Boracay travel info

After nearly two hours by van from Kalibo airport you reach the Caticlan jetty, and a small outrigger takes fifteen minutes to cross. Outside Cagban port, electric tricycles wait in a line; you load your bags and ride the island's one main road, catching flashes of white sand down the side lanes. The whole island is barely seven kilometres long, so wherever you sleep the sea is a few minutes' walk away.

The island's face is White Beach on the west coast, four kilometres split into Stations 1, 2 and 3. The sand is fine as flour and squeaks under bare feet. Around sunset the paraw, sailboats with bamboo outriggers on both sides, slide out one after another, and people stand at the waterline while the sky goes from orange to violet. Cars are banned from the beachfront path, so people stroll it late into the night in flip-flops, mango shake in hand.

In 2018 the government shut the island for six months to fix its sewage, and the rules have been strict since. You need a booking at a registered hotel to board the boat, smoking and drinking are banned on the beach, and you pay an environmental fee and a terminal fee on the way in. From June to October the southwest monsoon, the habagat, pushes waves onto White Beach and sends the boats to a different port, so check the season before you plan your sea days.

Kalibo International Airport (KLO)

Caticlan Airport (Godofredo P. Ramos) (MPH)