Polillo Island

Polillo Island is an island off the coast of eastern Quezon. It is composed of three municipalities, and largely rural area surrounded by rainforest.

Understand

This article includes small islands off the coast of each of the three constituent municipalities.

Polillo Island has a sparse population of about 60 thousand people, in 628.9 km² (242.8 sq mi) of land, and is extremely rural. It is connected to mainland Luzon by ferry (mostly used by trucks and motorcycles), most houses do not rise above 2 storeys, and most land area is covered by tropical rainforest. The area is always rainy regardless of the season.

The island's history date back to pre-colonial contact of ancient Filipino civilization with Chinese traders.

Polillo Island and its surrounding islands are split up into three municipalities, Polillo, Burdeos and Panukulan for administrative purposes.

Get in

By boat

Most travellers to Polillo island will enter through Ungos Port in Real or Dinahican Port in Infanta. These towns have bus service from Metro Manila, provided by Raymond Transport. Vehicle barges are available from Ungos Port, but it is mostly used to transport motorcycles than cars or large vehicles. Passenger-only ferries depart from Dinahican Port.

There are also boats to Balesin Island from Atimonan.

By plane

The luxury Balesin Island resort has its own airport:

• 1 E.L. Tordesillas Airport (Balesin Airport) (BSI  ^IATA). A private airstrip, with a concrete 1,533 m (5,030 ft) runway which can accommodate propeller and turboprop aircraft. Alphaland Aviation has charter flights for resort guests from Manila and Cavite City, using planes leased from AirSwift. (updated Oct 2023)

Get around

The most common mode of transportation in the island are tricycles. Bringing a motorcycle can be also practical, as there are almost no cars on the island. Most people will just take a tricycle or use their motorcycle.

The other islands forming Polillo Island are only accessible by boat from the main port in Polillo.

See

• 1 Burdeos Bridge, Polillo-Burdeos Provincial Road. Open 24 hours. Free. (updated Oct 2023)
• 2 Anilon Cave, Anirong Island, Burdeos. Open 24 hours. (updated Oct 2023)

Do

• 1 Bigyan Beach, Barangay Tumalaya-Anibhong. Open 24 hours. Free. (updated Oct 2023)
• 2 Puting Bato Beach Camp, Burdeos. Open 24 hours. Free. (updated Oct 2023)

Sleep

• 1 Queen Margarette Hotel Burdeos, Enverga Street, Poblacion. Check-in: 2PM, check-out: noon. (updated Oct 2023)
• 2 Marcutell Hotel, Poblacion, Burdeos. Check-in: 2PM, check-out: noon. (updated Oct 2023)
• 3 Casa Escarlata Bed & Breakfast Inn, Jose P. Rizal Street, Barangay Poblacion. Check-in: 2PM, check-out: noon. (updated Oct 2023)