Skyjet flies from Manila to Batanes

Skyjet flies from Manila to Batanes

Check out this post How to book Skyjet Airlines to Batanes

How to go to Batanes on a Budget

How to go to Batanes on a Budget

TRANSPORTATION

The single biggest travel expense for this destination is the transportation cost. In other destinations around the Philippines, there are other transportation options to choose from, like the ferry or a long road trip. The cheaper form of transportations is usually the more inconvenient. For Batanes, this is not the case. Even the more inconvenient means of transportation to Batanes may end up more expensive than simply riding the plane. The best way to go to Batanes is still by airplane from Manila. 

The option of riding the ferry from Cagayan or Ilocos is not very reliable. Also, the ride takes almost the whole day. So if your time to visit Batanes is limited, this is not an option for you. 

Taking a 12-hour road trip from Ilocos or a province near Batanes then taking a plane ride to Batanes is almost as expensive as taking the Southeast Asian Airlines flight from Manila. See my article on Batanes Airlines to compare the cost of taking SEAIR from Manila instead.

ACCOMMODATIONS
Book at Batanes Resort. Batanes resort remains is an inexpensive resort with all the basic amenities you need for your stay. See my article on Batanes resort.

SIGHTSEEING TOUR
If you're part of a big group, hire a van and a guide for your tour. The cost of the van and guide can be divided among the members of your group. The more members that you have in your group, the less cost per head. 

If you're a single traveler or a couple, and you know how to ride a motorcyle, you can do a motorcycle tour. If not, you can hire a tricyle for the day to help you explore the island. You can opt to hire a guide to explain things to you. But the cost of the guide is in addition to the cost of renting a motorcycle or hiring a tricycle for the day. 

You can negotiate and customize your tour to suit your budget. The tour guides are very accomodating. 

See the rates given by our tour guide to give you an idea where you can negotiate.


MEALS
If you stay at Batanes resort, the meals served there are inexpensive so you do not have to look far for meals. But for a taste of Ivatan cusine, be sure to try Pension Ivatan. See my article on Pension Ivatan.

My tips:

If you want to cut cost on your Batanes trip, focus on saving on airline cost by means of: 

1. Traveling during off-season in the Philippines.

Off-season travel in the Philippines is generally from June-December 15, January 3 -March 15, except during:

a. non-working holidays that fall on a Friday or Monday.

b. the Christmas season in the Philippiens that last from December 16-January 1.

c. The Holy Week from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday.

d. The week and weekend of the Chinese New Year

e.  The weekend nearest Valentine's Day

2. Watch out for regular fare sales during the airlines' anniversary, the annual Philippine Travel Tour Expo in February and the Philippine Travel Mart in September.

The greatest discount I have seen so far during these sales is 50% off the regular fare. So it's really worth watching out for these sales. In our case, since I travel with kids who go to school, we usually have no choice but to travel during peak season.

Check out my article on when to catch SEAIR promo flights to Batanes.

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

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:

Lunch at Pension Ivatan

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

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.

Batanes: Travel Budget & Summary of Cost

Batanes: Travel Budget & Summary of Cost

Airfare

• Roundtrip fares Manila-Basco-Manila via SEAIR: approximately P14,000.

Fees

• Manila Domestic airport fee: 200 pesos per person
• Basco Airport Fee: 20 pesos per person

Accommodation

• Fundacion Pacita: from P8000 per room per night
• Batanes Resort: P1800 per room per night

Airport Transfers

• Tricycle from airport to Basco town accommodation: P50 per way
• Usually included in hotel/resort accommodations.

Sightseeing

• Batan Island tour: 1500 for 8 hour van rental (with maximum capacity of 11 persons) + 1600 tour guide fee
• Sabtang Island tour: 1500 per person for groups of 5 persons or more, inclusive of guide, boat and van transfers, jeepney at Sabtan, lunch 
• Motorcycle rental: P150 per hour (inclusive of gasoline)+ guide fees (if you're using a guide)
• Tricycle day tour rental : P500
• Bicycle rental: P200 per day or P25 per hour

 Meals

• meals at Fundacion Pacita: around 550-750 pesos per person
• meals at Batanes Resort: around 150-250 pesos per person
• meals at Pension Ivatan: 50 pesos and above

Our Batanes Tour Guide: Roger Doplito

Our Batanes Tour Guide: Roger Doplito

Roger Doplito was the guide provided by Fundacion Pacita to conduct our free half-day cultural heritage tour. He's very knowledgeable about Batanes and could answer any question we asked about the life, history and culture of the Ivatans. If you google his name, it will come up at several blogs. They too gave good reviews of him.
  
