Has anyone been to boracay?

Question

did you travel by plane, ship, roll-on roll-off (RORO)? how much should be the budget?

Answer 1

Pink, I live on Boracay and can tell you the standard travel arrangements.  

RO-RO is not even close to standard, only the province 'working girls/boys' and seasonal others use that method when there's nothing but time to waste....not tourists as its possibly the most unsanitary and nauseating experience one can imagine in commercial transport. - so we'll not bother with that one other than to say its a day-long affair at best, sometimes 2 days. No kidding.

You didnt specify where you are coming from, but looking at another of your questions, I will assume you are not from within the Phils.

1st, traveling to Boracay is not easy. Its still easier than getting to Puerto Galera...but considering this is the crown jewel of the Philippines tourism industry - it's still oddly difficult to get here.

Plane: There is no airport here on Boracay. The nearest is in Caticlan just across the channel to the south. 15 minute small ferry boat (15 to 40 people avg) and you'll arrive at one of 2 main jetty ports here. NOTICE: a lot of flights actually land in Kalibo which is at least 2 hours away from Caticlan...they all say aircon vans/bus but usually are really poor and run down... I highly recommend flying directly into Caticlan.

A plane to Caticlan will be about 30 minutes to 1:30 hrs depending on the model and altitude. I prefer the smaller planes that bump around a lot but they take a long time to arrive.

flight cost: I have no idea why people are paying 4000+ pesos for a 1-way tix here from Manila. Do yourself a favor and DO NOT purchase a tix online from Manila to here. Planes fly every 30/45 minutes from 0600 to around 1800 pm and they are almost never fully booked flights. I recently saw a tix for 9000 Php round trip online..lol!. Just walk up and get it for a quarter at most. I do it every month and just did it again a week ago. Phil Air has been cheap recently, Seair has been expensive (although they're my fav). Cubu Pacific floats between and recently changed its promos. every airline that flys here also has ticket sales at the airport---or u can also get the same cheap walkup fares by calling and buying over the phone with an e-ticket faxed to your hotel.

Anyway...expect 4000 or less round trip ticket for Manila to Caticlan and back. Another few hundred pesos for the BS enviro fees and port fees, and terminal fees, and we-like-foreign-tourists fees...lol. Oh, 50 php for trike to jetty port. Once on Boracay, 50 to 100 trike to your resort. Its only supposed to be 50 pesos from the port but they sometimes try getting indignant if they cant scam 100 pesos from people.  

jetty port...there are porters that will try pulling your bags from your hands. If they're on the boat or gangplank..they're OK (staff). If they're on the dock/concrete/beach - they're freelance porters and expect money.  if you let them, then be sure to give them coins for tips. You will never ever get change back from a paper bill.  figure a 5 peso coin per person since it only lasts 15 seconds at most getting from the boat to shore/dock (depending on weather). I travel light and keep my stuff with me. no one should be charging you to put your bags on top of the boat (although ive seen it attempted, just a friendly fyi..;-))

Thats a general budget for traveling here to Boracay...as far as accommodation goes...wow, thats highly varied from 20 USD/day to 500/day. The big thing about Boracay is there's no 'truth in advertising' laws in the Philippines so a great many 'resorts' are extremely poor by western or 1st world standards while they advertise greatness. If you already know this (as my friend did last year) then you will love the heck out of those places while saving a lot of money at the same time!

I'll open up myself for PM or mail so feel free to drop me a line if you're serious about visiting and want some tips from one of the few people here thats not invested with any business interests here. Now is low season so prices are much cheaper.