Batanes
The Northernmost Province, Closer To Taiwan Than To Luzon, Where Houses Are Built Of Metre Thick Stone Because The Typhoons Arrive First Here · Basco, Batanes
BATANES IS CLOSER TO TAIWAN THAN TO THE REST OF THE PHILIPPINES AND IT SHOWS IN EVERYTHING. The islands sit in one of the busiest typhoon corridors on earth, and THE IVATAN BUILT FOR IT: houses with LIMESTONE AND CORAL WALLS UP TO A METRE THICK, tiny windows, and cogon-grass roofs lashed down in a net - architecture as a response to weather rather than to fashion. THE LANDSCAPE IS THE OTHER SHOCK: treeless rolling hills running to sea cliffs, stone-walled pastures, cattle, and a light that is nothing like the tropics people expect from the Philippines. RACUH A PAYAMAN - everyone calls it MARLBORO COUNTRY - is the view. AND THE HONESTY STORES ARE REAL: unmanned roadside shops where you take what you want and leave the money. FLIGHTS ARE FROM MANILA ONLY AND ARE CANCELLED CONSTANTLY. Build spare days at both ends, bring cash because banking is minimal, and bring something warm, because this is the one corner of the Philippines where visitors arrive underdressed.
Batanes Islands, Cagayan Valley, Basco, Batanes, Philippines
BATANES IS REACHED BY AIR INTO BASCO FROM MANILA - there is no ferry worth the name and FLIGHTS ARE FEW, SMALL, EXPENSIVE AND CANCELLED CONSTANTLY FOR WEATHER, so BUILD IN SPARE DAYS AT BOTH ENDS and never book a tight onward connection. THERE IS NO GATE AND NO TICKET FOR ANYTHING; the islands are visited by hired tricycle, van or bicycle, with guides and drivers arranged through the tourism office or your lodging. BATAN, SABTANG AND ITBAYAT are the three inhabited islands worth reaching; SABTANG NEEDS A FALOWA BOAT CROSSING THAT IS ROUGH AND IS CANCELLED IN SWELL. THE TYPHOON SEASON RUNS ROUGHLY JULY TO OCTOBER and is genuinely dangerous here. IT IS COOL, WINDY AND COLD BY PHILIPPINE STANDARDS. Bring cash; banking and card acceptance are minimal.