Why There Are Abandoned Beach Resorts in Boracay

Recently I stumbled upon a bunch of abandoned beach resorts in Boracay that honestly creeped me out and confused the hell out of me. I hadn’t done any prior travel research or anything, so that probably added to the shock.

To be completely honest, Boracay was the one island in the Philippines I avoided in the past. I’ve been to and absolutely loved places like Cebu, Palawan, and El Nido, but I definitely heard way too many times that Boracay was insanely crowded, a huge party spot, and that the water was contaminated.

Somehow I forgot about all of that recently when I had a five day gap in between work/life trips in the Philippines. I definitely didn’t want to stay in Manila, so I played flight roulette to see what the cheapest domestic flight was. As you can probably guess, it was Boracay.

Without even considering or remembering why I avoided it in the past, I booked the flight, and found a nice rated hotel for a decent price. I didn’t read any blogs, articles, or social media posts, I just showed up and figured things out. After all, I was mostly there to relax on a beautiful island and catch up on laptop work.

So after three days of binge working by the pool/beach at Microtel by Wyndham, I start to get stir crazy. I need SOME sort of adventure. The first thing I do is start walking down the beach path towards where I know the main area is.

I quickly realize Google maps is false per usual, and that you don’t need to walk on the main road to reach White Beach. There are small beaches connected by man-made rock steps and walkways that will allow you to walk the coast to get there. But as beautiful as White Beach is, I am instantly turned off by the amount of people, and also the amount of times I’m asked if “I’m alone” or if I want to go on a boat ride.

So I turn around and head in the opposite direction. What I immediately find is incredibly bizarre.

At first I thought it was just one abandoned hotel, but as I kept walking along the half demolished seaside sidewalk, I realized it was multiple structures built along the water. It looked like it had once been a strip of seaside restaurants and bars overlooking the water, and also big beach resorts.

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The remnants showed that they were very close to the water as well, and I had no idea how that worked during high tide. Maybe that was why they no longer existed.

Anyway, I couldn’t help but to keep going. I saw some people coming from the direction I was heading it, so I assumed there was more to see. The walkway turned to steps, so I followed them up and found a beautiful lookout point. I also saw a very creepy yet artistic sculpture of a massive face.

Finally I came to a clearing around the corner and it just kept getting more bizarre and creepy. There was a what looked like three giant mushroom shaped islands just off the coast that looked like a mini golf course or something. I walked closer to it and realized it used to be attached via a walkway, but it was clearly purposely destroyed now.

Behind me was the largest structure I’d seen so far. To get to it there was a very sketchy walkway that was held up by crumbling beams which I could could see just the metal rods in some parts. I later learned from my kayaking guide that the government is waiting for it to fall on its own. So I guess they don’t care about all the tourists who walk on it daily since there’s no warnings or closures.

I ran across it, and then immediately started to get that feeling of “you’re not supposed to be here”. The structures that were still intact were covered in grafitti and it smelled like pee, which meant there were likely people squatting inside. Going inside was definitely accessible, but since I was alone I decided to be smart and not go in.

Finally, way up on the side of the hill, I saw a sign with a name of what this place used to be; “Boracay West Cove Resort”. I immediately googled it and was shocked to see how massive this resort used to be, and felt a little bad that it now looked like the set of a horror movie, featuring an overly adventurous solo travel blogger.

I wanted to know why this beach resort and the whole area was demolished, so I kept reading. As it turns out, this was the main area causing sanitary issues prior to the government shut down of Boracay a few years ago.

Suddenly I remembered hearing about it, because I was in El Nido back then, and had been told not to try to go to Boracay because they had closed it down due to tourists turning it into a “cess pool”. 

I’ve heard of this happening in several places in the World, usually small islands or beach towns. What happens is that they become super popular super fast, and the hotels, restaurants, bars, and locals aren’t prepared for it, especially in the sense of the waste it causes.

Many establishments end up dumping the human waste and trash directly into to the ocean, which ends up creating an actual cess pool.

Boracay became so trashed about six years ago, that the infamous president Duterte straight up shut the island down for a year to “fix it”. Part of fixing it was imposing a new rule that any establishment built within a certain distance to the coast had to be demolished. Hence all of the abandoned and demolished beach resorts and structures I was seeing.

Also hence why I thought Boracay was beautiful when so many people have an image of over-crowded beaches and murky water.

The main “White Beach” area used to have hundreds of chairs, tables, vendors, and fire dancers, but that is all not allowed now anymore either. Now it’s just people and of course the dozens of locals incessantly selling sunset boat rides and photo sessions on clear kayaks.

I personally didn’t like the White Beach area as a solo female traveler. But I also don’t always love Philippines in general as a solo female, because I get asked every five seconds if/why I am alone. I know it’s a cultural thing, and the people mean no harm, but I just wish they knew that it starts to get annoying and uncomfortable.

Anyway, if you want to see the abandoned beach resorts of Boracay, I do NOT recommend walking the pathway like I did. Instead rent one of the clear kayaks and see it from the water, making sure not to get too close to the cliffs since the structures are about to fall.

One of the nice things about the abandoned beach resorts is that their private beaches are now accessible to anyone. So you can pull the kayak up and enjoy them all to yourself!

Where I stayed in Boracay:

Anyway, I stayed closer to the abandoned area (unknowingly) and I actually really liked it because it was very quiet and not crowded. I found a place called Microtel by Wyndham Boracay that was only about $65 per night (using my level 3 Genius discount on Booking.com), and it’s right on the beach. But like…far enough away to not get demolished by Duterte’s rules.

Since it’s a bit “far” from the main area near White Beach, they offer shuttles a few times per day there. I just walked the beach there almost every day, it takes about 30 minutes.

How to Get to Boracay:

You need to fly from Manila to Caticlan, which still uses the name Boracay Airport. I always use SkyScanner to find the cheapest flights.

Then you need a shuttle, a ferry, and another shuttle to get to your hotel. I used Island Star Express, which I booked last minute and it worked surpisingly well. You can tell they’re used to dealing with a lot of people because they have a whole system down for getting everyone on all three vehicles.

Favorite Things to do in Boracay

Boracay was actually a “workcation” for me, which means I wanted to go somewhere picturesque to work from my laptop and phone. That being said, I didn’t do a whole lot of activities, but since my work also involves writing this post, I did explore quite a bit.  

Unfortunately my top favorite beach with literally no one on it besides some local children is only reachable by foot if you go through the abandoned area. I can’t recommend doing that because of that one walkway that is about to fall.

You can however rent a kayak (which comes with a guy to do the kayaking for you if you want haha), or take one of the many boat tours to get to it. I believe it is called Yapak.

The clear kayaking was also pretty cool since the water is so clear. It also only costed about $5 or less and the (cute) guy who was paddling and taking photos for me went way farther and longer than the 15 minutes they give you. He’s the one who showed me that pathway that’s about to fall, and was shocked when I told him I walked across it earlier.

Beach clubs are also usually my go-to in places like this. I found a couple that were pretty chill, had good pricing, and wifi. I’d recommend the ones closer towards the west part of White Beach.

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xx, Alyssa