Boracay: 6 Days in Paradise

Long considered one of the best beach vacation spots, Boracay lives up to its reputation of having world class beaches, but with little commercialization of the big hotel resorts.  There are definitely big hotels and resorts along one part of the beach, but it’s just as easy to find the little mom and pop hostels and hotels in the area.

We flew into Boracay from Manila and the signs at the airport that welcomed us reminded me of a much simpler time.  From the airport, we were required to take a boat to the island.

From our hotel, we were required to walk through D-Mall to reach the beach area, so while doing this, we were able to see all of the shops and restaurants in the area.  On days with nice weather, the beach was lined with people hoping to tan, as well as vendors selling all sorts of jewelry, food and drinks.  The most interesting thing for me was seeing these massage businesses that were popping up all over the place.  Some were established businesses that had a shelter, but at other times, they were just ladies on the beach with a couple of lawn chairs.  Rain or shine they would still be there working away without cover.

This was the very first beach resort I had been to in Asia and it was quite a different experience from the resorts in Mexico and Jamaica I had previously been to, where many resorts had private beaches.  In Boracay, everything was public and so there were all sorts of people around the beach at all times.  On good days, it was so nice to just sit and watch the sunset.  Unfortunately, we had more rainy and overcast days than we did nice ones, so it put a little bit of a damper on our trip, but we did half expect this as we were visiting in December. 

The atmosphere of Boracay was definitely second to none though.  I’m not sure if it was because it was Christmas, but the whole place was just always lively and had a very fun feel to it.  Everyone was on holidays and enjoying their time.  The people who work there were very friendly and also always seem to be in such great moods. 

For more photos, please see my Photo Gallery of Boracay.