He's very reliable and replies quickly by text message. But for those outside of the Philippines, you can email him. Here are his contact numbers:

ROGER DOPLITO
cellphone number: +639282476091
email address: rgdoplito@yahoo.com

These are his rates as of September 2010:

Batan Island Tour (8 hours)
1. Van rental with driver:

• P1600 good for 8 hours 

•  van has a maximum capacity of 11 passengers

• there is an overtime fee if you use the van in excess of 8 hours.

2. Tour guide fee: P1500 per day (whole day or half day)
3. Tips (optional)

For the Batan Island van tour for 8 hours, you pay P3100 for one person or for 11 persons. Therefore it can range from P3100 per head or P285 per head

Sabtang Island Tour  
If you have 5 or more people in your group, the rate is P1500 per person. This includes:

• roundtrip transfers from hotel/inn to port
• boat fares
• tourist registration fees
• jeep around Sabtang
• tour guide
• lunch

My tip: 

If you are 5 or more in a group, get all the tours from Roger then tell him the exact number of persons in your group so he can make a more reasonable quotation and perhaps a cheaper rate than the rates given above. The more people in your group taking the tour the better rates he can give.

Batanes Airlines

Batanes Airlines

Batanes Airlines flies from Tuguegarao-Basco-Tuguegarao, and Laoag-Basco-Laoag. Currently, there is no flight from Laoag. The customer service of Batanes Airlines predicts that the Laoag flight will resume December, when peak season starts. 

Tuguegarao-Basco-Tuguegarao flight schedules

Departure from Tuguegarao: M,W,F 8:00 AM

Departure from Batanes: M, W, F 10:00 AM

Fare: P4,950 one way

How to book

1. Call the ff contact numbers:

2. Make the reservation by phone.

3. You can pay upon check-in.

My tip:

If you're coming from Manila, I highly recommend you fly SEAIR because the price difference is minimal and you save 12 hours landtrip to Laoag. Of course, if you're already sightseeing in Laoag and would further like to go to Batanes, then this is a flight option starting December. 

Batanes Resort: Summary, Review and My Traveler's Photos

Batanes Resort: Summary, Review and My Traveler's Photos

I recommend Batanes Resort because it is budget-friendly and affordable without having to sacrifice comfort and convenience. It has a restaurant with affordable meals. It is also possible to walk into town from Batanes Resort, although the walk will be long. 

My tip:

I have two reasons why you should book early:
1. They only have 6 hillside cottages with 2 rooms each. It will be easy for the resort to become fully booked.
2. If you book early, you can request the Itbayat and Sabtang rooms. They are the rooms with the best views of the South China Sea. The other rooms have limited views or no views at all.

Summary of Rates, Inclusions and Amenities:

• Rates: 1800 pesos per room per day, a maximum of 3 persons
• Rooms: air-conditioned, with 2 beds, hot and cold shower, private toilet and bath, free toiletries (shampoo, soap, toothpaste, tissue), cable tv, writing desk 
• free airport transfers
• with restaurant offering a variety of meals at rates ranging from 100-230 pesos per person

Traveler's Photos

I prefer travelers' photos when researching on accommodations because they are usually more accurate. They show accomodations "as-is", since the travelers who take them usually don't have any financial interest in promoting the hotel/resort.

Rates as of March 2010

Architecture is made of stone typical of Ivatan houses

  The Room

As taken from the door of the room

Location Map
 

View Larger Map

Batanes Resort location in relation to Basco town location
(Batanes Resort is in the lower left of the map. Just pass the cursor on the marks to see the names)

 

Fundacion Pacita v. Batanes Resort

Fundacion Pacita v. Batanes Resort

If you have the funds for it, I definitely recommend Fundacion Pacita. It's a bit expensive (much like booking a room at a 5-star hotel in Manila) but definitely worth it. However, if you're on a tight budget, your best bet is to stay at Batanes Resort.

