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Spend a few days in Siargao, the fig-shaped Filipino island in the country’s southeast, and locals will tell you, with a mix of anxiety and excitement, that the coconut tree-covered enclave is what Bali was in the 1970s. Or they might say, as the documentarian and trans-rights activist Queenmelo Esguerra told me last month, that laid-back hotels and cafes that’ve opened this decade (like Siago), “feel inspired by Tulum, no?”
What the island, one of more than 7,000 that comprise the Philippines, shares with these busier destinations is a bohemian history, warm hospitality, beautiful jungle and ocean surroundings and an under-the-radar sense of cool that, as some locals rightfully worry, will quickly diminish if the construction seemingly happening everywhere isn’t carefully managed. Two years ago, the main airport began a major expansion — and now there are more than two dozen short flights each week to Siargao from two of the country’s major cities, Manila and Cebu; in recent years, United and Philippine Airlines started direct routes to Manila from New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. Some residents fear that cruise ship docks aren’t far-off on the horizon.
For now, though, this 169-square-mile landmass still feels very remote. Regular visitors, like the mononymous Singaporean recording artist Linying, often bring up the “curse of Siargao” — the idea that you come here to lose yourself and then, soon after, lose your fidelity to time and to your life back home, deciding instead to extend your trip again and again as you canoe through mangroves, sing karaoke and eat pork lechon in General Luna, the most built-up area for tourists, and learn to surf at nearby Cloud Nine, host to many global competitions and widely considered to have some of the world’s nicest swells.
In fact, it was those barrel waves that first drew intrepid travelers in the 1980s, who named Cloud Nine after a popular Filipino chocolate bar and soon set up hippieish dive bars and hostels where they could party and crash. In 2010, Bobby Dekeyser, a German-Belgian businessman who founded the Filipino-made furniture line Dedon, built the discreet, high-end resort now known as Nay Palad Hideaway, which opened others’ eyes to the island’s potential as a luxurious escape. Then, in 2021, Super Typhoon Odette hit the southern Philippines, destroying much of Siargao, after which its 100,000 or so residents rebuilt in ways that improved their own lives (cellphone service has become less spotty and the roads are now better, although occasional power shortages occur and there’s still no full-scale hospital) and made the place, with a certain ambivalence, more welcoming to visitors.
Much of the island’s energy is centered on the aptly named Tourism Road, in General Luna, on Siargao’s southeastern edge. But if you want to really explore, hire a motorboat captain to take you to one of the tinier, barely inhabited islands in the Philippine Sea: You might have a pristine beach entirely to yourself. Or have a tuk-tuk driver bring you to the island’s north, where the real-estate developer Alelee Andanar, who lives between Manila and Siargao, recently launched an international artists’ residency and a by-appointment gallery. “Anyone who gets attached to Siargao enjoys a sense of novelty,” says Linying. “That’s my theory as to why it attracts so many creative people, that ‘best-kept secret’ thing, and the north feels like the encapsulation of that.” Here’s how to enjoy the whole island (and a few off its coast), with recommendations and advice from Dekeyser, Esguerra, Linying and the chef Inês Castañeda.
The Insiders
Inês Castañeda, a Mexican Portuguese cook who grew up in Spain, is a co-chef at Roots Siargao, a restaurant she opened last year with five other expats, all of whom met while working at Virgilio Martínez’s Central in Lima, Peru.
Bobby Dekeyser, a former professional European soccer player who’s been visiting the Philippines since 1990, is the founder of the furniture company Dedon and the owner of the resort Nay Palad Hideaway.
Queenmelo Esguerra is a documentarian, broadcast journalist and gender-equality activist who moved to Siargao from Manila in 2021.
Linying, a Singaporean musician who’s based in Los Angeles, first visited Siargao in 2023 for work and ended up recording an album there. She’s since returned five times.
Illustrations by Richard Pedaline
Sleep
“Nay Palad Hideaway put the island on the luxury map; before it opened in 2010, Siargao was a surfing destination, but the hotel elevated everything, from the service to the food.” (Villas from about $940 per night)
“Kalinaw is also beautiful. It’s minimalist in design and true to Siargao, with its convenient location: not far from Cloud Nine, with the sound of the waves nearby, yet away from the other noise of General Luna.” (Villas from about $425 per night) — Queenmelo Esguerra
“Even though we live in Siargao, we sometimes go to Izustarri, up north, run by a Spanish-Filipino couple. It’s a Brutalist concrete building on top of a cliff, and you’re surrounded by palm trees. Your room has one bed, one table and an amazing view — you don’t need anything else.” (Rooms from about $70 per night) — Inês Castañeda
Eat and Drink
“I’ve lived in Peru, so you can imagine I have a craving for ceviche. Cev offers that and kinilaw, which is similar but uses local vinegars (like coconut) and sometimes coconut milk and the [Filipino citrus fruit] biasong. It’s casual and has a very good atmosphere, too.
