Explore Simplicity | Batanes Island

HOME OF THE WINDS

We are bound to country’s northernmost and smallest province, also known as one of the top must-visit places in the Philippines that travelers should see. 

Basco Batanes is 2 hrs away from Manila via Plane, however, there are other options to reach the place like land transportation that takes up to 12-14hrs bus ride and a lifetime of boat ride. lol. 

Oh, look at the Airport! Knowing Batanes and their famous stone houses, too cool that they also designed the Airport with this! 

We were welcomed by Kuya Winston, our tour guide. Yes, to those who’s super close to me, I know you find it very weird that I consider getting a tour package for this trip because you know how much I love to organiZe my trips on my own and to make DIY Itineraries. Well, for starters, I’m with my family and I don’t think they afford the inconvenience we will get if we didn’t avail tour packages; Second, my Dad happens to have a friend who’s residing in Batanes and helped us in arranging this trip. 

DAY 1: NORTH BATAN TOUR 

Batanes is composed of three main islands: Batan, Sabtang and Itbayat. Tho they actually have plenty, but only three of those are residential. 

Batan Island is the largest of all. This is also where the Airport is located. Because we arrived early, we wasted no time and proceeded to our tour right after we had our breakfast nearby the Airport. 

VAYANG ROLLING HILLS

A picturesque green meadow on the west side of Basco. These rolling hills has the perfect combination of landscapes and seascapes and what appears to be an endless waves of ocean turquoise water and green grasses. It is just quite windy on the top of the hill that we almost controlled by the wind! 

Vayang Rolling hills is the nearest site within Basco where the three major island municipalities (Batan, Sabtang and Itbayat) can be viewed, all at once. It is also an overlook for everyone especially for nature lovers. 

BASCO LIGHTHOUSE & NAIDI HILLS 

Batanes has plenty of lighthouse but this one is the most popular landmark of Basco. This lighthouse is located at Naidi Hills. There’s not much of a view when you go upstairs but the lighthouse itself is stunning. Did I ever mentioned before that I love visiting old places like lighthouse? If I haven’t yet, let me tell you that I do! 

CASA REAL and STO. DOMINGO CHURCH

Casa Real is the Provincial Capitol of Batanes. It is also called the “Kilometer 0” and is situated in San Antonio Basco. 

One of the oldest church in Batanes. Sto. Domingo Church is such a beautiful church whether on the outside or inside. Located at Ihubok II Basco, five minutes aways from Casa Real.

VALUGAN BOULDER BEACH 

This beach is the home of huge waves and boulders. The sound of it are creating a very relaxing rhythm of nature. These are the kind of places that your eyes, ears and inner soul will thank you for. 

JAPANESE TUNNEL

Five minutes away from Valugan, we’ve reached this very historic Japanese Tunnel. A hundred meter passageway made by the Filipinos during the Japanese Invasion and now became one of their tourist spot because it is still accessible and passable despite the years passed. 

PAGASA WEATHER STATION

Of course, we couldn’t missed the weather station built here in Batanes. Unfortunately, the main satellite that they used to detect typhoons have been wrecked by thunder. Nevertheless, the station is still operating and could detect simple wind patters and low pressures. 

BLUE LAGOON

Stopped by the lagoon where Priest used to swim and only the priest, no other ivatan allowed to swim because they believe that the lagoon is too divine for normal people. 

We had a quick feet dipping at the nearest beach. Batanes is surely the place for paradise-like-beaches but if you’re the type of person who enjoys water activity like a simple swim at the beach, then these beaches with huge waves aren’t for you. 

DAY 2 : SABTANG ISLAND TOUR 

It’s a one hour bumpy boat ride to reach the island of Sabtang which is said to be Batanes’ living museum. 

TINYAN VIEWPOINT 

Our first destination is in Chavayan. We first set foot in Tinyan Viewpoint.

 It has beautiful views of rock formations and ocean complementing the green field with a wide sky full of clouds and the wind is just so refreshing! When you thought you cannot have these views rolled in one place but you actually can! 

CHAVAYAN VILLAGE 

Chavayan Village is just one of many villages here in Sabtang where stone houses are still in shape. Batanes is the most typhoon-prone area in the Philippine and because of that, Ivatans made a way to secure their safety by constructing a stronger shelter and those are the stone houses. 

Some of stone houses here are decadelong home of Ivatans and it is something to be proud of being a filipino, the creativity, skills and practicality we are showing to the world that no matter how strong the storm that will come, we will always find ways to protect each other especially our families. Kudos, Ivatans!!

We didn’t waste the chance to become one of them, of course! You wouldn’t want to leave Batanes without the experience of wearing their very famous sun and rain shield, their own kind of umbrella. These are dry leaves made coat called Tadidi for women and Vakul of men. It is surprisingly heavy and thick, perfect for any kind of weather either rainy or sunny days, they said. 

Walking around stone house village while wearing this traditional suit, bumping with old Ivatans, feeling the cold breeze and a view of mountain at the end,one hell of experience, indeed! 

MALAKDANG 

Are you tired of browsing blog with nothing but beautiful views only? Let me give you some extreme adventure (Well, at least for me). 

Malakdang Sabtang is where you can witness the best view and ride of your life. It offers a 2km zipline ride from the top to the bottom end where we are supposed to have our lunch. Kinda scary because of the winds but we still did it nevertheless. It gave us an aerial point of view that touches our heart.

 It was Daddy’s first zipline experience and couldn’t be any happier for our little adventurous brother seeing him very excited and frightened at the same time. 

