Iloilo City

Iloilo City is the provincial capital of Iloilo, on the island of Panay. Iloilo City is fundamentally the economic, cultural, educational and tourist center of Iloilo province.

Understand
It is considered a highly urbanized city with a government separate from the province. Along with nearby Guimaras, the city forms the Metro Iloilo-Guimaras metropolitan area.

Iloilo City lies on the southern coast of Iloilo province,

History
The city's history traces back to pre-colonial times as the center of Madja-as, but written history states that Iloilo originated from the town of Oton, an outpost founded by Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi. Raids by Chinese and Moro pirates forced the relocation of the outpost to Villa Rica de Arevalo (present-day Arevalo). During the 1700s, Iloilo boomed through its local sugarcane industry, that leaves its mark on historic estate houses. As the Spanish Empire began to crumble, Visayan revolutionaries during the early days of the Philippine Revolution established the capital of the Federal State of the Visayas in Iloilo City until its dissolution in 1898.

The city fell into the hands of the United States in the aftermath of the Philippine-American War, and it became an important Protestant mission site, with the establishment of Protestant universities, like the Central Philippine University.

Iloilo City was devastated during the Pacific War; the Central Philippine University was destroyed along with many other parts of the city. The city's postwar rebuilding was slow, followed by Ilonggo emigration, but the entry of major retailers has helped boost its economy.

Climate
Iloilo City has a tropical wet and dry climate, with two distinct seasons: dry season between December and May and wet season between June and November. Average temperatures vary little by time of year; daytime highs are between and, and nighttime lows run between  and. Annual average humidity is 80%, so it can be uncomfortably hot during the day.

Orientation
Iloilo City is divided into 7 districts, namely: City Proper, Jaro, La Paz, Lapuz, Mandurriao, Molo, and Villa Arevalo. With the exception of Lapuz, all the districts are former towns that were merged to form the present city.

Iloilo City Proper hosts heritage buildings from the Spanish and American colonial eras, downtown shopping centers and the ferry terminals, Mandurriao hosts the city's central business district. Jaro has CPU and an old town center, Tagbac has the bus stations for trips from the north, and Molo has the station for buses from Iloilo's south coast and Antique.

Language
The main language spoken in Iloilo and vicinity, as well as in the nearby Island of Guimaras and in the western part of the Island of Negros (including the city of Bacolod) is Hiligaynon, also known as Ilongo. It is an Austronesian language closely related to the other languages of Panay Island, and less so (say, like English to Dutch or German) to the other languages of the Philippines, such as Cebuano or Tagalog. Many words are shared between the languages of the nation, such as tubig for "water", or oling/uling/oring for "charcoal", as well as numerous Spanish loanwords for e.g. numbers or names of vegetables.

Tagalog is known in Iloilo to some extent, thanks to the national media and migration between islands. As in other parts of the country, the level of English knowledge varies, from the ability to tell prices by market vendors to full fluency among the educated elites.

The signs you'll see in Iloilo are mostly in English. Tagalog may appear in, say, advertisements by national brands or the public service messages by the federal government. Hiligaynon can be seen in some signs, sometimes handwritten, posted by local people and businesses; it is also widely used in personal communications and classified ads on the Internet, e.g. via Facebook, WhatsApp, or Reddit. The local branch of the National Museum (in the former jail downtown) is a rare exception, as a place where you'll see Hiligaynon used in writing in all the explanatory signs (along with English and Tagalog).

By plane
A seat in an air-conditioned minivan costs from the airport to SM City Iloilo, and  vice versa.

The terminal fees at Iloilo Airport are for domestic flights and  for international flights, but they are integrated into the ticket price.

By boat
Pump boats are used for traversing the waters between Guimaras and Iloilo City.


 * Cokaliong and Trans Asia Shipping Lines''' sail from Cebu City six times a week with fares from (one way).
 * There are four fast ferry lines (fast craft) that sail from Bacolod many times every day:
 * Ocean Jet
 * Weesam Express
 * 2GO Travel
 * Fast Cat - from one way.
 * Milagrosa Shipping Lines, +63 33 337 8627, sail from Cuyo and Puerto Princesa once a week.
 * 2GO Travel, +63 2 8528 7000, sail from Manila twice a week and Cagayan de Oro once a week

By bus
Ceres Liner /  operates the bulk of most routes to Iloilo City, and trips either use the large company-owned Iloilo Northbound Termina (in barangay Tagbac) for routes from the north (Roxas, Kalibo, Caticlan, Manila), or the small San Pedro Bus Termina from the west (San Jose de Buenavista and Antique).

