We just loved the Filipino island of Boracay.  It was better than I could have imagined and is probably now my favourite beach/island destination in the world!  Here are our experiences and our list of things to do in Boracay with kids as well as other information to make sure you have a fabulous trip as well!

Boracay is beautiful, has a great vibe, awesome food and is cheap!! (although expensive by Philippines standards.)  There are many things to do in Boracay for kids.  It has a good mix of modern structures, restaurants and resorts and far less modern structures.  I like this as you have all modern conveniences while still feeling like you are somewhere a bit adventurous.  Not that it is really adventurous.  The journey here can be a bit of an adventure though!

If you are wondering if it’s a good idea to visit Boracay with a toddler or baby then I can say it is! We visited with our 2 year old and turning 1 year old (he had his birthday while we were there) and had a great time

In this Boracay travel blog, you will find everything we know about what to do in Boracay with kids, where to stay in Boracay for families, getting around Boracay and what it’s like to have a birthday in Boracay!

Top things to do in Boracay with kids

If you love the beach, you will not be disappointed.  One of the best things to do in Boracay with kids has to be to visit the beach!  Here are the most central two.

White Beach

The best beach in Boracay, White Beach, is lovely and where we spent the majority of our time.

White beach is a 4 kilometre long, picture perfect white beach and the busiest part of the island is here.  It is split into three stations (imaginatively called station 1, 2 and 3).  The second is the main one and where we stayed and hung out.  From what I had read beforehand, I thought it might be absolutely packed full of people, too loud and not really great for a family, but this wasn’t the case at all.  It was busy, but nowhere near crazy busy and never loud that I experienced.  Our kids loved it.

If you are looking for what to do in Boracay Station 2 you won’t have to look for long. There’s shops, bars, restaurants, tour desks and massage parlours everywhere.

My favourite part was the “beach path”, a big, sandy pedestrian strip that runs along next to the beach and is lined with everything you need.  I haven’t seen anything like it elsewhere.  It was nice to have the main strip car free and right on the beach, rather than having the beach blocked by hotels or full of car fumes like on many other well known beaches.  One of my favourite Boracay Island things to do was to just walk along this path.

There also wasn’t much hassle.  We would often get asked about boat tours and buying hats while walking around with the kids (very slow pace), but I barely got asked anything while out by myself, and it really wasn’t that much.  Nothing like some of the other big beach areas in Asia, like Bali.

Boracay is still low key enough to have a relaxing island vibe, while still having lots of things to do in Boracay Island Philippines, a great atmosphere and many restaurants and resorts.  I think it was a fantastic mixture.  Ready to plan your next holiday here yet? 🙂

Bulabog Beach

This beach is only a kilometre across the island from White Beach but it feels like a different world!

As soon as I left the main road, everything was quiet except for the sounds of roosters and children playing.  Instead of resorts and construction, I saw houses made out of anything that was available and winding pathways.

It is reputedly the least desirable beach to stay on in Boracay (unless you are a kite boarder), and I was surprised to find how absolutely awesome I found it.  It is beautiful, and anywhere else it would be highly regarded.  It was a bit windier, but it was so quiet with hardly anyone around and no road noise.  I was in love!  If it wasn’t too late to cancel our accommodation at our next stop, I would have and spent two nights here instead 🙂

White Beach is prettier and was perhaps better for us as being so central to everything is really important with little kids.  If I came back though, I would stay here.  I’d just make sure I was at the end of the beach opposite D’Mall where there are a few restaurants, and it’s easier to walk the 500m to D’Mall and back to the centre of things for things to do in Boracay with family.

Water activities in Boracay

Naturally, the main attractions in Boracay are to do with the beach and the water.  There are many water activities. The main one seems to be island hopping tours, sunset cruises, glass bottom boat rides, snorkelling, diving, wind surfing, kite boarding… pretty much anything to do with the water!  There is, of course, hanging out at the beach.

You can hire a boat for quite cheap.  J and S did this one day for 1000 pesos for an hour, and J thinks he could have negotiated even less.  It was only slightly more than buying a tour and gave us the freedom to pick the time.  S wasn’t that impressed with this, probably because she had to sit on netting, and it was a bit rough. They also don’t come right into shore, so you need to walk out in the water.   You can obviously hire them to take you to wherever you like.  Private beach anyone?

You can prebook many activities in Boracay here.

D’Mall

D’Mall is the central shopping area of the island and actually really awesome.  When I read about it, I imagined lots of little market stall like places, but it is more like a great open air shopping mall with little shops and cool restaurants and bars.  There is a little ferris wheel in the middle which which is a perfect Boracay activity with kids. S loved it.

There are lots of massage places (generally 350 pesos for an hour, similar cost for manicures and pedicures), fabulous restaurants of many different types of food, cool bars, really everything you need for a relaxing good time.

We spent most of our time, eating, swimming at the pool or playing at the beach.  Out main goal here was to relax and celebrate a very special milestone.

Get your nails done or have a massage

Getting your nails done may not be the first thing you think of when working out things to do in Boracay for family, but it was definitely a winner for us! Josh and I love massages and S was very happy to get her nails done, even at two years old. This is also an option of cheap things to do in Boracay – it’s a great price.

