Boracay

Small 13-room resort in a fusion Asian-Scandinavian style, one minute away from the beach. Salt-water pools.

Villa Lourdes Resort (http://www.villalourdesbo...)

A hilltop private resort above Boat Station 1 with incredible ocean and beach views. Apartments have aircon, hot water, kitchens, cable TV and wifi.

Boracay's first international branded resort. 219 rooms, suites and villas, with 350m of dedicated beach and 12 hectares of grounds.

One minute from the beach.

Northern end of White Beach. Breakfast included.

One of the oldest family-run establishments on the island.

Simple but tastefully-fitted aircon rooms with hot water and cable TV. Fan-cooled cottages, inspired by huts in the Philippine highlands, are also available. Additional features include a commercial arcade, a guest’s lounge and landscaped gardens.

One MGM Boracay Resort Village, +63 2 634 3581 – 83, (http://www.onemgmboracay.com). 88 rooms, two outdoor pools, restaurant, and spa.

A new hotel located right at the heart of station 2.

Located on a hillside, 22 apartments avaialable, with views, a pool, and free shuttle service to and from the hotel.

Nice, basic, aircon room with cable TV and private bathroom runs 2000PHP/night high season.

11-room resort across the road from the beachfront. Sun loungers on the beach, pool, roof deck, spa, complimentary breakfast.

A cozy hotel located at station 1, White Beach. All rooms air conditioned, with hot and cold shower, cable television, patios, minibar, 24-hour Room Service. Newer hotel.

45 bungalows and 55 veranda-equipped hotel rooms.

Accommodation standards vary, with top of the line hotels and resorts to a simple bed rented from a resident. As such, whatever your budget, you could easily find a suitable place to stay. During peak periods such as Holy Week, Christmas and New Year, rooms are more difficult to find and more expensive, so book in advance.

Staying along White Beach gets you closer to the bars, lounging and food, while staying closer to Bulabog beach gives you better access to the popular wind and kite-boarding areas.

A word of warning: Boracay is notorious for travel agents many in Manila passing themselves off as the resorts, often through websites. When you call them to get a room rate or make a reservation, you will be quoted much more than if you called the resort itself. The travel agents simply take your request, call the hotel and make reservations and charge you extra for the service, up to double the original rate. Meanwhile, the traveler has no idea he wasn't talking to the resort. This can often lead to frustration, as the traveler will show up at his hotel or resort and see he was charged double the rate that the hotel is listing, even though the hotel had nothing to do with it! So the advice is, try your best to ignore the many travel agencies and make your reservation with the resort or hotel directly.

Better yet, don't make advance reservations in the low season. Just go to White Beach or the region you want to stay and negotiate deals with the places you want to stay at. Many street touts will offer to show you the rooms first and then you can negotiate.

white beach

If you prefer peace and quiet, avoid accommodation at the centre of White Beach, as this is the most crowded area. Head further north or south instead. The area south of boat station 3 has a more relaxed and peaceful vibe - no pounding disco till 4AM. Accommodation is more reasonably priced, and there are some friendly little bars and restaurants where you can meet people and chat. North of station 1 you'll find many of the more luxurious and expensive establishments. The beach is at it's widest here, and the area is usually relatively peaceful.

near white beach

Some hotels and resorts are located along roads and footpaths off of White Beach, generally within just a few minutes walk from the beach. Room rates in these may be a bit lower than prices for comparable rooms located in resorts which have beach-front entrances, and the rooms may be a bit quieter than rooms located right on the beach.

bulabog beach

Bulabog Beach runs parallel with White Beach and is on the east side of the island. It is approximately 1.5kms long and has similar white sand to that found on White Beach. It is protected from strong seas by a coral reef located 500 meters offshore, and from late Oct. to April the Amihan windNE wind make this beach very popular with windsurfers and kiteboarders.For these reasons it is often referred to as the "No.1 kite boarding beach in Asia." Bulabog Beach has the "old" Boracay atmosphere, being less developed than the White Beach area, quieter, more laid back, with onshore breezes most of the year, and a number of foreign residents have made it their home. In addition, resorts are starting to appear and the various types of water-sports para-sailing, banana boats, jetskis, water-skiing, etc. are using this area during the White Beach off-season May-Oct, when the Habagat wind blows. Access to the D'Mall Shopping Center is only a 5 minute walk and a couple of minutes later you are on White Beach with all the crowds, restaurants, bars, discos, etc.

Water on Bulabog is much polluted with sewage water of all island. You can see few pipes and "rivers" are emptying to sea. Since lagoon is semi-closed and shallow, and water circulation is limited, you can feel smell from water. Color of it will block all your thoughts about swimming there and lot of kiters will simply not allow you to. If you plan to spend your time lying on the beach, swimming and getting tan, Bulabog is certanly not the best choice, head for White beach.