RedDoorz @ Pension Ivatan Batanes — Hotel in Basco

I would say that it always takes perspective to appreciate things. Everything in Pension Ivatan is dated, but hey, Basco is dated so I'd say my stay was at par with what the province has to offer.||||I flew to Batanes with literally no expectations except for the scenic views I am to experience in the couple of days I was to roam around the islands. And the province does not disappoint, even as you fly over, before landing, you'll really see rolling hills everywhere and yes, the music from the Sound of Music start humming in your ears. ||||Back to my review of Pension Ivatan. At the airport, we were greeted by Jhazon holding waving our name. Then we rode that their Starex (soon enough we found out, everything is walking distance, so the van ride really was a good transition from Urban to Rural experience). Then we went to their restaurant to Check-in. Pension Ivatan restaurant is literally across the street from the airport and the hometel is some 2 minutes drive.||||The is humid and hot when we arrived so our decision to have our tours on day 2 was a good one for us to really adjust to the climate. Yes, for three days, the wind was hot which is quite norm as the locals didnt really bothered with it but I was sweating my everywhere in my body. So we stayed in our rooms (for Day1), as it was airconditioned, and only went out for a very late Lunch.||||Day2 we were quite adept to the heat already but still I was sweating like hell. We requested for breakfast to be served super early as our tour was scheduled to start at 6AM as we were going to Sabtang Island. Jennifer smilingly delivered our breakfast at 530AM. We had simple tocino, but it was the best tocino I have ever tasted. Right sweet taste as well as pork tenderness. Coffee was also good, later on we knew that it was Kaliraya Brew (if i'm not mistaken). After that, we have looked forward to breakfast which was always served with Jennifer's smile and that brew of coffee goodness. We had choices for Tapa, tocino and fish fillet. Tapa was also super good.||||Jennifer religiously made up our room everyday and changes our towels as well. That was all that I needed for a hotel stay in the province, fresh towels and daily clean up.||||There is no wifi in the hometel but there is satellite cable. Other hotels offer wifi (but with no bfast, it really was a trade off we had to consider and we went for free bfast) but with the signal quality telecoms offer in the province, the choice was clear for us to go for food. Signal in Batanes only affords for E and 3G never occurs. In some areas you dont get service.||||All in all, on our next visit, im definitely staying again in Pension Ivatan as location wise it is good and service wise it is at par with what the province...

I would say that it always takes perspective to appreciate things. Everything in Pension Ivatan is dated, but hey, Basco is dated so I'd say my stay was at par with what the province has to offer.||||I flew to Batanes with literally no expectations except for the scenic views I am to experience in the couple of days I was to roam around the islands. And the province does not disappoint, even as you fly over, before landing, you'll really see rolling hills everywhere and yes, the music from the Sound of Music start humming in your ears. ||||Back to my review of Pension Ivatan. At the airport, we were greeted by Jhazon holding waving our name. Then we rode that their Starex (soon enough we found out, everything is walking distance, so the van ride really was a good transition from Urban to Rural experience). Then we went to their restaurant to Check-in. Pension Ivatan restaurant is literally across the street from the airport and the hometel is some 2 minutes drive.||||The is humid and hot when we arrived so our decision to have our tours on day 2 was a good one for us to really adjust to the climate. Yes, for three days, the wind was hot which is quite norm as the locals didnt really bothered with it but I was sweating my everywhere in my body. So we stayed in our rooms (for Day1), as it was airconditioned, and only went out for a very late Lunch.||||Day2 we were quite adept to the heat already but still I was sweating like hell. We requested for breakfast to be served super early as our tour was scheduled to start at 6AM as we were going to Sabtang Island. Jennifer smilingly delivered our breakfast at 530AM. We had simple tocino, but it was the best tocino I have ever tasted. Right sweet taste as well as pork tenderness. Coffee was also good, later on we knew that it was Kaliraya Brew (if i'm not mistaken). After that, we have looked forward to breakfast which was always served with Jennifer's smile and that brew of coffee goodness. We had choices for Tapa, tocino and fish fillet. Tapa was also super good.||||Jennifer religiously made up our room everyday and changes our towels as well. That was all that I needed for a hotel stay in the province, fresh towels and daily clean up.||||There is no wifi in the hometel but there is satellite cable. Other hotels offer wifi (but with no bfast, it really was a trade off we had to consider and we went for free bfast) but with the signal quality telecoms offer in the province, the choice was clear for us to go for food. Signal in Batanes only affords for E and 3G never occurs. In some areas you dont get service.||||All in all, on our next visit, im definitely staying again in Pension Ivatan as location wise it is good and service wise it is at par with what the province...

This review is for their restaurant. The restaurant offers local Batanes dishes so well that I feel this is a must-try for first-time visitors to Basco. Of course they also offer some standard fares which are quite good.||||The menu offers a good list of seafood but they are not always available (depends on the season). Their line-up of local dishes is quite admirable but it's still a matter of preference. Some wouldn't find minced banana pith very exotic nor delectable for their taste.||||On our visit, all our first choices were not available so we settled for what was there during the day. Good thing someone from our group ordered vegetables because they were really fresh and good and helped a lot with my digestion.||||The place looks good from the outside but quite ordinary on the inside. Service isn't very notable because they had minimal staff. The orders came fast enough though. The price is a bit designed for tourists (but that is the general condition in Basco). It has a good location because it's just beside the airport - in case you want to eat before/after your flight.||||Our only disappointment was that coming in, we could smell fresh bread baking in the oven of their bakery next door - only to be told that they weren't ready yet. After lunch, we tried again and got the same answer. We left without being able to taste the...