Philippines' Best Places: Guimaras

GUISI Lighthouse
Faro de Punta Luzaran
Nueva Valencia, Guimaras

Guisi Lighthouse is located in an island province of Guimaras and among the smallest provinces in the Philippines. It has 5 municipalities and its capital is Jordan. Guimaras, formerly known as Himal-us, was a Sub-province of Iloilo until it was made an independent province on May 22, 1992.

It was such a great experience to visit this Second Oldest Lighthouse in the Philippines, lighted up for the first time in 1894.

Short History

In 1857, the general Plan for fighting of Maritime Coasts in the Philippine Archipelago was drafted and implemented by Corps of Engineers for Roads, Canals and Ports.
The structure is made of prefabricated metals from France, the "Tisa" from Portugal and the cement from England.
This 18th century Spanish ruin is very visible during night time to guide mariners passing through Guimaras Strait.

How to get there!

From Ortiz Port in Iloilo ride a ferry going to Jordan Wharf in Guimaras, a 15-minute boat ride for only 14 pesos. At Jordan Wharf go straight to waiting Shed where you need to register as tourist, no worries because there's no extra fees to be collected nor an environmental fee to be charged. From there, many will approach you but just tell them that you're planning on commuting to Guisi.

Ride a “Nueva Valencia” jeepney (30 to 45 minutes), "I gave 50 pesos for my jeepney Fare".

Tell the driver to drop you off at the intersection going to Guisi Lighthouse.

Ride a Habal-habal (single motorcycle) to Guisi LightHouse (10 -15 minutes), usually it will ask you to pay 200 pesos but you can haggle it down to 150 pesos roundtrip but in my case, I asked manong habal-habal driver to be my tour guide, he also took me back to Jordan Wharf and only charged me for 350 pesos.

Jjordan Wharf, Jordan, Guimaras

The Guimaras Island is famous for producing some of the sweetest mangoes in the world, reason why it is being called "Mango Capital of the Philippines" from local and foreign tourists.