“The heart of Filipino food is pork sisig, and the place to get that is Kanin Baboy. It’s the cooked head of the pig, thinly sliced and garnished with kalamansi, and it’s exactly what you want to eat with a beer: crunchy, spicy, presented on a sizzling platter.
“Siargao Hawker is run by a Filipino-Singaporean couple. They serve comfort dishes — try the beef rendang or laksa — but the hospitality is what makes this place amazing.” — I.C.
“By weaving together Filipino culture with Japanese and Hawaiian influences, the tiki bar Manu tells a very good story. I order the Queenmelo — named after me! — which includes tequila, pineapple and chocolate bitters.
“Pan de Surf, board-shaped bread stuffed with coconut filling, is baked in a coconut husk in an improvised oven by a family right outside the cathedral [in General Luna]. They only sell it in the afternoon, and it’s sold out by sunset.” — Q.E.
“I always try the tasting menu at Roots. It’s seasonal — they use the restaurant as a vehicle to explore the biodiversity of the island. They have an amazing cassava cracker starter and a nice chile cacao dessert.
“At Coco Frío, a couple from Manila nails drinks made using every part of the coconut. Get the Coconut Coffee Freeze, basically a coconut slushy, where the flesh and milk are blended with a shot of espresso.” — Linying
Shop
“Traditionally the islanders are not craftsmen; they’re fishermen. But the shop worth visiting is Côte Femme, run by a Spanish woman who married a local surfer. She started doing beach clothes using fabrics from Spain, but it’s all made in Siargao, and she also sells hand-woven hats.” — Q.E.
“The surf shop Fat Lips does custom board-shaping, and it’s a great place to be a part of chill, unterritorial surf culture.” — L.
Take Home
“Siargao Green Artisans offers locally made design pieces, like lamps and furniture in native hardwood and rattan, for many of the island’s hotels and restaurants, but also for the home. They don’t have a showroom, but there are pieces for sale at Bravo Beach Resort. You can also book an appointment to visit their workshop through their website or Instagram.”
“It’s from the Philippines, not Siargao in particular, but I always bring my family in Spain dried mango. I like the Cebu brand: It’s not so sweet, with no sugar or spices. While they’re quite commercial, they’re of excellent quality.” — I.C.
“Have your picture taken by the photographer Camille [Robiou du Pont]. She takes the best island portraits that are distinctly Siargao.” — Q.E.
Explore
“Lokal Lab is an NGO on the north end of the island, and one of the founders, Analyn Dulpina, has been our guide for the restaurant’s monthly foraging trips. They offer a couple similar experiences, like farm tours, [for tourists].
“In the main port in General Luna, rent a bangka, the traditional boat, and go an hour away to Mam-on Island. You can buy a fisherman’s catch in town, and locals will grill it for you on the beach.” — I.C.
“I’m still a student of surfing, but I like Cloud Nine. The beach scene there is a little like Ibiza, with its mix of cultures. I hang out, walk around, go to a bar with friends and sing karaoke. Sometimes people invite us from the street into their homes. I don’t like planning, and it’s quite easy.
“You can take a boat to Sohoton, a beautiful cove, where you can bring stand-up paddleboards and swim with the pink jellyfish, which don’t sting and aren’t dangerous.” — Bobby Dekeyser
“On Mam-on Island, the water is fantastic and the sand is powdery. But viewing the sunset is best at Naked Island, so I go there then. You can get the Siargao Siren — a speedboat — which is faster. The Moon Path boat is also stable and nice.
“The Magpupungko Rock Pools [where you can swim and jump off cliffs] are a fantastic place if it’s low tide and there aren’t too many people there, but the crowd can ruin the experience, so I wouldn’t go [in the middle of the day].” — Q.E.
“There are no taxi services, but it’s worth it to get a tuk-tuk and say you want to see the island for the day. There’s just one main road along the whole island, and drivers can suggest locations and offer set itineraries.” — L.
Practical Matters
“Go between March and the end of December. From the middle of January through February, it can be monsoon rains.” — B.D.
“Even when the forecast is rainy, the sun is out, and the heat is always intense.” — Q.E.
“If you can, fly through Cebu. The airport is so clean and calm, and it makes the whole journey painless. The Manila one is more of a nightmare.” — L.
These interviews have been edited and condensed.
The post The Under-the-Radar Filipino Island That Evokes 1970s Bali appeared first on New York Times.
