Discover Guimaras| Ilo-Ilo City Sidetrip

We arrived at the airport past 5am since we took the earliest flight to Ilo-Ilo.It was raining hard for the past few days in Manila because of typhoon Falcon, and were so glad to see the sun (thanks Bro!)

Straight from the airport, there were vans and cabs available. The plan was to go directly to Guimaras so we took a van to Ortiz Warf (P500 max of 14pax).

 

From Ortiz warf to Guimaras island, you have to ride a boat like this. Public transport is  P15/pax and travel time was about 15mins. There are also ones that offer private trips for P500.00, a boat like this can accommodate more than 15pax if youre traveling in large groups.

When we arrived at the port, they have a tent there that was designated to assist tourists. Sweet! All their rates were being monitored by the government to avoid over charging. We took a van to Sebaste warf since the resort were going to is in the other side of Guimaras. We got the van for P1000. The vans that they have for rent are kind of old and rusty and the travel time is for only 45mins-1hr so that's quite expensive.

van door acting up

 The van dropped us at Sebaste warf, where we've set up transfers with our resort Costa Aguada Resort in Inampulugan Island Guimaras. The resort charged us P600/pax roundtrip for the transfer from Sebaste Warf to Inampulugan Island which later I realized was so expensive since the boat ride is only for 30mins and we have 7 people in the group.(seriously? thats overpricing).

From Sebaste warf you can arrange other trips to get to Inampulugan Island just talk to the bangkeros there and I bet it wouldnt be so expensive.

boat to inampulugan island

 It would take a 15 min ride from the port to the resort. Transfers are free from the resort.

 We got our rooms for P2000/pax for 3days 2 nights inclusive of breakfast, non aircon room. No hot water available though.

 The resort was so big and quiet. They have tennis/badminton/basketball courts and a pool.

the pool

We ordered food from the resort and it was expensive! But the service was great though.

I took a picture of the menu and the food were expensive and the taste couldn't justify the price.Too bad you don't have any other options since you're in an island. The viands is good for one person only.

The island hopping services from the resort is P4200/ trip. Good thing we got a number from a guy we talked to at Sebaste Port. We talked to him for island hopping services and to prepare our food as well. Their boat only costs P2000/trip which is was more cheaper. Here are some pictures from the island hopping.

food, we asked them to prepare adobo/liempo

The beaches in Guimaras is so nice and still untouched. Maybe because the destination is not that famous to tourists. You can see the corals under the waters even on shoulder deep waters. Too bad I didnt bring snorkels because they have good spots for snorkeling.

Theres still enough food for dinner so we hid it in our bags and ate it inside the room since were not supposed to bring food inside the resort.lol

The next day we left Guimaras and headed back to Iloilo City where we will be spending one more night. Before going back to Ilo-Ilo we dropped by the local market and bought pasalubong, but do not spend all your pasalubong money here because there are also pasalubong centers in the city.


we bought pasalubong at the local market

One other thing that we want to check when we travel are the local food and delicacy in that place. We all know that Ilo-Ilo is famous for their La Paz Batchoy so we went to Ted's for a taste.

The term batchoy means a combination of offal such as pork meat, spleen, kidneys and liver that’s why it is the main ingredient of the dish. 

we ate La Paz Batchoy at Teds @Iloilo City

checked in at Westown Hotel

We checked in at Westown Hotel Ilo-Ilo, you can check their rates here. The location of the hotel was really an anvantage since we wanted to check the city and the hotel in Smallville where restaurants and bars were located, much like Timog in Manila.

We decided to chill at the pool and their pool was really nice! I love the lights, it was picture perfect!

 After swimming,  we ate at Crave's Burger, just walking distance from the hotel. Their burger has a thick patty and its soo good=) P170

The next day, we checked out at 12pm and left our bags at the hotel since our flight would be around 6pm, we decided to go out and check the city.

bought pasalubong@ Biscocho Haus, check their butterscotch and Biscocho.So yummy!

PS: Do not forget to buy lots of butter scotch, and I mean lots of it because it was really good. 

We also had lunch at Afriques, Ilo-Ilo, best tasting pizza Ive ever had! Its a must try. Dot not forget to ask for their "super hot" hotsauce.

carbonara from Afriques Pizza near the Hotel

pizza.yum!

so good pepperoni pizza

hot! hot! hot! hot sauce

After lunch we went to SM Ilo-Ilo to watch Transformers to kill time. We headed back to the hotel after the movie to get our things and the hotel offered to send us to the airport (airport transfer for P700). There are also metered taxis available but they usually charge higher if they know your going to the airport.