Want to visit Hundred Islands National Park in Alaminos, Pangasinan on a tight budget? Here's latest information on how to get there plus standard price of island-hopping/boat ride rentals for day tour or overnight tours.

UPDATED: November 2015

Travel Guide to Hundred Islands National Park:

One of the large boats for hire for island-hopping in Hundred Islands, Alaminos, Pangasinan

Hundred Islands Rates/Fees (to be booked at Lucap Wharf in Alaminos, Pangasinan)

Entrance Fee and Island-hopping rates are standard, no worries against overcharging here

Day Tour:
Entrance Fee: PhP40.00
Small Boat (1-5 persons): Ph1,000.00
Medium Boat (6-10 persons): PhP1,300.00
Big Boat (11-15 persons): PhP1,500.00

Overnight Tour:
Entrance Fee: PhP80.00
Small Boat (1-5 persons): PhP2,000.00
Medium Boat (6-10 persons): PhP2,500.00
Big Boat (11-15 persons): PhP3,000.00

A bit of spelunking/caving on one of small islands



How to get to Hundred Islands National Park:

How to Commute to Hundred Islands

from Manila, take a bus to Alaminos, Pangasinan

Bus to Alaminos, Pangasinan:
Victory Liner
Cubao to Alaminos, Pangasinan via Camiling, Tarlac
Fare: PhP393.00
Trip Schedules: 4am (first trip), 5:30am, 6am, 7am, 8am, 9am,
10am, 11am, 12nn, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm, 5pm, 6pm, 7pm, 8pm, 9pm
10:40pm, 11:50pm (last trip)
Travel time around 5 hours

Five Star Bus
Cubao to Alaminos: PhP393.00 (air-conditioned) PhP300.00 (ordinary)
Pasay to Alaminos: PhP403.00 (air-conditioned) PhP308.00 (ordinary)
Trip schedules: please call Five Star hotline +63.927.712.4349 for the latest bus trip schedule


Driving Directions to Hundred Islands:

From Manila, head to EDSA then NLEX and SCTEX all the way to Tarlac then take the road going to Camiling, San Clemente, Mangatarem (Pangasinan), Aguilar, Bugallon, Labrador, Sual, and Alaminos

Activities:

swimming, snorkeling, diving, beach bumming (some beaches have lots of jelly fishes (dikya) if in season), rappeling

Coming Up:

Hundred Islands Beach Resorts, Hotels, Accommodations

Labels: Ilocos Region, Islands, National Parks, Pangasinan, Travel Guides

It was supposed to be a photo contest organized by the Bulacan PPAO (meaning escaped me, sorry) announced in one of my numerous mailing lists on a Friday. Deadline of submission of application was the following monday so I hurriedly accomplished the forms.

Visiting the historic Biak-na-bato was foremost in my mind; this opportunity would make me fulfill that wish for free.

My friends and I arrived at the Bulacan provincial capitol in Malolos just a few minutes off the announced time but it turned out we had to wait, as always, for the other participants and organizers to show up. We expected a battalion of photographers but it turned out the organizers lacked the information drive so was only able to reach a handful of people.

After almost 2 hours of waiting, we, numbering around 22, were herded into vans that transported us to San Miguel town we found out are so far from the capitol and encountered traffic along the way and passed by fields and unpaved road going to the national park used as a hideout and camp of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo during the Filipino-American war.

Arriving at Biak-na-bato, we were briefed by the organizers about the trip and divided us into groups according to our preferences on where to go and take pictures. I readily noticed the guides' "brilliance" in estimating distances since they always talk hundreds of kilometers to trek towards certain destinations which only superman can cover in a matter of minutes or seconds. Being human has it's limitations; the guides should've studied the true distances only a few kilometers instead of hundreds.

We first toured the park leading to a bridge, streams, pahingahan cave (resting place in Filipino) and Bahay Paniki (house of bats). Guides kept on telling stories of the cave where Gen. Aguinaldo allegedly signed the Treaty of Biak-na-bato in 1897. Such claims by the guides were erroneous since the treaty was never signed in those caves but in a hut outside the caves. The caves merely sheltered the Katipunan, whose various chambers and passageways, forming a labyrinth, is a deathtrap for any unsuspecting enemy to enter.

Biak-na-bato treaty provided for the surrender of Gen Aguinaldo and his followers, amnesty for those who joined the rebellion, plus pocket money to be exiled to Hong Kong. But even after signing the treaty, the rebellion didn't stop, fighting continued and the money paid by the Spanish government were spent to buy arms. The war continued at such an opportune time when the Americans came with the ships of Dewey...the rest was history.

What picqued me on seeing the historic park was the government's disregard of the ecological disaster waiting to happen when quarrying was allowed, despite it being declared a protected national park. The following pictures will tell you why:


vandals violating sacred place


the desecrated side of Mt. Manalmon blasted away by dynamite in search of the precious marble

a river runs thorough it


aren't people supposed to stay out of protected reserve? even washing their clothes can ruin the water...tsk...tsk...tsk


a shoud've been nice photo if not for the bad lighting :(

the bat cave. wait until 5pm for the friends of the Dark Knight to come out

Continued here.


Bulacan Resorts

Labels: Bulacan, Caves, Central Luzon, Emilio Aguinaldo, Filipino-American War, History, National Parks