Inside
Because nowhere else in the Philippines looks, feels or sounds anything like it.
Add Batanes to my journeyBatanes sits in the Luzon Strait, closer to Taiwan than to Manila. Its people, the Ivatan, have built their lives around typhoons: houses of limestone and coral with walls up to a metre thick, roofs of cogon grass, and the vakul, a headdress of woven palm fibre that shields women from sun and rain. The landscape is grassy hills, cliffs and stone-walled pastures, closer to the Atlantic coast of Europe than to a tropical island. Only a few thousand visitors come each year, which is a large part of its charm. The catch is the weather: flights are small and can be cancelled, so trips need a buffer day.
Batan Island, the main island, splits naturally into a north and a south tour, best done with a local driver who can talk about the island along the way. Sabtang deserves its own day for its stone villages.
Batanes is small, safe and close-knit, and visitors are welcomed with a quiet courtesy that's easy to return: greet people, ask before photographing homes, and take your rubbish with you. Accommodation is mostly small inns and homestays; comfort is simple, which suits the place.
Ivatan cooking makes the most of a short growing season and a rough sea. Look for uvod, a dish made from the pith of the banana stem, flying fish dried in the sun, and fresh lobster in season. You may see coconut crab offered; it's a vulnerable species, and we'd skip it.
Insider notes
16 days · Premium / Signature
Manila • Batanes • El Nido • Private island • Siargao
The far north of Batanes, private boats in El Nido, a private-island resort and Siargao in private. Sixteen days of places few travellers reach, with everything private.
From €6,800per person ·
View journey →Use this journey as inspiration. Change the islands, hotels, pace, activities or number of nights.
Add Batanes to my journeyMarch to May has the calmest seas and most stable weather. June to November is typhoon season; flights and boats are frequently cancelled.
Three nights covers Batan and Sabtang, plus a buffer day for weather.
Some coves are swimmable in calm weather, but most of the coastline is rocky with strong currents. Come for the landscape, not the beaches.
Inside
A huge, hectic capital with a walled Spanish city at its heart, the world's oldest Chinatown, serious museums and the country's best food scene.
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