Jeannie in a Bottle: Ilocos

I've frequently received questions regarding how much we spent on our Ilocos trip. So I've decided to do a quick breakdown of our itinerary and expenses for everyone's reference.

First off, I'm from Cebu so we booked a Cebu-Manila flight, and another Manila-Laoag flight. Although most agencies will offer pick-up from Manila, we didn't want to endure a looooonngg drive since a short plane ride is so much more convenient. We booked our round trip tickets in January even though we had planned an August trip.

Cebu Pacific Promo fare total round trip tickets per person - approximately P3,000

I then booked our trip with J2F Ilocos Escapades and got an unbelievably affordable deal. The more people there are in your group, the cheaper it is. The package tour was customized for us and was inclusive of 3 days, 3 nights hotel stay (don't expect a luxurious hotel, you're only there to sleep and bathe anyway), breakfast, transportation, driver/tour guide and all entrance fees.

Package Tour w/ J2F Ilocos Escapades - P2,500/person

Because we booked a promo fare, the schedule wasn't the most convenient. We had almost one whole day in Manila as we arrived in the morning, with our Manila-Laoag flight in the evening. Check out how we spent that extra time in this post HERE. (What To Do When You Have Spare Time in Manila) As soon as we arrived in Laoag, the driver picked us up and brought us to our hotel.

Manila Stay (Movie, Lunch, Snacks, Dinner, Excluding Shopping) + Driver tip - P1,250
Note: One of our friends had a family car and driver in Manila so we saved on taxi fare.

DAY 1

Check out what we did on Day 1 in my separate posts here:

Fort Ilocandia

Archery at Fort Ilocandia

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On the last day of our Ilocos adventure, we got up at 6 AM and went straight to La Paz Sand Dunes. I've read that the best time to go on this adventure is at 6-10 AM or after 4 PM so that the sun is not too scorching hot.

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We had a glimpse of what the Ilocos windmills look like when we went to Kapurpurawan Rock Formation but the actual Bangui Windmills look much bigger and more awesome.

Forever 21 top, SM GTW scallop shorts, People are People sandals

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The Manila airport has framed photos of the Kapurpurawan Rock Formation captured at sunset. It was the perfect teaser to get us more excited as we were waiting to board our Manila-Laoag flight.

The Kapurpurawan Rock Formation was part of our Day 2 itinerary thanks to J2F Ilocos Travel and Tours.

After visiting Cape Bojeador Lighthouse, the iconic rock formations were our next stop.

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Can I just say, it's so convenient to be able to just blog about my travel experience rather than painstakingly using a pen to write a handwritten travel diary? Much easier.

Day 2 of our Ilocos adventure begins. Compared to Day 1 where we went to Fort Ilocandia, Calle Crisologo, Vigan, and several other Ilocos stopovers, our itinerary for Day 2 was much more relaxed.

Our first stop was Cape Bojeador. Like the rest of Ilocos, Cape Bojeador had a rustic, historical (dating to the Spanish colonial period) feel that's perfect for photos.

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I've seen so many photos of this beautiful place and so I knew that I wanted to catch sunset here as the lighting would make the photos even more beautiful.

But the weather wasn't cooperating, it was a rainy, gloomy day, and we were too tired to stand and wait as we had already spent the day exploring Fort Ilocandia, and other Laoag and Vigan stopovers

(thanks to J2F Ilocos Escapades for organizing our trip).

You KNOW once you have reached Heritage Village and Calle Crisologo as there's no other area quite like it. It was quite amusing to spot modern/new franchises like Mang Inasal and Max's Restaurant redesigned to fit into this street. All the buildings here are not allowed to exceed two stories high and they must all have the Filipino olden times feel.

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After we've had our fill of fun at Fort Ilocandia, off we went to the rest of our stopovers for our Laoag tour.

One of the great things about booking with J2F Ilocos Travel & Tours was that all our entrance fees were already included in the package. We didn't have to shell out money for every single museum we went to. Saves you from the hassle, eh?

Here are more places we went to on Day 1 of our Ilocos tour:

1. Malacanang of the North

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Lately, reading blogs before traveling to a place is a prerequisite for me. They're always so honest and informative in a way that typical travel sites just aren't.

This was my first time booking a travel package tour so even though my friend referred me to J2F Ilocos Travel & Tours, I was a bit apprehensive. Paranoid questions like, "What if this is a scam?" would of course pop up. But they only asked for a P1,500 downpayment (for the whole group tour) and no scammer would go for that small an amount, right?

So book the tour I did and I'm soooo glad I chose to book with them. The package tour was both extremely convenient and budget friendly, I totally recommend.

Our driver slash tour guide picked us up from the airport (we had an evening flight), and we checked in at the hotel. The next morning, the guide picked us up at 7:30 AM and off we went for adventure Day 1. Our first stop: FORT ILOCANDIA.

Top - Forever 21, Skort - Vetus Shop, Shoes - Cotton On, Bag - Pull & Bear

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