1. Cost of Accommodations

Fundacion Pacita: from 7950 pesos pesos per room per night for a terrace suite, and from 8124 pesos per room per night for a family suite, and from 11268 per room per night for a luxury terrace suite

• maximum of two persons in a room for a terrace suite, maximum of 5 persons in a room for a luxury terrace suite.

• minimum booking of 2 nights.

Batanes Resort: 1800 pesos per room per night

• maximum of three (3) persons in a room

2. Room Amenities

Fundacion Pacita: air-conditioned rooms, hot and cold shower, private toilet and bath, free toilettries, no tv, view deck, mini ref, hairdryer

Batanes Resort:  air-conditioned rooms, hot and cold shower, private toilet and bath, free toiletries, cable tv in every room

3. Inclusions in Accommodations

Fundacion Pacita: set breakfast, half-day cultural heritage tour, free water, full time generator during brownouts

Batanes Resort:

4. Airport Transfers

Fundacion Pacita: free airport transfers

Batanes Resort: free airport transfers

5. Cost of Meals

Fundacion Pacita: 550-750 pesos per person

Batanes Resort: 100-230 pesos per meal at the resort

6. Transportation Options

Fundacion Pacita: tricycle rate from Fundacion Pacita to town: 90 pesos

Batanes Resort: tricycle rate from Batanes resort to town: 50 pesos

I recommend Fundacion Pacita because of the view, the stylish accommodations and the beautiful surroundings. However, the disadvantage of staying at Fundacion Pacita is you do not have a lot of meal options if you opt not to go out because the chef offers very limited choices. Also, the distance from town will not make it possible for you to walk down the hill where Fundacion is located. You will have to hire a tricycle or a van to go to town, or rent a motorcycle from one of the staff of Fundacion.


I recommend Batanes Resort because it is budget-friendly and affordable without having to sacrifice comfort and convenience. It has a restaurant with affordable meals. It is also possible to walk into town from Batanes Resort, although the walk will be long.

Location Map

Fundacion Pacita in relation to Batanes Resort and Basco Airport/Basco Town

Fundacion Pacita is indicated by a triangle mark below, and Batanes Resort is marked on the left. Just pass the cursor on the marks to see the names.

Arrival at Basco, Batanes Airport

Arrival at Basco, Batanes Airport

Basco Airport terminal

Basco Airport is not your usual Philippine domestic airport. It is housed in a small terminal building that has the same beautiful design as the building of Fundacion Pacita. Upon arrival, you immediately get the impression that Batanes is a different place from the rest of the country. The airport terminal itself is different. It is quaint, neat and quiet, much like what you will find when you go into Basco town and its surrounding areas. 

After the door of the plane opened, we were instructed to stay seated while the airport staff brought out the luggage. The first thing I noticed when the door opened was the peace and quiet. There wasn't a lot of activity going around since we were the only plane that landed. Unlike other airports, landing at Basco Airport is a totally different experience from landing at other bigger airports.

Since we were only few who arrived that day, the airport staff were very informal . The plane was almost full. We were only around 28 passengers who arrived on the second and last flight of the day.

At the arrival area, there is no luggage carousel where you retrieve your luggage.  The luggage is just hauled into the common area inside the terminal arrival area, where the registration desk is located.

The airport is only open only in the mornings. Sea air flights depart and arrive only in the mornings.

Since we were staying at Fundacion Pacita, we were picked up by their van together with other passengers of Seair who are also staying at Fundacion Pacita. 

Facilities of Basco Airport:

1. clean and new toilets

2. small airconditioned departure lounge area.

3. souvenir stall inside the terminal

4. souvenir stall outside the terminal and near the gate 

5. registration desk

Below are some photos to give you an idea of what you will encounter upon arrival at Basco Airport:

In front of the door to the arrival area

Registration desk

Location Map of Basco Airport

The Experience of Flying Seair

The Experience of Flying Seair

I decided to make this post on Seair (Southeast Asian Airlines) because it is not commonly used by a greater number of people. Seair flies only to Batanes, Caticlan (Boracay), Tablas, Cebu (only to and from Boracay), Clark (only to and from Boracay), and on certain months, to El Nido. In addition, Seair fares are very expensive so only those with a large budget for airfare will opt to use it.

