Bacolod-Guimaras-Iloilo

Have you ever tasted La Paz Batchoy in Iloilo? Explore the island of Guimaras and taste its sweetest mango? How about a trip to the city of smiles and experience the fine white sands of Lakawon. If not, here's a travel guide and itinerary that can help you out! 

I always see Lakawon Island all over the internet. When I saw a promo fare, I didn't let it go. :) I got our airfare for only 3700 roundtrip for 2 persons. :) We went during the last few days of summer, end of May. It was still a perfect time to go to Bacolod at that time. 

HOW TO GET THERE:
FROM MANILA/CEBU- ILOILO 
Air and sea travel are available from Manila/Cebu to Iloilo. Direct flights from NAIA/Mactan-Cebu International Airport to Iloilo International Airport is around 45 minutes. Taking a ferry is much longer. From Manila to Iloilo, it is around 22 hours and 14 hours From Cebu
  • By air, PAL, Cebu Pacific, CebGo and AirAsia have Manila/Cebu to Iloilo flights. Cebu Pacific and AirAsia usually have promo flights that are cheaper.
  • In Iloilo Airport, there are shuttles that you can ride to the city proper/SM Iloilo for PhP 50.00 or cab that can take you directly to your accommodation for PhP 300.00.

FROM MANILA/CEBU/ILOILO - BACOLOD
Bacolod is accessible by air travel from Manila and Cebu and sea travel is available from Manila, Cebu, and Iloilo. It's a 45-minute flight from Manila and 30-minute flight from Cebu. Sea travel from Manila is around 21 hours. Land travel is also an option when coming from Cebu. For Iloilo, it is around an hour ferry ride.
  • For air travel, Major airlines mentioned above have flights to Bacolod. The airport is located in Silay City, 15-20 minutes away from Bacolod City. 
  • By land travel from Cebu, you can take a Ceres bus bound to Bacolod.
  • Fast crafts have routes from Iloilo to Bacolod vice versa.

FROM ILOILO/BACOLOD - GUIMARAS 
Guimaras island is between the island of Panay and Negros. The only way to get to the island is via sea travel from Iloilo and Bacolod since there are no commercial flights available here.
  • From Iloilo, go to Parola/Ortiz Wharf then take a boat ride to Guimaras. The boat fare is PhP 14.00 per person and travel time is around 15 minutes.
  • From Bacolod, go to Pulupandan Wharf then take a pump boat to San Lorenzo, Guimaras. Travel time is around 45 minutes and the fare is PhP 75.00.


So let me share you our itinerary. We came at around 1pm. We immediately checked in our hotel. We stayed in The Suites at Calle Nueva. It is a laid back hotel that offers mediterranean dining, a terrace and free breakfast. Yup, we did enjoyed their free breakfast for 4 days!

We started our day in Bacolod by checking in our hotel then eating in Manokan Country near the SM. It was so cheap and of course super good! Legit Bacolod inasal! You better eat it using your bare hands. :)


We headed to "The Ruins".  Since we came in late in Bacolod we don't want to waste any minute of it! We need to have an activity! :)


It was indeed quite a sight. It was so simple but so pretty!
I loved it!


I can't help but take a lot of photos there. 


It was already 4pm when we left the Ruins. After this, we headed to the nearest talipapa Market to buy some food for dinner.

Day 2 was meant for some beach trip. So we decided to cross going to Guimaras since its just a ferry way from Bacolod. You can take a fast ferry that goes  It was a long habal ride from the Port but it was all worth it. I swear Guimaras is one amazing island also!

From Bacolod, go to Pulupandan Wharf then take a pump boat to San Lorenzo, Guimaras.


People there will ask you to ride a tricycle, but it was 500 pesos per person, so we opted to be on the cheaper but adventurous one. We rode this habal habal for only 300 pesos. It was a little far going to Raymen Beach Resort. From that resort, they arranged our island hopping experience. We opted to go  private on our boat, so we don't have to bother a lot of people, because we really get annoying when we take photos and just so we have all the time for ourselves and no one will complain if we move fast or slow during the island hopping. 



1st stop was AVE MARIA ISLAND. It was a small gem, but it was amazing! I wish I brought my mermaid tail with me. 

My weird toes!


2nd stop was NAGTAGO ISLAND. It was also pretty! And oh, the water was so clear. 



After Guimaras, we headed to Iloilo to meet up with Aloy's friend! We just ate some batchoy there! :) We actually don't have much time, but it was okay because we're still planning to go and visit Iloilo alone. :) 

I'm a beach person, so we planned to stay the whole day in Lakawon Island. We didn't go there overnight but it was already worth it. So Day 3 was all about getting some sun out there! I swear Lakawon is the place to be! :)

That perfect place to chill.

Maldives ba kamo? Nope, that's just in Lakawon! Now they offer seaplanes from Bacolod!


Bean bags everywhere! Actually when we went here there was a party the day before. But look! We went here on a monday and we got the place all to ourselves! Sippin' some margarita on the floating bar! It can't get any perfect!

