Getting to Boracay: Each Step From the Airport to the Island

The sequence below is the one on the official iPass site¹.

1. Book an accredited stay. The iPass form asks for hotel accommodation details, and since 2018 hotels have had to be accredited by the Department of Tourism to accept bookings¹⁴.
2. Register and prepay if you choose to. iPass takes the terminal fee, environmental fee, boat fare and land transport in one online payment¹.
3. Complete eTravel if you are arriving from abroad. It is free and web-based³.
4. Fly to Caticlan (Boracay Airport) or Kalibo.
5. Find the iPass land-transport booth outside the terminal. A public tricycle or air-conditioned shuttle goes to Caticlan Seaport¹.
6. Show the QR code at the Port Terminal Gates. Pay the three charges here if you have not prepaid¹.
7. Board a public ferry or a speedboat to Cagban Seaport, also called Boracay Seaport¹.
8. At Cagban use the land-transport booth. The Hop-on, Hop-off bus or air-conditioned shuttle goes to the hotel or the nearest bus stop, 5-10 minutes by the official count¹.

The accredited-hotel rule began in 2018, when the Department of Tourism’s list held 243 hotels and resorts with 9,248 rooms⁴. No official page used here says what the port checks. The details, including what the gate does and does not ask for and the visitor limit, are in Boracay entry requirements.

Four ways to pay coexist: Aklan’s iPass, the LezzGo kiosk system presented in August 2025, Malay’s eBoracay portal (built first for Tabon) and the manual windows, where visitors once queued three times for three fees⁷⁸. The comparison sets out who runs each, the convenience fees reported and what no official page says.

Boracay has three charges at the port, and the amounts are in Boracay fees. In three lines, as last reported in February 2025:

• Terminal fee: PHP 150 per crossing, PHP 120 for seniors, students and persons with disabilities⁵.
• Environmental fee: PHP 150 for Filipinos from outside Aklan, PHP 300 for foreigners⁶.
• Boat fare: PHP 50⁵.

Those sums, before convenience fees and local transport, make PHP 500 for a foreign visitor arriving and PHP 350 for a Filipino from outside Aklan⁵⁶. Neither Aklan nor Malay publishes a fee schedule online, and one resort quotes PHP 300 for the terminal fee; the fees page sets out why that probably means a round trip.

Caticlan is nearer. The iPass site gives 5-10 minutes from Caticlan airport to the seaport, against 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes from Kalibo¹. A transfer company that sells both quotes 45-65 minutes in total from Caticlan and 2 to 2.5 hours from Kalibo, with all-in prices that start higher from Kalibo².

The airline picture changes by season, so this guide gives no flight counts; check airlines’ own pages. Cebgo took over all AirSWIFT services on 1 July 2026, including a daily El Nido to Boracay flight¹². At Caticlan, CAAP reported the groundbreaking of a new passenger terminal on 14 July 2025, targeted for 2027, and Rappler reported in May 2026 that the 900 m runway is planned for extension to 2.1 km¹³¹⁵. See Caticlan or Kalibo for the transfer products and prices.

The official site gives 10-15 minutes by public ferry and “3 to 5 minutes”, as printed, by speedboat¹. Shangri-La Boracay‘s directions page gives about 15 minutes by speedboat after a five-minute drive from the airport, and a PHP 1,000 net per room, per way surcharge for speedboats between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. The site earns a commission on some hotel links, which does not affect what is listed⁹. No official page used here publishes boat operating hours.

Which port: Caticlan or Tabon

The main pair is Caticlan Jetty Port to Cagban, where the terminal fee is collected for the province¹. The alternate is Tabon Port to Tambisaan, where the terminal fee was set by a Malay municipal ordinance⁶. In 2018 the Philippine Star reported that transfers to Tabon were routine “from June to October”, the southwest-monsoon season, known as Habagat¹⁰.

Good to know The switch is decided by sea conditions, not by the calendar. In 2024 the Coast Guard moved operations to Tabon and Tambisaan in June, then returned them to Caticlan and Cagban at 6 a.m. on 17 August “until further notice”, citing PAGASA¹¹. Cagban, Tambisaan and Tabon has the detail, and typhoons and cancelled boats covers storm signals.

At Cagban the official route is the Hop-on, Hop-off bus or an air-conditioned shuttle to the hotel or nearest bus stop¹. Getting around Boracay covers e-trikes, the bus and walking, and scooter rental covers what the ordinance is reported to restrict. For where to stay see Boracay areas compared.

The Department of Public Works and Highways issued a notice of award for a 2.54 km bridge, including a 1.14 km limited-access segment from Manoc-Manoc to Caticlan, to San Miguel Holdings Corp. on 30 March 2026¹⁴. The project is a 30-year build-operate-transfer concession costing PHP 7.78 billion, with revenue from tolls, terminal fees and commercial income¹⁴. The Aklan provincial board had passed a resolution on 8 October 2025 calling it “inimical to the economic and social conditions” of Malay and Aklan¹⁴.

As of 6 May 2026 the project had no environmental clearance application, according to the DENR acting secretary¹⁶. On 27 May 2026 the governor said San Miguel’s chairman had agreed not to continue the project¹³. No source used here reports a formal withdrawal of the award, and none gives an opening date. See the bridge page.

The island limit is 19,215 tourists at one time, and a DILG undersecretary said in April 2022 that it would be reviewed every three to five years¹⁷. As reported on 9 April 2026, Holy Week brought 56,590 visitors, the limit was breached from 1 April, and it was “no longer being enforced”¹⁸. For crowded dates see Boracay peak dates.