A good place for a birthday party?

It was Z’s first birthday while we were here.  Boracay is such a fabulous place for a first birthday.  We bought him some presents on the island and spent his birthday morning at the beach and the afternoon in the hotel pool. We were able to buy a cake from a Boracay cake shop (although perhaps not the most traditional looking first birthday cake, but we had that at his party before we left).  Dinner was at the best buffet in Boracay on White Beach (well so I reckon. It was absolutely awesome).

He seemed to have an awesome day!!

Best family resort in Boracay

We recommend using HotelsCombined to find the best accommodation in Boracay. It shows you the prices of hotels across many hotel booking engines so you can find the best deal.

Here are some great family hotels in Boracay:

• Boracay Holiday Resort – This is where we stayed. We paid about $140 a night for a “bachelor pad” which is like a big studio apartment.  The room had a small kitchen and dining areas, two queen beds and plenty of space.  They only service the rooms if you ask, but we found this actually worked out better than normal, as we could ask at the perfect times for us. Usually the cleaners always seem to want to visit when the kids are napping. You have to pay extra for wifi in your room and to use the gym.The hotel also has a pool and a kiddy pool, which we made good use of!  We also enjoyed the pool side bar 🙂  We had room service a couple of times.  It was good and relatively inexpensive. The downside was that this hotel is located on the main road, a block from the beach at Station 2, rather than being on the beach. However, it only took a few minutes to walk to the beach (Boracay is small) and it meant we were closer to things like the supermarket, so it worked well for us. Click here for the latest prices.
• Beachcomber Resort Boracay – if you want one of the best resorts in Boracay Philippines which is also good value, on the beach and perfect for a family then this is a great choice. There is a great pool and its a great Boracay family resort. Click here for the latest prices.
• Shangri-La’s Boracay Resort and Spa – if you want to stay in a beautiful resort away from the action but right by a beach then this is a great choice! This 5 star resort has top rate facilities and is perhaps the best place to stay in Boracay Island. Two kids under 12 also stay free when we last checked. Click here to see the latest prices.
• Monaco Suites de Boracay  – this resort has beautiful views and lovely rooms including one bedroom suites which offer a nice amount of room for families. Click here to see the latest prices.

Food

One of my favourite things to do in Boracay was eat!  There are so many great food choices – you are not going to have problems finding something you like.  There are lots of different cuisines.  Buffets are popular in the evening and the beach becomes lined with them.  This worked great for us as was not really more expensive than ordering a la carte since the kids were free with the buffets.

Randomly, we both had our best steak ever at what must be the best buffet in Boracay.  It was certainly the priciest we saw, but at less than $20 and with our kids free, it was well and truly worth it, and we went back again.

We also had room service and enjoyed a picnic on the beach.  We were all happy with the food.

Getting Around

We rarely did anything but walk.  Everything we could need is very close, being in Station 2.   You can catch tricycles along the main road for 10 pesos which we did occasionally.  Our pram was not a problem.

You can read about how to get to Boracay here. We travelled from Kalibo to Boracay and Boracay to Roxas City and on to Iloilo.

You can prebook your airport transfers to Boracay here.

Random Stuff

Everything seems fairly cheap to us, but then we haven’t spent much time elsewhere in the Philippines yet.  I think this is probably the right way to do things as now we will probably find elsewhere really cheap, instead of coming here last and finding it super expensive.  I do know that we bought drinks and food for cheaper at the airport than at the supermarket here.

What is definitely expensive is accommodation.  I spent a loooong time finding the best place to stay in Boracay for us, and even booked two places that were later cancelled before finally booking where we ended up.  We are spending more on accommodation in Boracay than anywhere, and it is far from our best hotel.  There are certainly cheaper alternatives, but with our kids so young, we are very fussy.  Expect to pay more here than other places (although we are here in high season, but high season is over half the year and low season is not a good time to come weather wise).

The supermarkets seem to have most things, even some international products like weetbix.  There is more choice and cheaper nappies here than in Thailand, and I’m happy to find a bigger nappy size, so maybe we have some chance of getting a nappy to fit S.  Unfortunately, they don’t have soy milk 🙁  Z doesn’t tolerate dairy, so it is lucky that we brought lots of formula with us for exactly this situation. On that topic, there is also far more formula here than what I saw in Thailand.

Laundry was easy to find and cheap.  Our closest one washed, dried and folded for less than a $1 a kilo.

My biggest gripe would be the ATMs.  Like we found at the airport, they don’t always work.  After doing some research online, it is standard that 10000 pesos is the maximum you can withdraw (nearly $250) and 200 pesos fees are standard (about $5).  This is crappy!  So we are using our credit card where possible.

Overall, though, Boracay is awesome!! And gets the thumbs up from all of us.  We are sad to be leaving.  It is a great place with kids and there are many places to go in Boracay.

You can also read about how to get to Boracay and about our other experiences travelling in the Philippines. As well as one of our favourite places in the Philippines, Bohol.

What are your favourite things to do in Boracay with kids?

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Tags:  Philippines Travel Blog