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[The World in a Nutshell] WanderTales: Stories of adventures and misadventures

What to See and Do When in Siargao (4-Day Itinerary): Day 3 (Breakfast at White Beard, Sugba Lagoon, Kawhagan Island, Coconut View, Maasin River, lunch at The Greenhouse or Bravo, sunset at the Secret Beach, dessert at Buonana, dinner at Las Barricas, drinks at Manu)

Siargao 4-Day Itinerary

Below I’ll be sharing our vetted itinerary, as well as where we stayed, what we did, how much we spent etc!

 

In this article, we’ll be discussing Day 3!

 

Breakfast at White Beard

Start off the day at White Beard (this did not include me because I was still asleep). But I was told that White Beard may be small, but the owner’s super hands-on and they try to seat people as quickly as possible (can request you to share tables with others, which add to that communal vibe).

What to get here: the Eggs Benedict and Sausage AND the Spanish Latte (my friend’s a coffee person, and he absolutely loved this!) Their beans are from Purge Coffee (Davao!) #SupportLocal. Important to eat a heavy breakfast because it’ll be a late lunch today.

 

Sugba Lagoon

Afterwards, it was time to start ze adventure! We rented a van (which could seat 10 comfortably) from Kermit for 2 days, so we could more easily go around the island.

Anyway, the first stop was Sugba Lagoon. It’s a 1 hour drive to Del Carmen Port. At the port, you need to pay PHP 50 fee per person, then PHP 2650 per boat, which can seat max 6 people.

Then from there, another 30mins boat ride to Sugba Lagoon. Crazy noh? I kept thinking, is this it? Nope, it isn’t. Also, the boat engine is SUPER loud, so I suggest you wear noise cancelling earphones. I felt slightly deaf upon leaving the boat haha.

So how does Sugba Lagoon stack up? It’s BEAUTIFUL. I know, I keep calling everything beautiful and I swear my vocabulary is usually more extensive, but what can I say, Siargao really is beautiful. Crystal clear waters, and I will say it was surprisingly easy to swim in this lagoon. You really float!

In terms of activities, you can rent a table (for PHP 100 per table) to chill at and leave your stuff there while you do activities, you can swim (free), you can jump off the diving board (free), you can rent a kayak (PHP 300 per hour), you can rent a paddle board (PHP 300 per hour), and you can rent a snorkel. For our group of 8, we opted to get 1 paddle board and 1 kayak, then we just shared it amongst us for an hour. Coz seriously, no one wants to paddle for an hour. We mostly used it for picture taking purposes. For those who aren’t strong swimmers, you can also rent life jackets – yes, you need to rent, because even though life jackets are meant to keep you safe, apparently, you have to pay for your own safety. Sniff. As you can tell, I am unimpressed by their safety standards.

Anyway, from Sugba Lagoon, you can check out Kawhagan Island next – super near, and you just have to pay an additional fee. Unfortunately, we were on a rather tight schedule because some of my friends had to attend a work meeting later in the afternoon, so we opted to skip this. But if you do decide to go Kawhagan, I heard it’s a nice island and you can also grab lunch there.

 

Check out Maasin River

After Sugba Lagoon, it was time to check out Maasin River (literally means Salty River). Pay another PHP 20 per person here. I’d say you come here just to take photos. Super picturesque. You can also do rafting, jump into the river etc, but we weren’t keen to do so. So we spent around 20 minutes here max. There are tour guides here who can take nice photos of you, and you just tip them. They’re very nice.

 

Coconut View of Siargao

Next up: the famous coconut view of Siargao! So Siargao is super famous for their lush coconuts! Unfortunately, due to Typhoon Odette, a lot of the coconuts were toppled or had lost their branches. I still think it’s quite nice though.

 

Lunch at Greenhouse

Finally, it was time for lunch. Quite late by this point. We needed a place with strong internet because our friends needed to work. There are a couple of spots in the island that has strong internet actually – one is Bravo and the other is Greenhouse. I’ve been to both and I’d say food-wise, neither is amazing.

Bravo: a bit more central, pretty architecture and has a dipping pool, food was ayt. My favorite was the Huevos Estrellados con Chorizo. This was delicious! Their white chocolate & coconut cheesecake was really interesting too.

Greenhouse: a bit farther out, but I like that it’s very chill and you can see the beach from your table (note: request for a beachfront table). Their food servings are huge, and I thought the lasagna and burgers were decent. Personally, I thought Greenhouse’s WIFI was faster, but that might be because there were less people there when I went (since it was late afternoon already).

 

Dessert at Buonana

Anyway, for dessert, don’t miss Buonana – which is this vegan ice cream place that makes ice cream from banana or acai. You can then add toppings such as peanut butter, nuts, bananas, mangoes, cacao nibs. Delicious although a tad pricey. But definitely check it out when in Siargao!

 

Sunset at Secret Beach

Post-late lunch, we popped by the Secret Beach (literally it’s called Secret Beach – you can find it on Google Maps though, so I guess not so secret) to catch the sunset. Wow, the sunset here was simply beautiful. Majestic hues of red, orange and gold. Lovely breeze too. You can bring a picnic blanket here and just chill. Also, this Secret Beach is right beside Mason Bukana, which is this crazy fancy (and expensive) resort here in Siargao.

 

Dinner at Las Barricas

Finally, it’s time for…. Dinner hahahaha! Dinner at Las Barricas, which is fairly new, but serves delicious Spanish food! I am in love with their Tacos de Carnitas (slow-cooked pork on top of tortillas) and can happily eat 1 serving (2 tacos all on my own). My friends really liked the Picadillo de Chorizo (comes with fried egg and rice) and the Fabada (Spanish white bean stew, with pork belly, chorizo and bacon) as well, but the Tacos de Carnitas will forever hold a special place in my heart.

 

Drinks at Manu

For drinks, we went to Manu, which was really hopping on a Friday night! They make really interesting cocktail mixes (all delicious) and the vibe was very island-y and chill. Unfortunately, we didn’t make a reservation here so we couldn’t get a table that could fit all of us (we were a rather large group) so we just got one drink then skedaddled back home.