2024 White Beach Puerto Galera Trip for 3D2N. Travel Guide and Expenses

My second time visiting Puerto Galera's White Beach. So much has changed in five years! The first time I explored this place was in November 2019, just months before the pandemic. But unlike five years ago, my second trip was longer. We stayed for three days and two nights. Date of travel: July 5 to 7, 2024.

The Municipality of Puerto Galera is a first-class municipality in the province of Oriental Mindoro, Philippines. Popularly recognized as one of the most beautiful bays in the world, White Beach in Puerto Galera has not lost its charm, despite shifting Philippine tourism's focus to other beaches in the country.

One thing I love about Puerto Galera beaches is its proximity to Metro Manila. Just four hours away by bus and fast craft combined, the municipality is a perfect choice for a relaxing weekend getaway to escape the hustle and bustle of the metropolis.

At the bottom of this article, I will be sharing the expenses, our accommodation, and where to eat.

Our Trip:

I was traveling with my two former BPO colleagues, Reyn and Aya. We met in Cubao, Quezon City and instead of going to Buendia, we decided to go to the Araneta Bus Terminal near Ali Mall to catch a bus ride to Batangas Port.

We arrived there at nearly 8:00 in the morning. But it took more than an hour before the bus bound for Batangas Port arrived. We left Cubao at 9:22AM. Transportation fee Php268.00

At 12:30 in the afternoon, we arrived at the pier and walked straight to the port terminal to buy a fast craft ticket. The only fast craft company that had a departure schedule for Balatero Port at 1:00PM was the Galerian. Adult ticket: Php600.00 plus Php30.00 for a terminal fee.

It was a smooth ride since it was a sunny day and we arrived at the Balatero Port at 2:15 in the afternoon. We hired a tricycle to go to the White Beach area and after 20 minutes, we reached the guest house where we booked our stay!

Medelaine's Beach Resort is a beachfront accommodation and our room is just roughly 30 seconds from the beachside. It's a good place to stay in White Beach. It has a free breakfast and the room has wifi.

Other beachfront accommodations are Manalo's Lodge, Buena Lynne's Lodge, White Beach Hotel, Dreamwave, and VM Beach Resort. I saw Mindorinne Oriental Beach Resort, also a beachfront accommodation, but looks like a high-end hotel.

Just to set your expectations, White Beach is a party beach destination in Puerto Galera 😄. It has bars and restaurants that lined up along the beachside. As soon as the sun comes down, the beach comes to life with noises, and loud music, with guests swarming everywhere. We are not party lovers so after spending dinner, we went back to our room and slept haha!

We booked our island hopping at the White Beach Bar and Restaurant Travel Services. We are not good swimmers so we skipped the snorkeling activity and just chose the island tour activity with three beach destinations: Heart Beach, Haligi Beach, and Bayanan Beach. The package is Php2,500.00 for three persons.

Impressions on the three beaches:

Heart Beach - Just like most of the beaches in Puerto Galera, it has ivory sand and clear aquamarine waters, but I don't like this beach because it is rocky and has a narrow area to swim during high tide. It looks messy and I don't like the vibe in the atmosphere due to spiky rocks. We just took pictures and then left the place.

Haligi Beach - This area offers lunch with fresh seafood choices but is quite expensive. We did not take our lunch here. After nearly five minutes, we left the area.

Bayanan Beach - The last destination of our island tour. This is my favorite among the beach destinations of the island hopping in Puerto Galera due to its spacious beachfront. It also has crystal-clear water and a scenic environment. It's a perfect spot for swimming.

We spent our lunch at Don Leo's Restaurant back to the White Beach. This restaurant serves "lutong bahay". The servings are generous and at reasonable prices. We went back at dinner time.

Asking if there's an ATM booth in White Beach? Yes, there is. There's also a convenience store to buy your basic needs. Most of the shops accept E-wallets such as GCash and Paymaya.

Watersport Activities:

White Beach has plenty of water sports activities to enjoy during your stay. Activities start at 8:00 in the morning and will last until sunset:

Banana boat
Flying Saucer
Flying Fish
Jetski
Parasailing
Unicorn
Kayaking
Snorkeling

Apart from the island hopping activity, several travel packages in White Beach offer Inland Tours around the municipality. We did not avail of this package during our stay because we chose to stay on the beachside the whole time.

How To Get There?

If you're coming from Metro Manila, many bus terminals are serving the route to Batangas Pier. Buendia, Pasay, and Araneta Bus Terminal in Cubao, Quezon City. We chose the latter. Sometimes the signboard is SM Lipa (Batangas), just ask the driver or conductor if it's going to the Batangas Pier.

At the Batangas Port Terminal, you can choose either RoRo vessel (two hours travel), water taxi (an hour travel), or fast craft (also an hour travel to the Balatero port). We chose ti travel via fast craft because it's more convenient.

Upon arrival at the Balatero port, we hired a tricycle to go to our accommodation: Medelaine's Beach Resort at the White Beach.

Expenses:

1. Bus from Cubao to Batangas Pier: Php268.00

2. Galerian Fast Craft: Php600.00

3. Terminal Fee: Php30.00

4. Lunch (Batangas Port Terminal we just bought a pack meal): Php110.00

5. Tricycle (from Balatero Port to the White Beach area): Php150.00 (we're 3 so 50 each)

6. Room accommodation for 2 nights: Php5,800.00 (the room is good for 4 persons, since we are only 3, 1,933.33 each)

7. Dinner: 350.00 each (quite expensive since we only have barbeques)

8. Our accommodation has free breakfast

9. Island Hopping: Php2,500.00 for three persons so 833.33 each

10. Tip to boatman: Php400.00

11. Tricycle to go to the starting point of the island tour: Php100.00 for three persons (33.33 each)

12. Tricycle ride to go back to the White Beach area after the island hopping: Php100.00 for three persons (33.33 each)

13. Lunch (Don Leo's restaurant): Php820.00 for three persons (273.33 each)

14. Dinner: (Don Leo's restaurant): Php720.00 for three persons (240.00 each)

15. Montenegro fast craft ticket: Php660.00 (we bought our ticket from a travel agency, so it's expensive. It's better to buy a ticket from the ticketing booth of the fast craft company)

16. Tricycle to go to Balatero port: Php150.00 for 3 persons (50 each)

17. Terminal fee in Balatero port: Php10.00

18. *Bus from Batangas Pier to Cubao (Gold Star): Php277.00

Total: Php6,151.33 + Souvenir items: Php550.00 = Php6,701.33

*There are buses bound for Metro Manila in front of the Batangas Port Terminal so no need to go outside the vicinity. The bus company is Gold Star.

Here are our photos for this beach trip: