Iloilo travel blog — The fullest Iloilo guide for a great trip to Iloilo

June 25, 2018

The house is hidden behind an old tree and is completely made of wood, very cool and saves a lot of pictures and memoirs of the vice president.

Casa Mariquit

Address: Santa Isabel St., Jaro, Iloilo City
Opening hours: 8 am – 5 pm (daily)
Entrance fee: About 1 dollar

Wind farm

The wind farm is also a must -come place to travel Iloilo, Philippines. Like the other wind farms, this place has very airy space, suitable for taking pictures. Choose Jeepneys or Tricycle for your photos to become more specific.

Galeon Making – a craft village

Galeon Making is famous for making completely crafted boats, and you will be able to experience the production process and the products that are suitable for you to purchase as gifts. Especially, the price of the boat here is very cheap, only about 6 dollars (about 130 thousand VND).

Bariaque Miagao Church – UNESCO World Heritage Site

In Iloilo, you can also find ancient churches dating back thousands of years everywhere. The Baroque Miagao Church, a UNESCO world heritage site, was built in 1993. The church is made of stone and is well preserved. Bariaque Miagao is also known as the honey church or the Sto. Tomas the Villanueva Paris – a symbol of the belief of the Iloilo people.

Guimaras Island

Guimaras is an island province of the Philippines located in the Western Visayas, which is the smallest province in this region. The island is located on Panay Bay, between the two big islands of Panay Island and the Negros Island, great views. To get to Guramas Island, you only take 10 to 15 minutes by boat from Iloilo Port. Traveling in Guimaras, you will have the opportunity to explore the simple life, not affected by the tourism of local people.

In Guimaras there are also some places which sell tour in order to explore the smaller islands, you will have about 1.5-2 hours to explore 3 other pristine islands and enjoy scuba diving and swimming.

Iloilo travel guide: What to eat in Iloilo?

Enjoy Batchoy at Netongs Restaurant

Batchoy is the most famous dish in Iloilo, it is said: “not eat batchoy is not to Iloilo”. This dish is quite similar to Vietnamese noodles but eat with fresh noodles. Especially the restaurant will serve free water, you can eat as much as you like.

Try everything from mango

The most cultivated species in Iloilo is mango. In Iloilo, there is also a mango festival held every year. Mango is widely grown and processed into many delicious dishes such as Pizza, Spaghetti, juice, … In addition, mango is sold very much along the road at very cheap price, only from 1.5 – 2 dollars/kg

“Trời ơi” Restaurant

This is the only restaurant serving Vietnamese food in Iloilo by a Filipino people who have lived in Vietnam for 7 years with Vietnamese chef. At first glance, this like the restaurants in Hoi An, specializing in serving Vietnamese dishes such as noodles, beef noodle, salad rolls, salad … very delicious. Note, should order enough to eat because there are very big for a food set.

Ponsyon by Breakthrough Restaurant

This restaurant is located in a shopping mall, where a lot of restaurants, pubs, like Ben Thanh market of Vietnam, you can combine a walk and stop to eat. The food here is suitable for the taste of the Vietnamese and is very diverse.

Iloilo travel blog: What to buy in Iloilo?

Mango and products of mango

Mango is very popular in Iloilo and is sold quite very cheap, 1kg of mango is only around 1 – 2 dollars.In addition, you can buy other products such as mango gum, mango candy, mango cake, mango sauce, … are very popular

Handmade boat

Sold at Galeon Making, which is famous for producing completely crafted boats, the price of the boat is very cheap, only about 6 dollars (about 130 thousand VND).

Cakes in Deocampos barquillos

Coming to Deocampos barquillos, you can visit the bakery and buy a variety of biscuits as a gift is also an interesting option. Also, you can try cake you like and try the cake in that place.

NOTE: Some useful Iloilo tips

As in other places in the Philippines you will find security is tight everywhere, this is normal. Going to the trade center also have to check the bag, go through the ferry, the boat must register the name in a small book, …
When entering the restaurant, do not take anything from other tables. For example, if the table is out of paper or toothpick, you should ask the waiter instead of taking a side table, which is something people do not like about you.
You should bring medicine because of mango here too much and delicious. You will be “Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis” when eating too much mango.
You do not need to worry about eating because here they eat quite like Vietnam.
Local people can speak English, so you do not need to worry about anything.

Some best day tours, trips, activities and transfer services, tickets in, from and to Iloilo you can refer to

Are you looking for more top things to do in Iloilo: Tours, activities, attractions and other things? Let’s check it out here. And another paradise island in Philippines. Let’s check out Bohol travel blog — The fullest Bohol travel guide to explore Bohol Island for the first-timers.