FEBRUARY 2016:
OVERVIEW:
My costs start in Port Barton Town Centre and include:
- 1 night in a BELOW GRANDPAcking Standard dorm
- 5 nights in a GRANDPAcking Standard cottage 100m from the beach
- Food & Drink
- Mobile Data / Communications
- Visa cost apportionment
- Trips & Tours
- Transport from Port Barton to El Nido
CROSS REFERENCES:
For more detail, read about Port Barton – Philippines – Information.
Click here to read about Retirement Locations in this country.
Click here for detailed Travel Information and more Travel Budgets in this country.
Read About – GRANDPAcking Costs if you don’t know how to interpret my figures.
SPREADSHEET SUMMARY:
MY ACTUAL 1 PERSON GRANDPAcking COSTS:
Cost Of Existence (COE):
Accommodation: My accommodation was 1 night in a BELOW ‘GRANDPAcking Standard’ Dorm Room (breakfast excluded) followed by 5 nights in a ‘GRANDPAcking Standard’ Double Chalet with fan (breakfast excluded).
Transport: I did not need any transport.
Communications & Fees: In Manila Airport, I purchased a 1 month Globe SIMcard with ‘unlimited’ data and no texts nor calls; this was still ‘active’ for my time in Port Barton.
Food: I averaged PHP231 / day… this was usually a cheap breakfast and lunch in a local cafe and something from a budget restaurant in the evening. I bought big bottles of water for drinking and ablutions. However, for 36 hours all I ate was bananas (to clear up a bit of constipation) and I did not always have fruit drinks.
My ‘Cost of Existing / Day’ was PHP884 / NZ$30 / US$19 / €18 / £14.
This put a ‘nice’ roof over my head, gave me necessary transport & other basic necessities, fed me 3 times each day, and paid for my refreshments.
Cost Of LIVING:
My available ‘LIVING Funds’ each day were PHP1488 / NZ$50 / US$33 / €30 / £23.
Visa: The Philippines Visa isn’t cheap, so I have apportioned the Visa costs against my nights in Port Barton. It comes out at just over US$1 / day.
Bars: A small San Miguel in starts at PHP40 but can be as high as PHP65 on the beach. I average PHP163 / night on drinks.
Personal: I didn’t need to purchase any personal items.
Trips: I did a 1 day Island Hopping Trip for PHP750.
Shopping: I didn’t do any shopping.
My actual GRANDPAcking costs came in at PHP1344 / NZ$45 / US$30 / €27 / £21 per day. This was 57% of my total budget… I still had 43% of my budget left.
I had enough LIVING funds to have fun as and when I wanted to. But, there wasn’t much to do – just relax.
WHAT IT SHOULD COST 2 GRANDPAckers:
Cost Of Existence (COE):
Accommodation: You will struggle to book a GRANDPAcking Standard room online for under PHP1200 / night. Get online early and search for deals before you arrive. Once there, you should be able to find suitable accommodation at PHP900 / night (excluding breakfast). As Port Barton seems to be constantly full, it will be hard to get better discounts.
Transport: You won’t need scooters nor taxis. For your ‘weekly break’, I have included a budget to go on a day trip to Roxas each week at a cost of PHP400 return each.
Communications: I have included a prepaid 1 Month Globe ‘unlimited’ data package with no texts and no talk time.
Food: You are unlikely to get breakfast included in your hotel rate. I have budgeted for you to have breakfast (Omelette, Toast, and Coffee PHP80) and Lunch (a Filipino PHP50 ‘special’ with a fruit drink (PHP60) at the Gacayan. For Dinner I have budgeted for something simple (PHP90) in a local cafe with a fruit juice (PHP90).
The ‘Cost Of Existence’ of 2 GRANDPAckers is about PHP1839 / NZ$62 / US$41 / €37 / £28 per day.
Cost Of LIVING:
This is about PHP533 per day to LIVE on (i.e. 22% of your GRANDPAcking budget).
With that money you could:
- Upgrade your dinner and eat in a nice restaurant (and still have PHP200 left)
- Drink 12 small San Miguels
- Save up for 3 days and both go on a boat trip
With that amount of LIVING funds available things will be a bit ‘tighter’ than in other places but you should still be able to have many good days.
CONCLUSION:
Port Barton is worth a visit… but don’t expect to be on the beach.
Personally, I think that after 1 month you will have had enough of the place and will want to move on.
Why not go to Sabang instead? For the same price, you can get a cottage on the beach – and it’s just as nice in Sabang.
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