The seascape along the South China Sea offers wonderful sunrises and especially sunsets.  The sand is white, though coarse.  There is a shallow area from the shore for about 100 meters which contains rocks and sea grass.  This area presents some great tidal pools to explore during low tide.  The locals take advantage of the low tides to collect shell fish.  I found it very enjoyable to walk the tidal pools and to go out to the wave breaks at the end of the shallows.

Though the shallow area makes great exploration and scenery, it is not good for those wanting to swim.  Your best bet for swimming is at the Patar Beach.  This beach has more sand and less rock.  There is a small admittance fee, less than 50php.

Accommodations vary from bamboo floored kubos to high end luxury resorts.  There are also many areas offering places to pitch a tent.

In the photos you will see Puerto Del Sol and Treasures of Bolinao for the higher end facilities.   The prices here start around 4-5,000php a night.  The rooms are top notch.  They also each have beautiful swimming pools.  For sunsets, and closeness to Patar Beach, Treasures of Bolinao would be my recommendation.  For a bit better service and facilities, I suggest Puerto Del Sol.

I stayed in a kubo at AMS Beach Resort during the week after Christmas 2008 for 800php.  This is right beside the Puerto Del Sol.  Maybe a bit rustic for some, but it is very clean and the owners are extremely friendly.  I found it to be more than adequate for my simple tastes.   They have no restauarant, so you are welcome to bring your own food, or you could simply walk a few meters over to Puerto Del Sol to eat there, or venture along to any of the other restaurants around.

Speaking of restaurants, when in Pangasinan you must try the region’s famous Bangus (milk fish).  It is always fresh and delicious.

The trip to Bolinao is made for motorcycle enthusiasts.  The roads are mostly straight and in good condition.  Of course you have the usual nuances of driving in the Philippines (Buses, trikes, carabao, etc. etc.), but with a good sized bike you can easily get around most of these road blocks.  With a motorcycle, I can suggest doing the “loop” on your travel there.  Go up through Tarlac to Alaminos and over to Bolinao.  On the way back, go down the western side of Pangasinan into Zambales and drop into Subic.  From Subic you can get the expressway over to NLEX.  Of course you will need a 400cc or larger bike to take advantage of the expressways.  Plan about 4 – 5 hours from Manila, but if you leave early you should make much better time.

This is also an easy trip for a private car, and there are plenty of buses going to the area.

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Our itinerary had us leaving from the brand spanking new Terminal 3 from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport ( NAIA) in Manila on a Sunday morning at 8:30 on Cebu Pacific Air.  Our flying time was scheduled for one hour or so to Puerto Princessa.

This was my first time flying domest in the Philippines from terminal 3, and I must say it was a wonderful experience.   The old terminal was really old, and quite inefficient.  The new terminal reminds me of the airport in Bangkok.  Cebu Pacific has always been a nice ride for me, and they did not disappoint on this trip.  All went according to plan and schedule.

A little background on this trip is in order now.  My buddy had traveled to Puerto Princessa several months earlier.  He sent me his pictures and commented on how easy it was to get about.  I was very impressed with his pictures and trip report, so I immediately booked the trip for my end of year trip.

Soon we were arriving in Puerto Princessa with cloudy skies welcoming us.  After a little wait to get our luggage, we were soon in a trike headed to the motorcycle rental shops.  As my friend had reported, the trikes were waiting right outside the luggage area, and the ride to the bike rental shops was only about 5 minutes from the airport.  I simply told the trike driver I wanted to get a 200 cc Honda and off we went.

The first place we stopped had one 200 available, but the tires were worn, so I decided to take my chances down the road.  A little further and we found ATO along the left side of the road leading to town.  Ato is the name of the owner, and he hooked us up with a nice Honda 200 XR for 7 days at 700php a day.  I really liked renting from Ato, as he took an interest in where we were going, did some last minute tuning on the bike and provided bungie cords to help tie down our bags.   The contact number I have for Ato is +63-920-491-3069.

I was so pleased with the service of the trike driver and his help finding a good bike to rent, I gave him 100php for the trouble.  He was very happy with that!  Soon we were headed down the National Highway towards the turn off to Sabang Beach.

The National Highway is well marked with signs and all paved for great driving through some beautiful country.   After about 45 minutes or so you will come to the sign for Sabang veering off to the left.  The road at this point is under construction.  As we made the turn to Sabang, the skies opened up and started dumping rain on us.  Fortunately, we came across a thatched roof roadside stand just waiting for us, and we pulled under it for about a 30 minute break and watched the rain.

Once the rain stopped, we continued down the now very muddy road for another hour or so to Sabang. The road dead ends right at the beach. Not sure which way to go, I took a left down the trail, and was very happy after a couple minutes when we came to Dab-Dab Cottages and Restaurant.