TRAVEL GUIDE MALAPASCUA

Here is the Malapascua Travel Guide . Malapascua is a small island north of Cebu. Quiet paradise where the main activity is scuba diving. But if, like us, you are not divers, beach bumming will be your daily activity. And it’s perfect. A few small restaurants also held our attention. No cars or trucks, only scooters. This island is a real labyrinth, download Maps.me, it will be your best friend. Super important: there are no ATM on Malapascua Island !!

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Updated:

February 4, 2019

Karine Bernèche

From Cebu:
Go to the North Bus Terminal. Take the yellow Ceres bus, from North Bus Terminal every 1-2 hours. This one will bring you to the new port of Maya with AC and without stop. It should take you 4-5 hours. Unfortunately we could not find the schedules, not sure it even exists. Avoid white buses, transit I think. They stop every 4 km, take detours and clearly avoid faster roads. It took us 6 hours. 190 pesos / pers.

From Port Maya:
There are boats “every” half an hour (supposed). We did not wait very long. 100 pesos / pers. 30-40 min

Villa Sandra: $
We stayed at Villa Sandra on 2 recommendations from travelling friends, the place is Rasta-cool. With deco made from plastic bottles. In the evening, the place lights up and becomes “the place to be” in town with live music. The staff is nice and very friendly. Thanks to Liselle, May and Janine for their great service. The Bungalow with bath is around 24$ cnd on Hostelworld and 700p direct with them. Know that the place is for hardcore backpackers, the cleanliness is not their priority and mosquito nets serve more as a decoration than as an obstacle for mosquitoes. Reservations are recommended, the place is very popular. We enjoyed our stay very much. Thanks Maq amd all!

Neverland: $
We walked by every day on the way to the beach, we stopped and discovered a beautiful project. A community that offers cute huts (1000p / night), great activities like yoga, meditation, art sessions, beach cleaning and more. The crew is super welcoming and their passion contagious. They serve vegan breakfast and dinner and they are really involved with the community / Village around.

There is no culinary scene proper say n the island. In this Malapascua Travel Guide we found some small places not too expensive that basically serve quite the same stuff. The best value for money, in our opinion, is without a doubt the restaurant of Villa Sandra. Vegetarian and even vegan food if you wish.

Villa Sandra: All the dishes tasted during our stay were more than delicious. A special mention to Monggo curry and the yellow curry. The oatmeal on the breakfast menu is also something, Wow. Meals go around 9-10$cnd for 2, without beer.

Ging Ging’s: 2nd best option on Malapascua. Everything we tasted was good. On the other hand, the portions are very small. (Photo) Curry and fried noodles are delicious. Around 5$cnd for 2 without beer.

Aroi Mak: A very nice Thai restaurant where you eat like in Thailand, on the floor with triangle Thai cushions. The view on the beach is magnificent. The atmosphere is great, the server was very nice. The cashew chicken and the Pad See Ew was delicious but were they worth 14$ cnd? … no! Unless you are on vacation without a backpacker budget, I would go there only for a beer at the sunset.

Bebot’s: Breakfast restaurant, cheap and good. The egg bacon cheese sandwich really did the trick at 80p. Count about 6$ cnd for 2 sandwiches and 2 coffees.

Angelina: Pizza restaurant. Prices are not “backpacker-friendly” it’s pretty much the same as at home. Pizza at 16$cnd. We had the grilled ham, artichoke and 6 olive pizza!

Malapascua Market: There is a market on Malapascua Island. A place with little kiosks that sell cheap Filipinos dishes.

Avila’s Horizon: The place is awesome, a good lunch with the best view. The calamari were expensive for what we got. The fried rice was good. I would recommend it for 1 lunch because it is so well located.

Ann’s Diner: Little place open only for dinner. We had a chicken plate called Afritada, it was fabulous. But the fish tuna was very overcooked, very dry. The service wasn’t long, but we were only 2 tables. The owner is very friendly, sweet lady. We recommend it!

Villa Sandra: It is surely here that there is the best atmosphere with live music every night. San Miguel at 60p and the Red Horse at 80p

Ocean Vida / Sea Explorer: The coolest sunset spot with “beanbags” sun loungers. Add to this happy hour 4 @ 6. It is 2 for 1 on some drinks and cocktails. 75p for 2 double rum and coke.

The Other Place: This place looks good to us with a pool table and good music. This place is popular later on, around 21:00 or 22:00

Blue Coral Beach Resort: It’s a great place for the sunset and specials on beers

Unfortunately, the Malapascua Trvel Guide doesn’t have a coffee section. The Coffee Culture does not seem to have reached Malapascua yet ! Espresso machines are as rare as surfers on this island.

Yet, we spotted one at the Ocean Vida / Sea Explorer resort. Coffee was ok

There is not much to do other than scuba diving, snorkelling and beach bumming. This Travel Guide is giving you some great stuff to do while on the Malapascua island.

Beach Bumming:
3 beaches have caught our attention. We went to Langob every day on foot from Villa Sandra. It took about 30 minutes. It’s nice to see the small villages.

Langob Beach: a beautiful beach of white sand and turquoise water. Not too visited except by a few tourist boats that land for a few hours. The beach is large with a restaurant, lots of shade and little kiosks to buy juice, beer or water.

Bantigue Beach: very beautiful beach. You can access it from the end of Langob. Pass the barbed wire and follow the path. You will find yourself in an abandoned / unfinished resort. It has its charm. The beach is beautiful, shadow is easy to find.

Barrio Beach: Directly in town. The beach is beautiful. The restaurants Aroi Mak and Angelina are located on this beach.

Walk around the Island:
We put on our walking sandals and left with not enough water to explore our new island. Here we are, the explorers of Malapascua.
We left to the north,

1st stop: the Mangrove beach. Then we followed the path to go straight to Langob, we stopped at a few small beaches, on our way, before getting there. At the last Y (you’ll probably see a well and people filling their jugs) take a left, it is beautiful, if you go right, it is the shortcut. Enjoy the beach.
Completely at the right end of the beach, pass the barbed wire and follow the path to Bantigue Beach, an abandoned / destroyed resort. Some wonderful pictures can be taken here.
Then we looked for the way to continue on the east side of the island without much success despite its presence in Maps.me. So we are climbing towards the big yellow house and we went through other barbed wire, much more difficult to pass this time. This little path finally led us to where we wanted to be. We followed the path on maps.me, the one along the sea and crossed some very charming little villages. We were the only tourists.

The next day, we walked along Bounty Beach through a boats village. We finally came back inside by a nice little village where all the children were playing outside while the adults were in church, we were Sunday.

Snorkelling excursions.
Reserved for Villa Sandra or offered everywhere by locals. 350p per person

Yoga
Buena Vida Spa and Resort: It’s 400p and the sessions are at 8:00 and 16:30.

Scuba diving:
We are not divers so we do not really have a dive centre to recommend. But a travelling friend did her Advanced Open Water at Devocean and enjoyed it.

Visit to Kalanggaman Island: We were told it was not to be missed, but we missed it. If there is 1 activity to do here, this is it. It’s 800p + 500p for park fees.

We use different websites and phone apps for our hotel, hostels, homestay, apartment or house reservations. Very convenient and often cheaper than in person at the location. By clicking on the icons below, you’ll get a discount on your next booking and at the same time, we will also receive a discount of our own.

WHAT A DEAL, NO?