We spent a week on Malapascua Island followed up with another week on Bantayan Island. We didn’t really do much besides eating, swimming, and beach sitting on Bantayan so I don’t have much for a blogpost. I will share some beach pics but mostly would like to share our observations on our first trip to this country, which admittedly was only two weeks, and only 2 areas around Cebu. The Philippines is a big place, and we know that what we experienced certainly doesn’t sum up the entirety of the country. There are a lot of things we really like and some things that we don’t really care for. First, lets look at what we did on Bantayan.
Bantayan Island is much bigger than Malapascua. It has 145,000 people and is about the size of Camano Island in Washington State. We did rent a scooter one day and rode around the whole island in a couple of hours. We visited a mangrove nature park but that didn’t take more than 20 minutes. The island is very pretty, but quite light on “things to see”, which is kinda nice. Besides that, we didn’t really do much except hang out at the pool and the beach at our hotel- The Anika Island Resort. We were about a mile from the town so we would take tuk-tuks (only $1 USD) most days into town for lunch and dinner. We did a lot of walks on the beach watching the fisherman and checking out the sea life at low tide. It was clear water with white sand but it really wasn’t good for snorkeling.
We have some Pros and Cons that we have identified after our limited time in this country. Here we go:
Good – People! The best part about the Philippines is the people. I know people always say that about travel locations but we really believe it here. People on the street were smiling and so many people wanted to talk to us. Sure, some were trying to sell things, but even after we told them we weren’t interested, they still wanted to talk. People really wanted to make sure we were enjoying their country and if they could help us in any way. Everyone called us Sir and Ma’am, which was a little annoying, but is a cultural norm here.
Bad- The Traffic We had to take lots of buses and taxis on Cebu Island during our 5 transit days and we disliked every trip. The road structure is very limited so everyone is squeezed onto a few roads. We rarely saw stoplights or stop signs and I’m not sure people would have paid attention to them anyway. People didn’t seem to follow any rules of the road and did whatever they wanted to get where they wanted to go. And yet, it didn’t feel aggressive, it more felt structureless and chaotic, and slow. We have seen bad road structure and crazy driving in many different places (Panama City, Costa Rica, Mexico City, Hanoi), but I think this might be the worst. (This was primarily true on the island of Cebu – the islands of Malapascua and Bantayan were pretty chill and relaxed for driving).
Good – Food The Philippines definitely has their own cuisine and it takes a bit of getting used to. Our house in Seattle has 3 Filipino restaurants within walking distance that have received James Beard nominations. We ate a lot of good stuff in the Philippines but I don’t think any of it would beat our Seattle Filipino food. But, we did like our Filipino breakfasts with their sweet meats over garlic rice. We enjoyed the chicken adobo, the Lechon Kawali, fried chicken, and a lot of fresh seafood. Filipino food is not our favorite but we were always excited to try the new dishes. And we also ate a lot of good pizza in wood fired ovens, which isn’t Filipino, but it seemed to be everywhere.
Bad – Birds What? How can birds be bad? There just wasn’t many birds! I really thought that we would see tons of new tropical birds on these island. I only found 11 species and 3 of them were new to me. Despite being on small islands, we didn’t see any seagulls or terns. Fishermen were even able to leave small fish drying on racks on the beach, without birds trying to steal a snack. There is not many places in the world where you can leave fish out all day and they wouldn’t be bothered by birds.
Good – Cost Everything was affordable. We splurged and chose a couple of the top resorts on both islands but it was still only $90 per night including breakfast. There were many hotels for less than $50. Transportation was very reasonable for the ferries, buses, vans and taxis that we took. We still couldn’t believe the tuk-tuks we took to town every day on Bantayan. Only $1 each way. Meals were always under $10 each and could be had much cheaper. We couldn’t even find a place to splurge. The best restaurants were still cheaper than McDonalds in the US.
Bad – Animal Welfare On both of these small islands we saw a lot of roosters. Almost every house had a couple of roosters with a leg tied to a roost by a string. This is for cock fighting. We didn’t see any while we were there but it is a major form of entertainment for the islanders. It really surprised us that this sort of thing is still going on in 2025. We also were dismayed to see the amount of stray dogs. We are used to seeing dogs roaming free in Mexico and Central America but the dogs on these islands were a bit different. Many were missing a lot of fur, had open wounds and were just very very skinny. They have vet services on the island but somehow they have not been able to control the dog population so there are a lot of unhealthy dogs.
Good – Nature Both of these islands had world class beaches that were almost empty. All beaches were not just reserved for big hotel properties like you see in many other countries of the world. In fact, there weren’t any big hotels. The beaches belonged to everyone. Malapascua had protected coral for snorkeling and diving, and Bantayan had some huge mangrove forests that were being protected as parks. They are trying to develop these islands as tourist destinations but they are also looking to protect the beautiful nature that is still there.
Bad – Old White Guys This is a tough one because I am a old white guy. We saw a lot of foreign men with Filipino women that were many decades younger. Some even had families and the couple looked very happy together even though there were age gaps. While this isn’t normal in the US, I really shouldn’t knock it if the relationships are working. If the guys are happy and the women are happy, then it is none of my business. But, we also saw a lot of white men who were on the hunt for finding their younger Filipino wife or girlfriend. We saw people in airplanes and expat bars that were on their phones trying to connect with “Hot Asian Women”. These guys that were older than me were trying to meet teenagers. Many of these guys were old, not fit, not groomed, socially awkward and the only thing that seemed to be going for them was their nationality and bank accounts. We even saw someone continue to text a girl after she told him she was only 15. All of this seems so skeevy and I don’t want to be associated with these guys. If I wasn’t sitting next to my wife, I felt like I would be judged as one of the skeevy guys. It made me really uncomfortable. Besides from my fear of being seen as a creepy guy, it really bothered both of us that these guys might be real pedophiles and people are going to get exploited.
Good – Less visited Islands This is our 41st country that we have visited together. Our strategy in almost all new countries is to go see the big ticket items first. We almost always go to the major cities, and major attractions on our first trip. We didn’t do that with the Philippines. Most people want to start with Manila and then go to Palawan and see El Nido, and then maybe Boracay or Bohol. We started with 2 islands that not many Americans go to. We thought if we liked the less visited islands, then we would come back and do the big attractions another time. It worked. We want to come back. We still may give Manila a miss, as big chaotic cities aren’t really our thing, but there is so much more of this country for us to explore.
So did we like the Philippines? If you have read this far, then I think you know. There were some things we didn’t like but overall, we really enjoyed our time here and we are ready to plan another island hopping trip in the near future. We will be back!
Next stop – Da Nang, Vietnam