Batanes: South Batan Island Tour

Batanes, the northernmost province of the Philippines, has been on my bucket list for years. Referred to as “the Home of the Winds” because of its cool and windy weather, Batanes offers a unique blend of breathtaking scenery, natural attractions and well-preserved culture. It’s the only province in the country that’s been declared in its entirety as a protected Landscape and Seascape. You could spend days here and not get tired of the views.

marlboro country batanes
Since I was traveling solo, I was advised to join a group tour to save on costs. The package tour includes the transportation (van) ensuring a comfortable ride, lunch at a nice restaurant, and a guide to take us to all the main sites in the South of Batan, the mainland of Batanes. If you’re in a big group, this is the best option, since the costs per person go down the bigger the group is. If you’re a solo traveler, it’s easy enough to hook up with other people doing tours and tag along. I joined up with backpacking couple Natz & Bona, office mates Cel & Miguel (of Go Miguel Go!), solo travelers Mary Sel and Paula, and tour guide Ryan (Discover Batanes). Nice meeting you, guys!

Here’s a look at some of the sights that we got to visit during the South Batan Island Tour.

chawa view deck batanes

The first stop was Chawa View Deck located along the steep mountainside heading out of Basco and on the way to Mahatao. At the top is a grotto of the Virgin Mary and a few benches where you can sit and just admire the view. This spot is ideal for watching the sunset since it faces the South China Sea. From the viewdeck, you can climb down more than 100 steps leading to a small rocky coast below. Climbing back up is quite a workout.

blow ur horn sign batanes

While driving around the roads of Batan island, we noticed a lot of yellow “Blow Ur Horn” signs painted on stone markers which signal blind spots in the coastal road. According to our tour guide Ryan, these signs existed long before text lingo became popular. They’ve sort of become a tourist icon as well.

mahatao boat shelter port batanes

Next, we stopped by the Mahatao Boat Shelter Port, a small port where small fishing vessels and motorboats dock during bad weather. Fishing is one of the main industries in Batanes, and the boat port was built to support the industry as well as to provide jobs to locals. At least, that’s what it says on the marker right by the site. There were lots of small rickety old fishing boats docked here which make for good photo ops.

mahatao boat shelter port batanes boat

From there, we headed to the town of Mahatao, which is just six kilometers south of Basco. At the center of their town is the San Carlos Borromeo Church, built in 1873 A.D. by Onesimo Polo using limestone for wall and cogon roofing. The church was declared by the National Museum and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts as one of 26 churches in the Philippines recognized as cultural icons.

mahatao church batanes

Right next to the church is Maywang A Libro Du Vatan (Batanes Blank Book Archive), a small mini-library that contains shelves of bound blank books for guests to write in.

spaniard's blue lagoon batanes

Along the road, we passed by the Spaniard’s Blue Lagoon. It’s called as such because during the Spanish Colonial times, only the Spaniards were allowed to swim here. But now, it’s open to all guests for swimming and picnics. I’m not sure where the path going down is, but the water looked really inviting. Too bad we didn’t have time to take a dip. Since the weather was really windy and cold and none of us brought swimming gear, we just contented ourselves with more photo ops from the top.

white beach batanes

We stopped at a beautiful cove with white sand and a great view of Mt. Iraya in the distance. This beach is located along the national highway between Mahatao and Ivana. If you’re not on a tour, this would be another great place for a swim or picnic.

white beach batanes view

The great thing about Batanes is that there are so many scenic views right by the side of the road. The province is hilly and mountainous, with the national highway carved into the side of the cliffs. Their coastal roads are the most scenic I’ve seen in the country and you can’t help but just want to stop and admire the view.

national highway batanes

For lunch, we stopped at Vatang Grill and Restaurant, a stone restaurant by the roadside in the town of Ivana that caters to tourists. The restaurant serves Ivatan cuisine and is located right in front of a quiet beach, where you can see fishermen going about their work.

