Bantayan Island's Original #1 Online Travel Resource
Click Here for The September 2010 Updates
"I just want to inform you, that I find your website regarding Bantayan very informative, it's simply the best website I have come across, regarding the Cebu area.
...I'm going to the Cebu area in March, with a friend of my mine and our families, and we plan to visit both Malapascua and Bantayan Island, so this information has really helped us, because
I have so far found it very difficult to find any really useful information on the Internet, but now you have changed that !!!"
Magnus in Sweden, via email
© Content Creation: All Images Photographed with the Olympus E1 & E3 Digital SLRs & Olympus Digital Zuiko Lenses.
The Beaches of Bantayan Island are some of the best Beaches in Cebu and in all The Philippines.
"Darling, Bless you for being so kind to all us clueless travellers. I wish there was a Paul James website for every Island that dishes out sensible advice and information!" Louise via email at bpp.com
The Bamboo Oriental Beach Villas & Suites: now open in Santa Fe, Bantayan Island Philippines
The Best Beach weather is here on Bantayan Island: Blue Skies, Warm Sunshine & Cool Water.
"Hello Paul! very nice and informative site of Bantayan Island... we stayed in Bantayan last March 29-31, 2009 at Kota Beach, and my kids really enjoyed and love the beach... thanks for this site for giving us more information of Bantayan... more power to this site..."
Maricel via Yahoo email
Bantayan Island is a beautiful Island, and currently Cebu's semi-secret little Island Paradise (small numbers of travelers over the years have slowly been putting the word out) located just off the northwest tip of Cebu's mainland, and I live here when I’m not in the USA.
Largely un developed and definitely not over crowded and over priced with the commercialization of some other Islands; it’s a perfect place for those seeking peace & quiet, blue skies & clean air, with spectacular turquoise water & great white sand beaches, along with some of the most beautiful sunrise & sunsets in the world!
There aren't any huge corporate hotel chains here; there are smaller hotels/resorts with cottages & rooms in just about every price range from less than $5.00/USD to $40.00/USD per night & up through $100+ through a lovely South Sea studio Villa on a very beautiful property, and all the way to $240.00USD for a honeymoon styled studio Villa on a gorgeous property (all listed & photographed in the Hotels/Resorts section here & here) so Bantayan Island really has something to offer everyone, on just about any budget.
Sunrise in Santa Fe, Bantayan Island, Cebu Philippines: a typical morning sky displays beautiful pastel colors around 5:30am in Summer.
About ‘Island Life’:
It's also very old fashioned and peaceful on Bantayan Island, and life is much slower here as there are no big city shopping malls, hotel chains, mega movie theaters or metro discos, etc. (get your fill of those on Cebu’s Mainland)
Island Life here is slower and more relaxing, but that’s really the beauty of it all, as some roads are still yet to be paved, and locals who farm & raise livestock live very simply in bamboo & coco wood houses; the warmth and friendliness of the local people here only serves to make Bantayan a more unique & very special place for all who visit.
I’ve worked hard personally researching, photographing and putting together all the information and images here which basically began as email responses to people all over the world who were contacting me for accurate Bantayan Island information after searching online for that information, and after seeing my scenic photography and writing of the Island online in early 2005, so you’ll find that this website goes well beyond amateur/hobyist web pages with low resolution amateur photography, and the few paragraphs written about Bantayan Island in publications (many times presenting old and inaccurate information) so from that standpoint it’s quite unique.
This website is also a work in progress that has now undergone a redesign process - the redux going LIVE on May 12, 2008 with a new left side bar Banner Area for adspace/Sponsors/vendors & businesses, more content, pages/links and images, etc. and more good things to come in the future. Click here to see the previous website (we are not going to be updating the old site starting May 12, 2008)
Thank you, and welcome to Bantayan Island.
PJAMES