Here are suggested itinerary and must do stuff while in you are in Santa Fe, Bantayan. Of course, don’t expect a shooter’s bar or a sophisticated night life. You’ll find simple pleasures here and this is how a beach vacation should be 🙂
As in all islands, a Boat Trip should be part of anybody’s itinerary. Although, in Bantayan there’s really not much to see via boat. People will offer you a trip to Virgin Island but its nothing to be rave about, its just another white beach island with dead corals. Although, they would be glad to organize a picnic for you — a grill lunch would be nice. You can go to the Ogtong Cave or to the Bantayan Market via Boat if you decide to rent one.
The best way for us was to rent a tricycle and go to the Bantayan Market. If we would have time, we would have explored the churches or even the poultry farms. Did you know that Bantayan is known as the Egg Basket of the Visayas generating 100 tons of eggs/ day?! We rented the tricycle for P500 for 4-6 hours.
Bantayan Market is a must visit when you are on the island. Might as well buy Mineral Water, Beer and Chips while you’re here because they are much much cheaper — P20 for a san mig light vs. P40+ in the resorts. This is 30 minutes away by Tricycle from Kota Beach Resort.
A must have pasalubong is the Danggit (dried fish). This is where it is produced so it costs almost 40% cheaper to buy it here. It costs P270 for 1 kilo which would sell for P250/ half kilo in Cebu City.
a Photo Session is a must in the beach and you can spend your late afternoon swimming and taking photos.
One thing good about Kota Beach is that it is in the tip of the Santa Fe, Island where you can walk to the left going to Marni’s Beach Resort or the right going to the other undeveloped resorts.
By the way, Marni’s beach has a lot of water sports amenities so you might want to check that out. This is also a high-end resort place that has an apartment type of accommodations. Amenities are very good but I still like the single detached huts in Kota Beach 🙂
There is a good chinese restaurant in Sta. Fe. Beach Resort, its best to have one of the dinners here. They accept credit card, and have the amenities of comforts of a Manila resort. I’ll share a detailed review of Sta. Fe in a separate post.
After dinner, Have a Karaoke @ Marisqueira O Portuguese. We spent only P500 for the entire night singing our hearts out! They have a unique system where you buy beer which is equivalent to 2 or more songs depending on the beer (i.e. 1 San Mig Bottle entitles you to 2 songs, while 1 Red Horse Grande entitles you to 5 songs)
This was my first time to drink Red Horse and I fell in love with its sweet taste. I was looking for the “whapak” effect but fortunately my system was strong enough to withstand it and I did not have a hang-over the next day.
Of course, don’t forget the Dang-si-log (Danngit, Sinangag, at Itlog or Fried Fish, Fried Rice, and Egg) for breakfast!!
Hi Anton! Do you know the website of Kota Beach Resort? Do you still remember their rates? Is Kota Beach near Budyong beach resort? Thanks
san pwede order daqnggit 270/kilo?
hi Anton,
i heard of your website over at NU when you guested with ivan h.it’s a very helpful site for travelers and for virgin adventurers.pictures are really awesome as you would describe it. bringing the readers to imagine the real places, painting them a picture of our country’s beauty spots.
i would like to ask if you have a suggested place nearby drive where my wife and my 8 year old daughter can have a great time to spend outdoors like picnic, camping ,fishing and swimming? is there a place where we can do all these at the same time?
thanks very much and more power. astig si anton!!