Hi,

We are going to the Philipines the week before christmas, and originally
we
had planned to spend this week on Boracay. Yesterday we recieved an offer
from a friend's friend, where we could stay for free in her summer house
in
Batangas.

So my question is, how is Batangas for a 30-ish couple without any prior
experience traveling in the Philipines? We originally opted for Boracay
after seeing a Lonely Planet Pilot Guide on the Travel channel, but one
week
of free accomodation is very tempting...
Should we spend lots of money staying in (and flying to) Boracay, or
should
we go to Batangas?

This is supposed to be the "beach week" of our month in SoutEast Asia...


Where exactly in Batangas is the house located?

These kind of houses are typically owned by people to use for the
occasional weekend retreat away from Manila, and I suspect you may
find its located in a rather quiet location with very little going on
in the area.

There are beaches in parts of Batangas, but nothing that compares to
the white sandy beach of Boracay. A week might be a bit too long to
spend in either place, so you could consider splitting the time
between the two. A couple of nights at your friend's house and then
the rest of the week on Boracay might be the best solution. Boracay
has literally dozens of restaurants and other things to do in the
evenings, so much less risk of a couple of your age getting bored, as
might be the case if you were stuck in some isolated part of Batangas
for several days.

Chris

Thank you very much, Chris.

Just found out that the house is located in a place called Tali Beach.
Don't know if that makes any difference..

-HH