MORONG BEACH
 and 
AHAW NATURAL LIMESTONE ARC FORMATION

As I’ve said, we had our sumptuous lunch at the end point of zip line and had our feet-dipping on the white sand beach nearby where you can also glance at Ahaw Natural Limestone Arc Formation just beside the beach. One ideal kind of white sand beach except that waves are huge, as expected. 

We quickly head back to the port because we have a boat ride to catch on time and we don’t want to stay any longer in Sabtang Island because the waves are starting to get aggressive that will surely make a tough ride back to Batan. 

SOUTH BATAN TOUR

OLD SPANISH BRIDGE and HOUSE OF DAKAY 


Back to Batan island, we waste no time and continued our tour to South Batan. Our first destination is in Ivana where our homestay is located. 
We take a look at the old Spanish Bridge and then in front of it is the house of Dakay, the oldest stone house in Batanes which is still in shape despite the numerous typhoons and storms.

HONESTY STORE/COFFEE SHOP 

Five minutes away from Old Spanish Bridge and House of Dakay is where you can find the famous Honesty Store. The shop is owned by an old woman and it all started when she was in her thirties. She used to be a teacher back then and all she wanted is to serve water for the voyagers from the island of Sabtang since her place is nearby the port. As the time goes by, the simple water station is suddenly serving hot water, coffee and sugar as well as stove for those who wants to cook meals and because she’s teaching everyday, she would usually return at noontime to make sure there’s still enough supply of food and collect whatever was left as payment. 

This shop has passed the test of time serving all the good people who happen to drop by. Indeed, honest people deserve to stay a while and try a cup of coffee. It is now a self service store where you are free to browse and purchase items that are for sale. There are literally no shopkeepers to serve and take the payments so you have to drop the exact amount of your payment inside the box. Isn’t it amazing? Truly, this store or even the entire province of Batanes is too small for dishonest people.

ALAPAD HILLS ROCK FORMATION 

Roads of Batanes is definitely one of my favourite roads where you can see the panoramic view of its stunning and very cinematic ocean while on the other side are greenery hills dotted cows almost everywhere. 

This very unique road in Alapad is undeniably worth a pull over. It’s in between amazing rocks  and offers tourist a chance to have a photo-op with their trademark “Blow UR horn” signage. On its left side, you also do an easy trek on the hills to witness the majestic view of Alapad Rock formations. 

MARLBORO COUNTRY 

Our next destination is Racuh a Payaman also known as Marlboro Country because of its plain long and wide green field at the top of the hills overlooking the ocean like what we usually seen on the commercials and calendar cover of a cigarette brand which is named after it. This is the kind of place where the only thing you should do is to sit and stare and the moment suddenly feels so perfect. 

TAYID LIGHTHOUSE 

Another stunning lighthouse but compare to Basco lighthouse, this one is quite smaller, simpler and beautifuler. It’s surrounded by bunch of stray cows munching grasses and dogs which apparently keeping an eye on the lighthouse while their owner isn’t around. 

FUNDACION PACITA 

We had our early dinner in Region II’s one and only three star hotel and also a foundation owned by Madam Pacita that benefits the Ivatan Fine Arts Students. It is located at the edge cliff of the hill and its peacefulness and relaxing ambiance is what their guest are paying for. 

We were so lucky, as a normal tourist, to be able to enter this place and have our meal even though we aren’t one of their guests. 

DAY 3: DEPARTURE DAY
MAHATAO SHELTER PORT

It’s our day of flight back to Manila! But before we head back directly to the Airport, we stopped by at Mahatao Shelter Port. A port made to protect boats from heavy waves and winds caused by storms that might destroy them. 

Batanes, a group of island that is located approximately 162 kms north of the Luzon Mainland and about 190kms south of Taiwan, says Wikipedia. Its simplicity is what makes it unique and beautiful. The ideal place we are all looking for as a breather from our everyday life. You will suddenly realised how lucky you are to just simply be here for once in your life. A total in awe of its paradise-like places and I have absolutely nothing but kind words for the entire province. Their value to one another and to nature. How life here is much simpler but exploding with satisfactions. Giving us the freedom to enjoy simple pleasures in life, to be with God’s finest creations and to discover new things or learnings. From the history and heritages to their transportation and economy. It’s like nothing could go wrong here except for a fact that this place is very exposed to typhoons. 

Leaving Batanes could be so hard not only because of the attachment and love you’ll feel for the place but literally difficult to depart especially when you cannot predict the pattern of the winds that will leave you no choice but to wait for the absence of low pressure. Nevertheless, it added a little spice to our sweet escapade.

Kapian kapa nu Dius, Batanes! 

Another trip to remember with family, things to ticked-off my bucketlist and vacation that contributes to our tourism. We should remember that these places, not only in Batanes, but in every destinations that we will visit are not only made to be seen and experience but worth to be protected. We must not treat them as temporary places just to release our stress or to hang out with friends, because as far as we’re concern, every corner of the earth is ours. It doesn’t seek for attention and doesn’t demand fame but a little respect and love from all of us, people. Let’s keep that in our mind whenever we’re up to a great adventure somewhere else before it suddenly vanished and it’s too late to realized that we had everything but we choose to decline. 

Be thankful, be grateful..

Throw problems instead of trash..

Appreciate more, complain less..

Life’s a beach,

And we’re the little shells playing in the shores..

When big waves comes,

just go with the flow. 

Journeying rochel, the return. 

Thank you for browsing!