Epic Experience in Quezon’s Golden Paradise: A Jomalig Island Travel Guide

Are you guys now ready for another epic travel? Therefore, I am excited to bring you a Jomalig Island Travel Guide! It is almost a year anniversary when we first set foot on a very small island called “Jomalig“. This Island is very well known from the Philippines to have a golden like sand radiating along its beautiful coast. As you may know that the Island of Jomalig is the easternmost island from the well known “Polillo Group of Islands” situated in the province of Quezon. To make your imaginations a little bit clearer and you’re kind of lazy getting another tab open for google map to see it’s location right away, I’m snipping it out for you, isn’t it wonderful?

Now you know that the travel time is not a joke and if you’re chickening out you may decide to forego this vacation of yours. But as of this moment, before you close this, I’m telling you that you might miss an spectacular moment of discovering another hidden treasure in the Philippine Island. So I’m giving you 10 seconds to think..

Alright, so you’re going now right? Great, no backing out now! Good decision and just keep on reading as I virtually tour you in this “small but awesome” island of Jomalig.

Note: This article is base solely on our own experience on the island. It is still up to you on how you will make enough changes on this Jomalig Island Travel Guide that I will be sharing. Just enjoy and read the full article!

Best Month and How many days for this Jomalig Island Travel?

Of course, you cannot just go anytime right? You need to plan it ahead, take a leave from work and then suddenly your Boss ask “For how many days will you be out?” Oh crap! Didn’t even think of that! Lol, I’m sorry, just kidding.

Ideal Days of Stay

Well, as for me, a 3-days vacation is the safest because of the travel time. How about checking your calendar now and see if there’s an upcoming long weekend, or simply just take at least 1 VL on Friday or Monday, don’t you think? Alright, don’t think of me as a bad influence on you for taking a leave, remember that’s your privileged.

Month of Visit

Now, best month to visit is between January-March, but this is a little bit off-peak season. You can go on summer. But I am giving you an advise now. Don’t go on holidays!

Tip#1: Our very mistake during our Jomalig Vacation, we planned it right on Holy Week. We really waste a lot of time on the port before we can actually board because of the flock of people. It’s crazy! So number one on the list, don’t go during Holidays!

Summary:
Recommended Days: 3-days
Best Month: Off-peak season (January-March), or anytime in Summer season (But not recommended during Regular Holidays)

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How to get to Jomalig Island

Another important piece of the puzzle is “How do we get there?”

Find out your category of travel

1. I’m rich! I can rent anything or maybe “I have my own plane!” (Wow!) – That’s very nice because you can just go directly to the island in no time. Jomalig have their own airstrip, you can charter a helicopter or plane.

2. I have my own car! (Another wow!) – But, how are you going to the Island? Swim by your car? Crap! I’m kidding again. Alright, It’s more than fine that you have your own car because you can reach Real, Quezon anytime soon. Don’t worry for the parking, they have trusted citizen on the port where you can give your car keys and worry less for the parking. But of course, there are fees for parking.

• Parking fee: P 600 for 3 days (we are 5 so divided by 5)

3. I’m middle class, I don’t own a car and I only live by commuting – No worries! That’s why the Raymond Bus Terminal is there waiting for you. Located near the LRT Legarda Station in Manila, you can buy a ticket for a bus ride that is heading to Infanta, Quezon. Make sure you tell the bus conductor you are going to Jomalig Island so they can drop you at the Real Port.

Congratulations! Now that you’ve endured a 4-5 hours land travel from Manila to Quezon, the challenge is yet to come.

It’s Sea Travel Time!

After arriving at the port, make sure you write on the list and pay the environmental fee, terminal fee and the boat tickets. If you’re in a group, it’s okay for just one representative. There you need to list the names of the passenger or tourist and then wait for them to assigned you what boat you need to ride. Once you have the boat name, just wait for them to announce that the boat have just arrive and definitely you can sit back and relax now. But I’m not sure if relax is the right term, because you are going for a 4-5 hours of boat ride, now brace yourself!

• Boat Ticket – P 400
• Environmental Fee – P 170
• Terminal Fee – P 10

Don’t worry about being hungry, the ride provides you food but I want you to not expect much and just appreciate the free food they are gonna give. It’s the fruit of the local’s hard work so make sure to enjoy every bits of it.

Finally, the very last step before setting foot and eyes on the awaited golden sand. Take their public available ride called “Habal-Habal” for 70 pesos each and go to your designated place of stay.

Where to Stay in Jomalig Island?

I cannot say much on this, but we stayed at the so called “Tejada Resort” The owner is very kind and offer us a room with 3 double beds with air-condition and private bathroom.

               Our Room Rate: 400 pesos/night (each)

But as of our arrival on the resort, I can see a lot of tourist with their own camping equipment. Seems a lot of fun so if you’re up for another challenge then go and set-up your own camp site along the beach.

Just a little reminder:

The electricity is not available 24 Hours so you might need your batteries fully charge before the electricity runs out. The schedule may vary from time to time and I’m sure the resort owner will let you know this very crucial part.

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Day 1 Activities: I want you to rest!

Now that you’re settled on your stay or finish setting up your camp, you may now opt to take a few minutes rest and walk along the beachfront and enjoy the glistening golden sand of the island. Don’t you ever miss the beautiful sunset and take your silhouette pose.

