My Philippines Trip
Three days in a city that does not raise its voice. The heritage houses open by appointment, and appointment means phoning a grandson. The kansi in La Paz is bone-marrow sour. The churches are older than most of Europe thinks they are. This is the Philippines most Palawan travellers have not seen yet.
Iloilo rewards slowness. This is a heritage city, one of the oldest in the country, and its pleasures are the kind you find by walking, eating, and asking. Nothing on this trip is rushed. Nothing is big-ticket. The work of the three days is to let the place land.
You stay in the old downtown, walk Calle Real most mornings, and eat at the market at least twice. A guide who knows the heritage-house families will open doors that are not on any public itinerary. Sunday morning is for Molo or Jaro, whichever feels right that week.
The trip is private throughout. Your vehicle, your guide, your pace. There are no groups, no optional add-ons at the desk, no surprise upsells. The package is the package.
The best morning of the week for kansi is Tuesday, because the bones come in fresh on Monday evening and the pot has had the right amount of time. The soup is famously sour, batuan fruit does the work, and travellers who have only had Manila versions tend to flinch at the first spoonful and then, within a minute, understand. Batchoy at Ted’s afterwards, if there’s room.
The old main street runs about a kilometre. Most of the façades are restored now, some are not, which is arguably better. A good guide will stop at three or four specific buildings and tell you which grandson to phone for interior access. Casa Mariquit is the usual one. It still opens on request.
Molo is the one people call the feminist church. Every saint in the nave is a woman, which is unusual enough to have its own small scholarship. Jaro is the grander building and the patron saint’s home. Pick one, arrive before the 9am mass, and stay for it whether or not you are Catholic. The singing is the reason.
Landing at Iloilo airport, met and transferred to Citadines Amigo in the city centre. Check-in, then the afternoon is yours: the river esplanade is a short walk, and Calle Real is made for the hour before dinner.
Pick-up at 8am for a day that covers the coast and the city, deliberately full. South first: Garin Farm at San Joaquin with its white pilgrimage hill, the San Joaquin church and its campo santo, the fortress church at Miag-ao (UNESCO-listed, built to stand up to raids and earthquakes alike), then Guimbal and Tigbauan on the road back. The city takes the afternoon: Molo church and mansion, Casa Mariquit, Jaro cathedral and its belfry across the road, the economic museum, and a running tour of the millionaires’ rows, Muelle Loney, Calle Real, Fort San Pedro, and Festive Walk, with the brandy museum to finish. Back to the hotel by early evening.
Breakfast at the hotel, a free morning, then the transfer to the airport for departure.
From USD 309 per person · minimum 2 pax.
Three days for Iloilo: one to arrive, one enormous one for the coast and the city, one to leave slowly. If the city takes hold, Guimaras is a short boat away and extra nights are easy, arranged after booking, not at checkout. Ask us.