YY's Travelogue

It has always been at the top of our beach vacations bucket list to visit this island - Boracay.

Getting to Boracay from Malaysia was not an easy journey before Air Asia launched a direct route to Kalibo in February 2014. We managed to get our two-ways flight tickets at RM138 net (inclusive of all taxes) per person during their free seat promotions.

How many days to stay in Boracay?

If you are looking for a chillax trip, 6 days is just nice. You might be thinking, it is just an island, why do I need to spend so many days there - you will be surprised!

First, you have to bare in mind that getting to Boracay is not an easy journey (scroll down and you will know why) and the same applies to getting out from the island. Basically, you have to budget two days for travelling time.

For the first day, our flight is at 10am in the morning and we reached the hotel at around 8pm at night. There was not much variety of food along the way to Boracay island, we were starving by the time we reached hotel. Morale of the story, remember to have your lunch in flight!

For the last day, our flight is at 3.15pm but hotel staff advised us to leave the hotel at 9.30am. You will get to enjoy your breakfast by the beach before you say bye-bye to the wonderland.

How to get to Boracay?

Malaysia --> Carticlan or Kalibo airport --> Carticlan Jetty Port --> Boracay Island

Malaysia --> Carticlan or Kalibo airport

You can choose to land at either Carticlan or Kalibo airport. It takes 5 minutes for you to travel from Carticlan airport to Carticlan Jetty Port.

However, the transit time from Kalibo airport to Carticlan Jetty Port takes about 80 minutes.

Carticlan airport is an extremely small domestic airport, only aircraft that holds 60 seats and below can land at the airport. So, most of the airlines land at Kalibo airport (included Air Asia). Direct flight from Malaysia to Kalibo airport takes around 3 hours and 55 minutes.

Kalibo Airport --> Carticlan Jetty Port --> Boracay Island

When you walk out from the airport main entrance, look out for Southwest. They provide door-to-door service which means they will send you right to the front door of your hotel and they even help you to carry your luggage to the your hotel reception.

The total fees is PHP 525 which includes Terminal (PHP 75) and Environmental fees (PHP 100). Our first stay is at Spider House, quite a distance from the common Station 1, 2, 3 resorts, so we have to pay an additional PHP25.

I did a quick check, the fees stated on their website is more expensive, so I would advise you to just buy at the booth. The only one setback of this service is that they cater for many tourists at one go. So, you have to be prepared to wait.

#Tips: Beware of the porters at the port, they will reach for your luggages before asking and help you to carry it to the boat, you are expected to tip them, standard rate is PHP20 per bag.

Accommodations - Where to stay in Boracay?

1. Spider House

Bamboo house built at the cliff top - this is where we stayed for the first two nights at Boracay. We were so glad with our stay at Spider House, the view of the sea from our open concept room is spectacular and you can dive into the sea anytime from the deck at the restaurant & bar area.

Check out their website for more info - Spider House.

Floating bamboo in the middle of the sea

#Location: Dinwind Beach
#Roomtype: Bamboo queen with sea view
#Price: RM350.43 per night

2. Watercolours Resort & Dive Centre

Watercolours is actually a dive centre but they built a resort at this dive centre located at Station 1. The watercolours was newly refurbished and everything was so new and clean when we were there.

Sea-view facing room, Station 1 beachfront, nicely renovated new room, free breakfast on the beach, friendly staff, perfect location, RM200+ per night - what more can you ask for?

We were so lucky that we found this deal on Agoda! You can check out their website too - Watercolours.

#Location: Staion 1, White Beach
#Roomtype: Beachfront, 1st floor room
#Price: RM226.78 per night, included breakfast

Activities - What to do at Boracay?

1. ATV Ride

Ride your way up to Mt. Luho and enjoy the scenic view along the way. The ATV ride package included a visit to Ocean Tower, Happy Dreamland, Sky Cycle and Trick Art Museum.

The only plus point of the entire package is the Ocean Tower where you will get a 360 degrees panoramic view of Boracay. Other than that, other activities were quite a disappointment to us, don't expect too much!

#Price: 1500 pesos for 2 person. You can negotiate for a lower price if you sign up for other water sport activities with the same middleman.

Ocean Tower

Scenic view of Boracay

Sky Cycle - it became very shaky when you start to cycle, we do not recommend this activity, too dangerous!

2. Massage - Palassa Spa

Massage centres can be easily spotted around Boracay, the price range is quite standard and affordable.

One of the well recommended massage centre is Palassa Spa and we were quite satisfied with their service too.

#Location: D'Mall
#Price: 350 Pesos per person

3. Boracay Dive Sites

We managed to explore 3 dives sites (i.e. Angol Point, Balinghai and Camia II Ship Wreck) at Boracay. If time allows, visit the tri-bird plane wreck.

Angol Point - A relatively shallow and calm dive site, you will get to enjoy an easy reef dive at this site. Our dive master managed to captured quite a few incredible macro underwater photos and videos at this site.

Balinghai - Dive in between of two walls running parallel to each other, down to 18metres deep. The current was quite strong at this site and we got to experience drift dive.

Camia II Ship Wreck - A 30 meters-long resident ship wreck sank in 2001, you will get to see a large variety of marine life at this site.

#Location: Watercolours dive centre (Station 1 & Station 3)
#Price: 1700 Pesos per dive

Angol Point

Camia II Ship Wreck

4. Cliff dive at Ariel's Point

If you are the adventurous kind of person, your visit to Boracay is incomplete without making a day trip to Ariel's Point. Once you get on the boat, the party is on! Free flow of alcohol, loud party songs, people start dancing and you will get to make friends with travellers from different countries.

Purchase your ticket online (Ariel's Point website) or register in person at Ariel's House at Station 1. Remember to book in advance to avoid disappointment.

#Tips: Do not go through any middleman, they will most probably bring you to Magic Island, a newly discovered cliff dive sites. Don't get conned by them!
#Warning: Play at your own risk! I injured my coccyx area due to incorrect landing position.
#Price: 2000 Pesos