Photo Op Session Time!

Don’t take it too hard guys, take a few photo op sessions or just simply enjoy the view, you’ll be needing regain your energy. Remember that you just had an almost 10 hours of land and sea travel just to experience this very piece of moment in your life!

Just we’re about to have dinner, the owner offer us what we would like to have for dinner. Yes, mostly in Jomalig you may opt to have your meals cooked by the resort, you just need to indicate your desired food but of course you need to made sure the ingredients are available in the island.

For our first night, we had a lobster for dinner, isn’t it good? And guess what, we had this 4-big Lobsters for 1000 php and it’s more than enough for 5 people plus the grilled fish and “Sinigang”. I’m definitely full guys just with our first day. But hey, we needed this, we’ve lose a lot of energy during the travel and this foods a good satisfaction! *Now I’m definitely craving while creating this article.*

Day 1 Expenses

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Day 2 Activities: Salibungot Beach Exploration

What you can do in your second day of stay?

You can go on tour, get a Habal Tour or if you are a group of many you can rent a boat. However, during our stay, we opt to plan our tour on Day 3. Why? Told you, there are a lot of tourist back then so we’re sure that a lot of them would have their Day 2 to be their tour day. I assume that would be chaos, thus we just explore the long coast of Salibungot beach.

Here I am again warning you guys, bring a lot of energy because the coast is long enough that it can drain you more than you know. But hey, that was very worth it! We got to see the real beauty of the so called golden sand of Jomalig. I’m telling you, it is very mesmerizing. We did a lot of swimming and chit-chat, it’s really fun to have a vacation with your friends right, and.. love ones, of course!

So here’s our different shot on the REAL AUTHENTIC JOMALIG GOLDEN SAND!

pictures here!

Day 2 Expenses

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Day 3: Time to Hop Around the Jomalig Island!

Finally, this is it! It’s tour day! After experiencing and embracing the Jomalig’s beauty, we should explore the island and what more it can offer us, right? We’ll be visiting few tourist spots in Jomalig Island.
Again, as I said above, for the tour you have two options: Habal Tour or Boat Rental.

Habal Tour: P 600 each

Boat Rental: P 3500 (that’s the offer to us before, but the tour is only limited other tourist spots in Habal wasn’t included)

So the winner is..

HABAL TOUR!

Yes, we chose the Habal Tour. But here I am again, giving you another warning. Prepare your butts guys >_< This is going to be a bumpy ride. The road from Jomalig Island is not really the friendliest road on earth. You can be deceive by the beauty of the Island, but their local roads are no joke. It is kind of bumpy because the roads are not cemented and it’s width is probably 1 motor can only pass. So it is not really recommended for you to drive on your own unless you really are a good motorcycle driver.

Alright, I’ve given you a warning but surely you’ll survive because I did it. Lol! I’m kidding again OMG. Let me get back to you now for our first tourist spot.

The “Little Boracay” or the so called Pamana White Beach Resort

Entrance Fee: P 30

At the entrance, there is a store where you can go and have a breakfast so it is really a good start of the tour. So from the name itself, the beach has a long white pristine fine sand that may be comparable to Boracay itself. As you can see, Jomalig is not just all about golden sand because here in Pamana Beach you can experience your long awaited white sand.

The waves here are little bit large so better be careful. I know you are here for a photo op session, so better be walking a little bit more farther on the right side of the beach until you reach that special hammock chair by the beautifully bended coconut tree, pretty isn’t it? Perfect for your beach Instagram photo.

Lingayen Cove dubbed as the “Little Batanes”

Entrance Fee: P 50

This spot is a little bit unique, the rock formation is formidable. On the right side you can see a very long white beach while on the left side is a beach that was sandwich by two hills. The waves are somehow rough and is not advisable for children to swim on this area. But overall this spot is nice, I just didn’t know why they should need to dub it as “Little Batanes” wherein it could be more famous with it using it’s own name. Just my opinion though, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that it has it’s own unique beauty.

Kanaway Beach

Entrance Fee: P 30

This spot is indeed very famous because of it’s massive sand waves forming once it is on low tide. Unfortunately, at the moment of our visit, the beach is not yet low tide so we just decide to stay and enjoy the beach.

Last but not the least tourist spot.

The “Puno ng Walang Forever”

..translating.. “The Tree of No Forever” >_<

This tree is very famous for our singles out there. So if you are single, just think about this very lone tree in a vast of the greenish land in Jomalig, and it stays alone forever. Actually, the tree became famous even for couples as well, be sure to drop by!

Now that’s the end of the tour. Again, brace yourself for another bumpy motorcycle ride going back to your stays!

Day 3 Expenses

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Summary of all our Expenses

The overall expense probably for some of you may be it’s a little bit too much. But we really enjoy what we want to eat, and our room is airconditioned for 3 nights. Also we did spend a lot on our car expenses.

But if you’ll be travelling by bus and just set a camp site, also if you can squeeze it for 3 days (which is you actually can!) you’ll be spending less than ours for sure!

Overall experience is awesome! The 10-hours travel time for me is definitely worth it. So I hope that this article may give you a little prick in your heart to actually consider Jomalig Island for your next travel!

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With Love,