Leyte as well as Samar are two of the most underrated provinces in the country. These huge islands is house to a number of fantastic beaches, breathtaking rock formations, as well as glorious waterfalls. The sad part is that not many people know about them. It was not a surprise that during our stay in Tacloban as well as Marabut, we always discovered ourselves the only non-locals in the area.
Perhaps one thing that’s going against Leyte as well as Samar is the weather. located on the easternmost end of the Visayas, they are at the frontline — almost always the very first to be hit by typhoons that get spewed by the Pacific towards the Philippines. On the upside, many of the natural wonders of Eastern Visayas remain pristine, unspoiled, as well as absolutely enchanting.
WHAT’S covered IN THIS GUIDE?
Booking Tickets to Tacloban
Creating a 3D/2N Tacloban Itinerary
Budget Breakdown
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Booking Tickets to Tacloban
All this started when we availed of the PISO FARE promo by Cebu Pacific Air. It was a massive sale, covering thousands of seats on flights to all domestic destinations. The sale happened in 2010 however we confidently booked seats to Tacloban, scheduled a year ahead, in February 2011. quite frankly, the only reason we booked Tacloban tickets was that it was the only destination with offered on-sale seats on our chosen dates. Although we had no concept what was in store for us in Tacloban, we were happy snagging a excellent deal. We never expected violent storms to rattle our travel plan that month.
The flight to Tacloban we booked was scheduled to leave Manila at around 04:20am while our return flight at 6:20pm two days later. That gave us three full days to check out the region.
The total expense of our roundtrip tickets for all 3 of us was only P292. Divide that by 3 as well as that’s a bit over P97 per person. excellent deal, indeed!
Creating a 3D/2N Tacloban Itinerary
We had totally forgotten about the flights we booked until mid-January, two weeks before the trip. That’s the downside of booking a year in advance, LOL. When we remembered, we got worried since it was raining almost non-stop. however as mentioned above, we decided to just push through with the trip.
Immediately, we knew we wanted to tour Tacloban City as well as see the many tourist spots there such as the Sto. Nino Shrine as well as the San Juanico Bridge. We chose to dedicate the last day to the city tour so we won’t have to hurry catching our flight. What to do in the very first two days needed some meticulous online research.
We at first wanted to go to Cuatro Islas in Inopacan, Leyte (hours from Tacloban) however we feared the roads going there might be difficult since of the heavy rain. however after browsing a few websites, the very first thing we agreed on was to visit the Sohoton natural Bridge natural Park in nearby Basey town in the province of Samar. It was less than an hour away from Tacloban City. second day, check.
For our very first day, we thought it would be best to stay at the beach. After checking out several websites of beach resorts around Tacloban, we decided to stay at Marabut Marine Park beach resort in Marabut, Samar, a full hour drive from the city proper of Tacloban.
This is exactly how our itinerary looked.
Day 1: MARABUT MARINE PARK beach RESORT
03:10 am – Rendezvous at NAIA terminal 3 check-in counter
04:20 am – ETD NAIA terminal 3 (Manila)
05:35 am – ETA Daniel Romualdez flight terminal (Tacloban)
06:15 am – new Tacloban Bus Terminal
07:15 pm – ETA: Marabut Marine Park beach resort check in
07:40 pm – Swimming, Snorkeling
12:00 pm – Lunch
01:00 pm – Rest
03:00 pm – Kayaking
07:00 pm – Dinner
Day 2: SOHOTON natural BRIDGE natural PARK
06:00 am – wake up call
07:00 am – go to national highway as well as wait for bus/van to Basey
07:30 am – go to Basey tourism Office
08:00 am – start Tour: Sohoton natural Bridge natural Park
05:00 pm – return to Basey tourism Office
06:00 pm – return to Marabut extreme (Marine Park beach Resort)
07:00 pm – Dinner
9:00 pm – Sleep
Day 3: TACLOBAN CITY TOUR
06:30 am – wake up call
07: 30 am – go to national highway as well as wait for bus/van to Tacloban
08:30 am – San Juanico Bridge
09:30 am – Breakfast
11:00 am – start City Tour: Sto Nino Shrine, Leyte landing (Palo),
04:15 pm – go to Tacloban Airport
06:20 pm – ETD Tacloban Airport
07:35 pm – ETA NAIA terminal 3 Manila
Note that this was our preliminary itinerary. What really happened is a different story. It turns out that the rain would still get in the way. check out my next posts as I will be narrating what happened to our trip in detail.\
Budget Breakdown
To provide you an concept on exactly how much we spent, here’s the list of my expenses for this Tacloban-Marabut trip.
P880 – Marabut extreme experience room
P500 – Caluwayan beach resort open cottage
P500 – total transportation
P2000 – total foodP230 – total terminal fees
P70 – Santo Nino Shrine entrance charge (P200 divided by 3 persons, rounded off)
P30 – Santo Nino Shrine camera fee
P4,210 – total EXPENSES
Note that airfare as well as pasalubong expenses are not yet included. You’ll likewise notice that I did not include the charge for Sohoton Cave Tour. That’s since in reality, we failed to visit since of the rain. You’ll discover the full story as well as detailed chronicling of the events here.
But overall, it was a excellent trip that was spoiled by the rain. You might likewise want to visit when it’s not typhoon season. however I already said that.
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