 At around 4pm, there's quite a few number of millennial with us, taking photos, enjoying the view, and dancing on the dancefloor. The boat moved us into the different side of the island, it was amazing and it was so pretty! :)

Enjoying the view. 


I CAN STAY HERE ALL DAY!

I really got so dark because of this. 

Afternoon siesta with a view. 


You can also enjoy water trampoline and bobber. But I only tried the trampoline because I'm scared to be thrown away in the ocean. HAHA! :)

Awra muna si bes!

Every spot was instagrammable.

Of course if you want to roam around the island, you can leave Tawhai or the floating bar. They have a restaurant and a lot more of instagrammable spots! :)

Like this swing! It looks like from a postcard! 


We had dinner in Aboy's Bacolod. It was so good I promise!
Some of our personal favorites: squid fats and scallops! :)

Day 4 was meant for some trekking, bathing in sulfur water and going home :(

Mambukal was so big! You can freely roam around and experience nature! We went to the 6th and 7th waterfalls.

I was trek ready! :)

7th waterfalls! I use to climb mountains before but now, I EASILY GET TIRED! :)) But it was fun! 

This is the sulfur hot spring. It was so hot, like literally, we came from a cold waterfall trek then this hot. But you know, the water from this came from Mt. Kanlaon. It was really boiling and they said that its good for the skin and some sickness. When we went there, a lot of grannies were there and they were so cute, the hot water didn't bother them from soaking their whole body on the hot spring. It took me like 30 mins to sit like this. :)



I'll share our expenses with you guys. We never travelled expensively. We always seek for cheap ones. A s much as possible we go for more adventures and cheap hotels. But yeah, we always do research before we go. :) It was still a bit expensive, but yeah, there's nothing cheap nowadays! And the experience was all worth it!

Day 1
Shuttle (airport to bacolod) - 300(2pax)
Hotel - 3000(day 1 & 2)
Lunch - 300
Taxi to Ruins - 150
Ruins Entrance -200(2pax)
Tric to palapala - 150
Dinner - 270
Paluto - 265
Tric - 100 
= 4885

Day 2
Bus - 52(2pax)
Jeep - 14(2pax)
Tric - 66(2pax)
Ferry to Guimaras - 200(2pax)
Habal - 300
Island hopping - 675(2hrs)
Snack - 106
Tric - 300
Boat to iloilo - 28(2pax)
Ferry back to bacolod - 500(2pax)
Jeep - 16(2pax)
Cab - 100
Batchoy - 465(2pax)
Cab - 100
Terminal fee - 60 (2pax)
Snack - 55
Colgate plax - 29
= 3066

Day 3
Water - 70
Cab - 100
Bus to lakawon - 200(2pax)
Tric - 80
Lakawon boat and entrance - 560(2pax roundtrip)
Tawhai entrance - 500(2pax)
Lunch - 400
Drinks - 285
Tric back - 120(2pax)
Bus back to bacolod - 200(2pax)
Jeep - 31
Dinner - 595
Taxi - 80
Others - 45
=3266

Day 4
Hotel - 1500
Jeep - 18
Bus fare to mambukal - 70(2pax)

This is our 4-day, 3-night itinerary for our Bacolod-Guimaras-Iloilo trip. The activities included on our trip can be pushed to a 3-day itinerary, but since we wanted to spend the whole day in Lakawon and wanted to visit 3 cities in on time.

    • Day 1 - Hello Bacolod!
    • 01:25 PM - ETA Iloilo International Airport
    • 2:30 AM - Check-in to hotel (45 minutes to 1-hour ride from airport to city proper)
    • 2:50 NN - Lunch at Manokan Country Restaurant 
    • 03:00 PM - The Ruins!
    • 6:00 PM - Dinner at the Talipapa seafood fresh palate
    • 08:00 PM - Back to hotel/inn
  • Day 2 - Explore the island of Guimaras!
    • 06:00 AM - Wake up call/Breakfast at our hotel
    • 09:00 AM - ETA Guimaras Port 
    • 10:00 AM - ETA Guimaras/Register at tourist information center
    • 11:00 AM - Guimaras Island Tour! (Ave Maria Island and Nagtago island)
    • 04:00 PM - Off to Iloilo for some La Paz batchoy
    • 6:00 PM - Back to Bacolod City Proper
  • Day 3 - Lakawon Island
    • 06:30 AM - Wake up call/breakfast
    • 06:00 PM - Check-in to hotel/Dinner 
  • Day 4 - Mambukal Waterfalls and Going Home :(
    • 06:00 AM - Wakeup call/Breakfast
    • 06:30 AM - ETD Bacolod to Murcia (travel time is around an hour or more)
    • 08:-- AM - Hike the waterfalls of Mambukal Resort
    • 12:00 NN - Lunch/Go back to Bacolod
    • 01:30 PM - Prepare and pack up 
    • 02:00 PM - Buy Pasalubong!
    • 4: 00 PM - Back to the airport

Thanks for reading!
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