You use the Manila Domestic Airport. This is the lounge facing the airport gate.

The 32-seater Dornier turbo prop plane. The flight going to Basco took 1 1/2 hours. But the return flight to Manila, where they used a Dornier jet, took only 1 hour.

You walk on the runway to board the plane. You do not use the airport tube. Manila Domestic Airport is the oldest airport terminal in Manila so it doesn't have a tube built around it to access the planes

The 32-seater plane has a 2-1 seat configuration. We were seated on the 1st row which only has 2 seats because the emergency exits are located on the 1st row. If you happen to be seated at the last row, then you're unfortunately seated beside the small toilet also located at the back.

Inflight meal is composed of bottled water and a fudgee bar. In the background is the Inflight magazine, which is a good magazine to read on board the aircraft.

The view of the Batanes group of islands from the plane. Since Seair is a small plane it tends to fly low so the ground underneath is more visible from the plane.

Lunch at Pension Ivatan

Lunch at Pension Ivatan

Pension Ivatan Restaurant also known as Therese Coffee Shop

Why dine at Pension Ivatan

• It serves authentic Ivatan cuisine.
• It's open all throughout the day from 7am to 8pm.
• It's easy to find. It's just outside the gate of Basco Airport. From the gate of the airport, turn right at Reyes Street and you see the big sign of Pension Ivantan outside the building as shown above.

My tip: The food they serve is not fast food. You wait at least 1 1/2 hours for them to finish cooking. My advice:

1. Call in advance to order food before going to the restaurant. Menu is shown below. They can be contacted at (63)09292074643, (63)09053035855. Additional information at Pension Ivatan website.

2. Go there personally to order food first then do some sightseeing by walking around town while they cook what you ordered.

Menu and Price List

 The Famous Ivatan Platter

The Ivatan Platter is good for 5-6 persons and includes:

1. Supas or Turmeric Yellow Rice

2. Tatus or Coconut Crabs

3. Mixed Ivatan Salad 

4. Lunis or lunies (their version of pork adobo), made of liempo and fried

5. Payi or Lobster

6. Uvud Balls, made of pork, flying fish and banana trunk

7. Venes or Dried Gabi

8. Assorted grilled foods like chicken and squid

 For a more comprehensive list of the Best of Batanes food, see  Ivan Henares' blog

Other ways of going to Batanes

Other ways of going to Batanes

The route I still recommend that you take to go Batanes is the Manila-Batanes-Manila flight by SEAIR because:

1. It's the shortest route so you save time and the trip is less tiring. 
2. Although the SEAIR flight is expensive, the nearest alternative, which is to take a Manila-Laoag flight then Laoag-Batanes flight and vice versa, is not cheap either.

See my article How to go to Batanes

However, I do recognize that other people have different ways of viewing a trip, so I'll enumerate all the possible ways you can reach Batanes.

1. take the Southeast Asian Airlines (SEAIR) Manila-Batanes-Manila flight
2. take the Manila-Laoag flight via Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, Zest Airways, Air Philippines THEN take the SkyPasada or Batanes Airlines flight from Laoag to Batanes and vice versa
3. do a 12-hour land trip from Manila to Laoag, then take the Skypasada or Batanes Airlines flight from Laoag to Batanes and vice versa.

 

Batanes Airlines booking office across Basco Airport terminal within the Airport Grounds

Contact numbers of Batanes Airlines in Basco, Tuguegarao and Laoag

Skypasada Booking Office across Basco Airport terminal within Airport Grounds

Skypasada Flight Schedule as of March 2010

See Skypasada contact numbers and booking office
See Batanes airlines information

My Batanes Itinerary

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   

• see how to go to the Manila Domestic Airport

     720 am: arrival at the Manila Domestic Airport  

• see facilities of the Manila Domestic Airport

     820 am: departure from Manila via Seair DG605

•  see the experience of flying Seair

     1005 am: arrival at Basco Airport

• We booked Fundacion Pacita so we were picked up from the airport by the staff of Fundacion Pacita.

• If your resort does not include free airport pick up, here are your other airport transfer options

     11am: check-in at Fundacion Pacita

     12nn: lunch 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