Has anyone been to Boracay recently? I was wondering how it is now, following all the government clean up. I went there a few years back and thought it was great, and we thought we might make another visit next year and take my teenage kids along. Reading about it, I'm slightly worried it might be over regulated now. One thing we loved, was going down to the beach in the evening and there were beach bars, live music and so on. A real atmosphere and good for kids aged 16 and 19 to get into. Now, I read online that beach parties are now banned. What does this mean? Will these beach bars no longer be allowed? Have they sucked all the fun out of the place? Will my kids get bored? So, how it there these days?
Not been there for more than a decade now, when I now see the sheer number of people getting off boats on TV news reports it puts me off the place, they also flattened my favourite small family hotel and built some huge modern thing in its place. I dare say I will go back one day but I am just glad I got to see it when it was a little less spoiled, sadly I missed the era when it was truly unspoiled although my colleagues got to see it back then.
Might be worth searching on YT and filtering by date (most recent), it usually gives a good insight if it’s a decent vlogger
I don't know how accurate this is but a friend of ours says it now looks like the kind of place you can take your granny. A place you might prefer is Pearl Farm Resort on Samal, an island just south of Davao. They have all the usual activities of a beach resort including a PADI diving instructor and it's just a 30 minute boat ride from Davao City (actually SASA Port) and they operate their own fast passenger ferry to connect the two. Close(ish)by is a pretty decent zoo, the Philippine Eagle sanctuary as well as some excellent retail opportunities, a few excellent restaurants and the odd four-star hotel or three.
Went in January for week...the beach I went was amazing and the water...so so clean...I stayed at place call hennan prime beach...amazing time there
Boracay is no longer a party island, you can't cook or eat barbeque (ihaw-ihaw), no fireworks after 9pm, no building of sandcastles without a government permit and no smoking or drinking. For families with young children (sub-two years) and retirees the place sounds like heaven. But Magaluf it ain't.
Definitely agree not a part island...still get quite few late night bars etc and yeh no smoking or drinking....it’s certainly relaxing those
Never saw fireworks on the island during 4 trips over 5 years. So have they shut the bars and restaurants behind the first row of palm trees and would you not be able to get a beer at your table immediately in front of your hotel such as the tables shown below? Again Jan 2006
Flickr has screwed up the colour on this one during the move from Yahoo to Amazon servers, look like it was reprocessed again. Willy's Rock.
There was a time back before 2007 when there used to be a lot of restaurants and food outlets along the promenade parallel to Roxas Boulevard in Manila, when Alfredo Lim (my kumpadre) got in as he shut it all down including a business belonging to Manny. While it had probably got a little out of hand with too many music venues, it was a fun place to go and eat and relax as the sun went down over the bay in Manila. A year later they had recreated something similar at the sea wall at MoA but it never had the same folk atmosphere. P.S. Lim does not know me we just happen to share being co-sponsors of a wedding. This was one shot from that era.
Hmm some or most did close around 10 at night...you did still have fair few what stayed open past then those
