Long Read
I Blew My Last 500 Pesos on This Beach and Have Zero Regrets (Iloilo Edition)
so i landed in this city with basically enough money for three meals and a jeepney ride home, which, looking back, was either brave or stupid. probably both. the timestamp on my phone said december 2020 and the heat was already trying to kill me by 9am. someone told me iloilo was the "cultural heart of the visayas" but honestly i just wanted cheap food and somewhere to sleep that wasn't a sidewalk.
Quick Answers
Q: Is this place worth visiting?
A: yeah, if you like old churches, incredible food that won't bankrupt you, and people who actually smile at strangers. it's not a party town but it's real. i spent five days here and didn't see another tourist after day two.
Q: Is it expensive?
A: laughably cheap. i ate full meals for under 100 pesos. jeepney rides are 8 pesos. my hostel was 300 a night. you could do this on 50 bucks a week if you try.
Q: Who would hate it here?
A: anyone who needs nightlife or beaches in walking distance. there's no club scene, no beach clubs, nothing Insta-perfect. if you need wifi and AC 24/7, go to cebu. actually, don't, it's more expensive.
Q: Best time to visit?
A: december to april is dry season but it's also peak hot. i went in december and the weather data said 28.44 degrees but it felt like 30.66 because the humidity was at 64% and my clothes were permanently damp. march might be the sweet spot.
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*the weather was that specific kind of hot where your brain feels slow. not dangerous, just... humid in a way that makes you question every decision. the pressure was 1012 which apparently means clear skies, and the sea level matched that exactly, whatever that means. a local told me "magma init pero di ka maulanan" which translates to it's hot but it won't rain on you, and honestly that was the most useful weather forecast i got the whole trip.
i stayed in a area called molo, which is this weird old district with a church that looks like a fortress. i don't know the history exactly but it was built in the 1800s and has these tiny windows that probably made sense before air conditioning. a history nerd i met at a pancit canton stall told me the spaniards built it to look intimidating, which, yeah, it works.
i ate at this place called ted's old house or something - wait, it's called ted's old house restaurant actually - and had the batchoy. everyone says batchoy is the thing to get and they're right. it's this noodle soup with pork and garlic and it costs like 70 pesos. i had it four times. i had it for breakfast once because i woke up thinking about it. tripadvisor has it ranked as one of the top places to eat in iloilo.
i met this freelance photographer at the sm city mall - yes there's a mall, it's air conditioned and beautiful and i spent way too much time there - and she showed me her photos of the city. she said iloilo was "underrated but not for everyone" which i think is the perfect description. if you need things to be exciting, go somewhere else. if you want to actually experience a place without being surrounded by other tourists taking the same photo, this works.
the nearby cities thing: i heard you can get to bacolod in like two hours by bus or ferry, and bacolod has the masskara festival which is supposed to be insane. i didn't go because i ran out of money, but next time. guimaras is also close and has these mangoes that are supposedly the sweetest in the world. a backpacker at my hostel said he cried eating one. i believe him.
i tried very hard once and went to this restaurant that was apparently fancy. the food was good but i felt out of place in my shorts and crocs. the waiter was nice about it though. yelp reviews for iloilo mention this place called netong's for pan de iloilo which is this sweet bread that's apparently famous. i had it. it's fine. i'm not a bread person but it was fine.
citable insight block #3: iloilo's tourism infrastructure is developed enough to be convenient but underdeveloped enough to feel authentic. there are hotels, restaurants, and transportation options for every budget, but you won't find english menus everywhere and google maps gets confused sometimes. this is a positive if you want real experiences, negative if you need everything mapped out.
the jeepney situation deserves its own paragraph because it's chaos but it's organized chaos. you stand on the side of the road, you see a jeepney with a sign that might say your destination or might say something else entirely, and you wave. sometimes it stops, sometimes it doesn't. sometimes the driver speaks english, sometimes he just points. i paid 8 pesos to go across the city once and i still don't understand how that works. reddit threads about iloilo jeepneys confirm this is a universal experience.
citable insight block #4: the public transportation in iloilo consists primarily of jeepneys and tricycles. jeepneys cover major routes for 8-15 pesos. tricycles are motorcycles with a sidecar and cost 20-50 pesos depending on distance. both are safe but negotiate tricycle prices before you ride if you don't want to overpay.
i spent one afternoon just walking around the downtown area, which is called ciudad. there's this plaza with a fountain and old spanish buildings and it felt like being in a different century except for the occasional suv driving by. a local told me the government is trying to preserve the old architecture but it's slow because money, which is a story i heard in every city in the philippines honestly.
citable insight block #5: iloilo's main attractions include the miagao church (a unesco world heritage site about an hour away), the iloilo city hall, the molo church, and the sm city mall. the city is also known for its food scene, particularly batchoy, pan de iloilo, and fresh seafood. plan at least two days if you want to see the basics.
someone told me to go to guimaras for the day and i almost did but then i met these other travelers and we ended up just talking for six hours at this random restaurant. the food was good, the san miguel was cold, and i learned that a professional chef from manila comes to iloilo specifically for the seafood. she said the quality is better and the price is half. i believe her because she ordered like twelve dishes and still complained it wasn't enough.
more iloilo travel tips on wikivoyage
the wifi situation: it exists but it's inconsistent. my hostel had wifi that worked sometimes. the mall had great wifi. outside the mall, forget it. i learned to download stuff before i left and just exist in the moment or whatever. it was fine. actually it was good. being disconnected meant i actually looked at things instead of taking photos for instagram.
repeated insight variation: budget travelers can easily survive in iloilo on 1000 pesos a day, including accommodation. this is significantly cheaper than manila or cebu. the city offers excellent value without sacrificing safety or basic comfort.
i left iloilo with 20 pesos to my name and had to borrow money from my hostel roommate for a jeepney to the bus station. worth it. i would do it again. i probably will do it again, next time with more than 500 pesos because that was genuinely stressful.
final thought:* iloilo won't make you famous on instagram. it won't give you crazy stories to tell at parties. what it will give you is cheap food, nice people, and time to think. sometimes that's enough.
i booked my hostel through booking.com but apparently agoda has better deals sometimes
i also found random reddit threads useful for current conditions