Top Five Beaches That You Shouldn’t Miss When You Visit the Bicol Region

Now let’s go to the southern part of Luzon, Bicol.

As someone who loves the sea, I always find time to visit beaches at least twice a year or during summer. Among these countless wonderful islands, Here is my top five favorite so far

Subic Island in Matnog Sorsogon 

 This island is just 15 minutes away from Matnog port. It is one of the unspoiled beaches in the country and just started making noise and attracting tourists after being featured in news and in social media. You’ll definitely get easily in love with this island because of its crystal clear water and long white sand but pinkish from afar caused by crushing of red corals. The island is divided into two, the Subic Liit and Subic Laki.On the other side of Subic, there is a fish lagoon known as Juag Lagoon where you’re allowed to swim with the fish or just feed them.

How to go there:

Ride any DLTB, Philtranco Bus, CUL in Cubao or Pasay going to Matnog. Fare cost from 850.00 to 1000.00. It will drop you off at Matnog Centro, right in front of Matnog Pier. Proceed directly to the port to rent a boat. Boats usually ranges from 2000 to 3000. Good for 10 to 15 persons.

Balading-Olango Beach

Not aware that there are actually other white beaches in the neighboring town of Matnog where you don’t have to rent a boat just to experience the ocean. What am I talking about? It’s the Municipality of Sta. Magdalena.

The Balading- Olango beach appears to be a secret to most tourists due to its location. I have to admit, I was actually really amazed to see an equally gorgeous and surprisingly unscathed white beach here in Sta. Magdalena. Thanks to my Dad who actually knows about the place since he grew up in a nearby town.

This long white  sand and  powdery shoreline has been occupied by different resorts. We opted to stay and rent a cottage at Marahlee Resort since it’s not so crowded and is super cheap. The cottage fee is just 500 and there is no entrance fee. There is a Sari-sari store and clean comfort rooms. In case on food shortage, you can request for them to prepare food for you.

We enjoyed beach bumming and since it was low tide when we arrived, we took the opportunity on having a little photo shoot. At the Bigo beach, you can have a little photo shoot with some cool rock formation.

How to go there :

From Manila, ride any Mark Eves bus going to Sta. Magdalena. Fare cost from 850.00 to 1000.00. It will drop you off at Sta. Magdalena Centro. Ride a tricycle going to selected resort for P50.00.

Calaguas Island

I know that this did not come as a surprise as this island has already been a go-to white beach for all beach and nature lovers. This white powdery beach is located in Vinsons, Camarines Norte. My favorite features are it’s long stretch and very clean white sand with breathtaking views of the mountain on both sides of the cove aside of course its crystal clear blue water. Tourists can pitch their tents or rent cottages  but there are already small rooms with kitchen (with available cooking stove and utensils) if they opt to stay overnight. There is also fire dancing at night however bonfires are highly restricted.  The only thing that caused us inconvenience is the availability of drinking water. You also have to pay for every pail of water that you will use if you want to take a bath or for something else. I also didn’t like the crowded boats at the shore which    The best part of our stay was watching the sunrise.

How to go there:

Ride any DLTB and Superlines buses at Cubao to Daet for an approximately 6-7 hours travel time. Fare cost differs, but ranging from P450.00 to P800.00.

The drop off will be at the gas station at Vinsons. You can get a tricycle for P50.00. Hire a banca from Vinzons fishport. There’s a lot of banca docked at the port and price depends on the capacity of the boat. For a small boat that can fit four to five people, the lowest rate is at P2500-P3000.00. It is a two hour boat ride from the port.

Caramoan Islands

Caramoan, for me, offered variety. We were blessed with a sunny day when we went to Caramoan. The three islands that we visited (Laos Island, Matukad, and Cagbalinad) each offered unique features but all are equally amazing.

Laos Island – its natural limestone rocks that divide the two beaches is beautiful. We definitely did not miss the chance to have our photos taken here because of the crystal clear water and white sand.  We opted to swim on the other side because the sand is more compact and the water is very calm.

Matukad Island –  its towering limestone cliffs is its best feature where you can climb  to see the 180 degrees view of the sea and Matukad Island’s shoreline. Just be careful since the rocks are sharp. Its powdery white sand will want to make you just lay on the sand and enjoy beach bumming. We reach Matukad at almost sunset and it’s still beautiful.

Cagbalinad Island – Here we enjoyed swimming and diving. Since it’s already high tide when we reached this island, we were not able to dock at the shore since it’s already covered by the ocean. You can already see Gota Village from here.

How to go there:

There are two options: You can ride by plane or bus. Philippines Airlines and Cebu Pacific have flights going to Naga. You just need to look for cheaper flights. By bus, you can ride Penafrancia tours, or Isarog bus going to Naga. Fare ranged from 600.00 to 1000.00.

Catch a van going to Sabang Port in Naga Central Terminal, fare is around P100 one-was. At Sabang Port, there are big boats that leave every hour from 6AM to 11AM from Sabang to Guijalo Port of Caramoan, fare is P120 per passenger.

5. Paguriran Island 

I know for most of you, this island is not so familiar. Paguriran is located in Bacon Sorsogon. At day, it’s low tide but you’ll still appreciate it because of it’s clean fine white sand. The good thing when its low tide is that you can actually walk going to the island’s best part, a beautiful lagoon behind the big rock formation you can see from the beach side.  I didn’t expect to see to get mesmerize by the clear waters of this lagoon. I was actually a bit scared because there’s only two of us there on that day. So to get a whole view, my bestfriend, Franco, decided to hike to the higher part of the rocks. The rocks are sharp though so be careful. We definitely enjoyed swimming at the other side of the lagoon because it’s already the open sea.

How to go there:

Ride a DLTB, Philtranco, Raymund, CUL bus going to Sorsogon. Fares range from 700.00 to 1000.00. Once you reach Sorsogon Proper, there are jeepneys going to Bacon Sorsogon, you just need to tell the driver that you will be going to Paguriran so they can drop you off. In our case, we rented a tricycle for P300, back and forth from the beach.

So what’s your favorite?