vatang grill and restaurant batanes

We tried the venes, a local vegetable dish made of minced gabi stalks (a type of root crop) that tasted like Bicol’s laing, without the coconut milk or spicy flavor. Our main viand was cuttlefish, which had the same consistency and taste as squid. We also had Brown Rice and Yellow Rice (rice cooked and sauteed in garlic, slices of turmeric pulp and pork), which is a specialty in Batanes. The best dish was the Fish Lumpia, a fried spring roll filled with dibang or flying fish, which was quite flavorful.

vatang grill & restaurant batanes - fish lumpia, yellow rice, venes, cuttlefish

L-R: Fish lumpia, yellow rice, venes, cuttlefish

After lunch we stopped by some tourist spots in the town of Ivana. We passed by the Spanish Bridge, an old stone bridge built during the Spanish period that is still being used today. Then, we made our way to the House of Estrella, or more popularly known as the House of Dakay after its original inheritor Jose “Dakay” Estrella. The house originally built in 1877 for Luisa Estrella (Dakay’s spinster aunt), through the bayanihan (voluntourism) system, this stone house is said to the oldest surviving house in town, after an 8.3 magnitude earthquake leveled the town to the ground on 13 September 1918.

house of dakay batanes

Miguel enjoys a cup of Nescafe at the House of Dakay. Hanep sa props!

While four other houses survived the quake, they eventually gave way to newer structures, leaving the House of Dakay as the lone survivor in its original form. All original Ivatan households built during the Spanish colonial times are actually composed of several houses, since the kitchen and comfort room are built separately a few steps away from the main living quarters. The  roof is made of thatched cogon grass and is replaced every 25 to 30 years, depending on the thickness.

house of dakay 02 batanes

Another famous attraction in Ivana is Honesty Coffee Shop, a small unmanned store which is left open for anyone to buy whatever they need from it. All items, like souvenir shirts, coffee, snacks and candies are labelled with their prices, and visitors drop their payment into a donation box and list down what they bought in a ledger. The store has items like the vakul (traditional Ivatan headdress) on display here if you want to take a souvenir photo (P20/picture taking fee).

honesty coffee shop batanes

Paula posing with a vakul at Honesty Store

Our next stop was the Ruins of Songsong in the town of Uyugan, located in the
southeast corner of Batan Island. Along the road to Itbud are ruins of an old settlement that was ravaged by a tsunami in 1953 and 1954. From the beach, you can get a view of the coastal road going up the hill.

ruins of songsong batanes

One of the most scenic roads in Batan Island has got to be the Imnajbu Road Cliffs with a view of the Alapad Rock Formations. Alapad offers a really great view of a hill curved by wind, rain and time. The town of Imnajbu is rugged, with ranges of rocky hills stretching from Itbud to the south and Mahatao to the North.

alapad rock formations batanes

imnajbu road cliffs batanes

The highlight of the trip was one of our last stops: Racuh a Payaman or more popularly known as Marlboro Country. With rolling hills, animals grazing on the pasturelands, the view of the vast blue sea and mountains and a lighthouse in the distance nestled within hedgerows, this has got to be one of the most perfect views I’ve seen in the country. In the next two days, I found myself going back there again to just sit and admire the view.

marlboro country batanes 01 marlboro country batanes 02 marlboro country batanes 03 marlboro country batanes 04
marlboro country batanes 05

group shot at marlboro country batanes

Souvenir jump shot. Paula, me, Cel, Miguel, Bona and Mary Sel (photo by Ryan)

We really didn’t want to leave, but we had a couple of stops left to visit. We stopped by the Diura Fishing Village, a sleepy village in the eastern part of Mahatao town where fishermen still practice the traditional fishing for Arayu (dorado). This village offers a good view of the Pacific ocean and Mt. Iraya. From the shore, you can get a glimpse of the Tayid Lighthouse atop a hill, which was our last stop before heading back to Basco.

diura fishing village batanes

Built only recently in 2000, the Tayid Lighthouse in Mahatao offers another great view of the Pacific Ocean well as the other part of the Batan Island and its rugged mountains cliffs facing the South China Sea. Apparently, it’s different from the original Mahatao Lighthouse built in the 1700s. At the back of the lighthouse was  a small pasture where cows were grazing.

tayid lighthouse mahtao batanes

There was a motorcycle parked right in front of the lighthouse, which others in the group asked to hide at the back so that we could get clean shots. Back in the van, as we looked at each others photos and talked about plans for the next few days and which tours to take, I decided that I really needed to explore the island by motorcycle.

