When heading off to Pangasinan, Bolinao is the first thing that comes out of my mind. The pristine beach with its fine sand, gigantic falls, awesome seafoods and peaceful place to relax and chill. But above these positive things about Bolinao, you might want to re-think visiting this place.
Our family decided to enjoy the summer since we are always dreaming of having an out of town vacation and the nearest place that we could think of is Pangasinan. We searched for a place to rest for a night and wild activities that my siblings and nephews could enjoy. We have a lot of choices, but opted Villa Soledad Beach Resort (I will do a separate post for the review).
We arrived at the resort around 11 in the morning and the management allowed us to check in earlier than the specified time (that's a thumb up!). My brother searched for a thrilling activities and found out that there were caves and falls in Bolinao. He even boasted that there are also rock formations and the famous Patar beach just 20 minutes drive away from the resort.
TRAVEL TIME & DISTANCE:
PROS: Traveling to Bolinao is quite easy. There are tantamount of public transporation available from Manila and from other provinces. Since I am from La Union, the travel time is pretty short at approximately 3 hours.
CONS: If you're from Manila, I am pretty sure you'll be bored because the time travel is long hours, around 6-7 hours. Public vehicle will give you headache becuase of the stop overs and picking of passengers along the road. Pangasinan is one of the places in the north with the hottest temperature and a lot of traffic jams.
BEACHES:
PROS: As I mentioned, Bolinao has picturesque beach and clean sea water. Patar Beach is well known for its mocha-colored sand and not as touristy as you think.
CONS: However, it is not good for snorkelling or deep diving because sharp and spiky stones. In addition, there are sea grasses and seaweeds all over that you can't enjoy the "blue" ocean.
TOURIST DESTINATIONS:
PROS: Aside from beach, there's a variety of destination in Bolinao such as falls and caves. We had the chance to pay a sight on the famous Enchanted cave and look around the Lighthouse. We even watched a pre-nup shoot and it was very romantic.
CONS: These tourist spots in Bolinao has become the major source of income of localities. Every sight has an amount. It is very disappointing that a natural environment destination has a fee. And even parking has payment. Rock formation is a must-see in Bolinao, but because of the 75 php fee per head, I hadn't seen one. The church is the only exception to this pay, see and took a picture scheme.
ACCOMODATION:
PROS: There are wide variety of hotels in Bolinao, from budget-friendly, mid-range and luxurious hotels. You can actually choose from resorts and to a fully furnished condo-style room.
CONS: Most of the hotels or inns are along the beach that makes it crowded and becoming a "slum area". And since you have a lot of choices, noise is also a huge problem since each low cost hotels has karaoke. Some accomodations does not have websites or contact information.
So when you're planning to visit Bolinao, just pack and go! But of course, not all travels are beautiful and free.
