day to go around Batanes because you need to take the morning flight to Manila.
  • Regular flights to Batanes are very expensive. To  get the full value of your trip, you need to stay longer. The additional cost per night for the accomodation is relatively cheap compared to the cost of returning and flying again to Batanes to see what you missed the last time.
  • In case you're unable to return to Batanes for another vacation, you will be able to see and do everything already if you stay 4 days. 
2. Stay at Fundacion Pacita
  • If you are going to Batanes for the very first time, I urge you to stay at Fundacion Pacita. You have already spent a lot for your airfare so you might as well stay at Fundacion Pacita to make the trip one of your most memorable. Fundacion Pacita is located on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the rolling hills of Batanes. No other hotel, resort or inn in Batanes has that enviable view and tastefully designed rooms.
  • If you cannot afford Fundacion Pacita, Batanes Resort is a far second in ranking.

Day 1
Departure from Manila, Arrival at Basco Airport, Half-day Batanes cultural heritage tour
     5 am: wakeup
     6 am: leave the house and go to the Manila Domestic 
                 Airport   
     720 am: arrival at the Manila Domestic Airport  
     820 am: departure from Manila via Seair DG605
     1005 am: arrival at Basco Airport
  • We booked Fundacion Pacita so we were picked up from the airport by the staff of Fundacion Pacita.
     11am: check-in at Fundacion Pacita
     2pm-6pm: Batanes cultural heritage tour courtesy of Fundacion Pacita
  • This is the free cultural heritage tour included in the room rate.
     7pm: dinner at Basco Lighthouse


Day 2
Half-day Batanes cultural heritage tour (not covered by the Fundacion Pacita sponsored heritage tour)
     7 am: wakeup
     8 am: free breakfast at Fundacion Pacita
     11am: pick-up by hired van to go to Basco town
     12nn-2pm: lunch at Pension Ivatan
     2pm-6pm: Batanes cultural heritage tour
  • We booked this on our own to cover places not included by the Fundacion Pacita tour.
     7pm: dinner at Fundacion Pacita

Day 3
Beach, Motorcycle Tour around Batan Island
     7 am: wakeup
     8 am: free breakfast at Fundacion Pacita
     9-11am: explored the beach below Fundacion Pacita
     11am: hired a motorcycle to explore Batan Island
     12-2pm: Lunch at Pension Ivatan
     2-6pm: Motorcycle tour around Batan Island
     7pm: dinner at Fundacion Pacita

OR
SABTANG ISLAND TOUR
  • If you have kids with you, you cannot do the motorcycle tour I mentioned above, you can instead take the Sabtang Island Tour where you can also visit and have lunch at Nakabuang Beach
  • To make the most of the trip, others would prefer to take the Sabtang Island tour. My husband and I prefer the free and easy tour so we chose to motorbike around Batan Island instead.
Day 4
Departure from Basco, Arrival in Manila
     7 am: wakeup
     8 am: free breakfast at Fundacion Pacita
     9am: departure from Fundacion Pacita
     930am: arrival at Basco airport
     1020am: departure from Basco via Seair DG0606
     1130am: arrival in Manila


Pasalubong and souvenirs
I actually had a hard time finding pasalubong and souvenirs at Batanes. There was no one selling them at the sights we went to. There are two places I saw where you can find them:
1. At the Basco town market 
  • garlic, flying fish fillet, marinated flying fish
2. At the airport grounds
  •  ref magnets, tshirts, garlic chips, camote chips, etc.
Total cost of trip: under construction