NEXT POST: Motorcycling around Batanes

tayid ligthouse mahatao batanes motorcycle

MORE PHOTOS HERE

USEFUL INFORMATION:

  • For tours, contact Ryan Cardona of Discover Batanes (http://www.discoverbatanes.com/)
  • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/batanestravelguide
  • Mobile numbers: Smart: 09192795963, Globe: 09158034582
  • Email ryan.batanes@gmail.com

23 thoughts on “Batanes: South Batan Island Tour”

  1. Well written summary of our Batanes Tour, Kara. Thanks for taking me back to Batanes through your blog. Mavid Batanes! Mirupirwa tana, Kara!!!

  2. Hi guys, I am a proud Ivatan living in Manila and It feels so great to hear from you guys that you did enjoyed staying in Batanes. I am doing a research paper and study about the tourism in Batanes as part of my thesis and I would like to use some of your pictures for presentation. thank you in advance and thank you as well for appreciating the beauty of my hometown. I suggest that the next time you visit Batanes, you must see the Sabtang Island.

  3. Hi Issa. Batanes is really one of the most beautiful places I’ve been to in the country. We did get to visit Sabtang Island and it was amazing as well. Will be posting an album on Facebook this week. Hope I can visit Itbayat next time. Better quality photos here. Good luck on your thesis and presentation! 🙂

  4. Hi! I’m planning to go to Batanes this coming March.
    How can I contact Ryan, the tour guide so that I can join his group tour since I’m going there alone.
    thanks in advance 🙂

  5. Just got back from Batanes and the South Batanes Tour is awesome!!! Done the tour via tricycle but hoping to do some cycling the next time we go there. Haven’t tried eating at the Vatang Grill for we’ve had a very heavy breakfast back in Basco before we’ve headed out south,

  6. Hi. My son and I were in Batanes in April. It was in our bucket list for the longest time. I finally decided it was time to go while my joints do not yet feel arthritic pains. I cried at how beautiful the place is. The people are so warm and friendly. We also enjoyed the company of our guides Paolo and Meryl. When we left me and my son agreed Batanes is still not off the bucket list. It will only be so after the 2nd or 3rd trip. Reading your piece was like being in Batanes all aver again. Thank you!

  7. Hi Del, I feel the same way about Batanes too. The beauty of the place just makes you want to cry and rejoice at the same time 🙂 I recently went back to Batanes and this time I made sure to go to Itbayat. It’s really such an inspiring and amazing place! Thanks for taking the time to leave a note here and share your experience.

  8. anyone, going to batanes on August 22-24., 2014. pero priority ko ang umakyat sa mt iraya and then tour na.
    -jp pineda
    09177213861.

  9. Hello! Have booked a flight to Batanes this Aug 2015 however havent read much that it is the rainy season. I’m a bit worried we won’t be able to see how beautiful this place is due to bad weather. We can just hope we get to see the beauty of Batanes even for a day. Thanks for this blog!

  10. Hi,is it ok if we find and look for tour and stay in package when we arrive and get there?
    Is there ATM machines available and working?

  11. It’s better to bring enough cash because there’s only one ATM in Batan Island. There are none in Sabtang or Itbayat. It might be hard to find a place to stay during peak season, so it’s better if you arrange everything beforehand. I recommend BISUMI Tours.For Inquiries and Reservations: Contact – Smart: +63 919.279.5963; +63 998 889 8078, Globe: +63 915.803.4582; + 63 977 850 9647, ryan.batanes@gmail.com, bisumitours@gmail.com. http://www.discoverbatanes.com.

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