Batanes

My friends and I are dreaming of going to Basco, Batanes this year. It's the capital municipality of Batanes, located in one of the northernmost islands in the Philippines. With the stressful life in Manila, you can't avoid the urge to go somewhere far from the heavy traffic and pollution.

Since we're not really that geographically inclined, we immediately started our research on how we could go to this beautiful place. We initially found out that Cebu Pacific and PAL have no flights to Batanes. Another thing that we discovered is the pretty expensive fare. We tried to look for more options for a less expensive travel. We thought of taking the flight from Manila to Laoag because it's cheaper, and we're also excited to see Ilocos, unfortunately from Laoag to Basco via Chemtrad is not that economical either. We came into the conclusion that the flight via Sea Air from Manila to Basco is still the better option.

Another important thing that came into our discussion is the date to travel. We could not go there this summer because there are a lot of things to do at work, and some of us have already had vacation plans. We just started laughing when I suggested to go there on a rainy season. I bet nobody wants to experience the typhoons.

Anyway, until now we haven't completed our plans yet. But let me just share some of the things I came across in my search of Basco, Batanes.

How to go there:

Southeast Asian Airlines (SEAIR)
Flight Schedule: Saturday/Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday
For updated Seair flight schedule, please click here.

Travel time: (Manila - Basco) around 1 hour & 20 minutes

Distance from Manila: 860 km.
Distance from Taiwan: 190 km.

Tips when travelling to Batanes:

1. Bring enough cash because credit cards are not accepted. It's also important to convert your dollars to local currencies while in Manila. Keep in mind that flights may be canceled or rescheduled due a bad weather.

2. You'll encounter a lot of walking and trekking, so you should bring comfortable clothes and shoes.

3. Electricity switches off at midnight. Bring a flashlight with extra batteries.

4. Bring your personal things and medicines, flight tickets and identification cards, raincoat and umbrella if you're visiting during a rainy season, and camera with extra films and batteries.

5. Travel lightly. You're only allowed 10-kilos of check-in baggage to and from Batanes. You have to pay for the excess.

6. Help Batanes preserving their environment by keeping your surroundings clean at all times. Dispose your garbage properly.

7. If ever you lose something, like wallets, bags, etc., just go to the radio station (Radyo ng Bayan) to have it announced. Whenever the locals found something, they'd usually bring it to the radio station to be announce as well.

Batanes tour packages