ALPS and Philtranco operate daily overnight trips from Manila to Iloilo City, which take 18 hours at the shortest. These services end at Tagbac Terminal, a terminal not more than a kilometer from the Ceres terminal.

By passenger van
UV Express vans also run between Iloilo and Caticlan, taking 5 hours, and Iloilo and San Jose, taking 2 hours.

By taxi
The best way to get around town, taxis are available from the bus stations and malls, and you can also hail them from the street. The best service are often offered by Light of Glory or GDR Taxi. They drive fast but as relatively safe as possible.

By jeepney


Jeepneys are widely available, with routes from the bus stations into Mandurriao and the city proper. As of 2022, routes have numbers (e.g. the route connecting the bus stations in Tagbac with the city proper is route 10); minibus-based modern jeepneys are now available, but you can still take the city's trademark passad jeepneys – made from second-hand vehicle parts and are different from the archetypical Manila jeepneys for having the front of a SUV or pickup instead of the distinctive hood based on the US Army jeeps.

Don't take this if you're in a great hurry as the drivers can sometimes decide to wait in the loading areas for 5–10 minutes.

By trisikad or tri-cycle
Tricycles mean a motorbike with a sidecar and a trisikad is its human-powered equivalent using a pedal bike. It's the method of transportation for small, tight roads in barangays and the outskirts of the city. It is more expensive than the jeepneys.

Beaches
Beachgoers in the Iloilo area may want to check the tide times for the city's waters. Tides in the area can be quite high, with over 2 m difference between the water levels at the low tide level and the high tide level on the days when the tidal amplitude is the largest (around the new moon and the full moon times). Unlike most of the world, where the tide pattern is semidiurnal (two high tides and two low tides every day), Iloilo's tide pattern is usually diurnal, with just one minimum and one maximum each day.

Unlike cities such as Dumaguete or Sipalay, Iloilo does not have public beaches immediately adjacent to city centers. Nonetheless, most of the sea coast on the city's western outskirts, from Molo to Villa Arevalo to Oton and farther into the western suburbs, is a beach, even though it does not directly face the coastal road. To get from the coastal road to the waterfront, you have 3 options:


 * Pay an admission fee at one of the numerous "beach resorts" in any of the seaside barangays of Calumpang, Calaparan, Villa, etc. The fee is typically in the 100-500 pesos range, depending on the resort's level of fanciness. It entitles you to the use of the showers, toilets, picnic shelters (which are often rented for parties), swimming pools (if available), etc on the resort's property; most importantly, it means that you can now walk through the resort's back gate and into the (actually public) beach. Resorts usually also have restaurants and karaoke ("videoke", pronounced "bijukeh") machines. Some close for the night, while others rent basic rooms for overnight stay, from around 1000 pesos and up per night. In this area, "beach resorts" typically don't have their own private beaches; instead, visitors simply walk out through the back gate of the resort's perimeter fence to the public beach. These back gates are usually locked from around 6 pm till around 8 am; this means that if you are desirous of a sunrise swim or a moonlight beach walk, you'd have to walk out the resort's front gate, and then find some other passage from the coastal road to the beach (see below).
 * Walk to the beach through one of the seaside restaurants, with or without buying any food there. The Breakthrough, in the Villa Arevalo District (at the southern end of Yulo Dr.) is perhaps the most prominent of those.
 * Walk to the beach on one of the numerous pedestrian/bike trails that reach to the beach at the border between two adjacent resorts, or through residential areas.

During the low tide, a wide sandy beach is exposed, making it possible to walk on the beach from Calumpang (just west of Molo) to Oton; one may have to walk quite a ways out to get to the water sufficiently deep to swim. (Fortunately, the sea bottom is mostly sand, not mud or rocks). During the high tide, however, most of the beach is under water, the water practically reaching to some of the fishermen's homes; the swimming depth is much closer to the shore.

The beach, unfortunately, is quite littered in many areas. You'll see many fishing boats on the sand, as well as residents' dogs walking around, who may bark but usually don't attack people.

Events
As with most Philippine city and towns, there are many festivals celebrated in Iloilo City annually. The Dinagyang Festival is the primary and most important festival of the city.



Buy




Markets
For produce, go to any of the city's produce markets, which usually have much better prices than supermarkets. Downtown (aka City Proper) has the Central Market (in the Art Deco building at Rizal St and Iznart St) and Terminal Market (a few blocks to the west, between Rizal St and De Leon St). As of early 2024, both markets buildings are closed for renovation, with the vendors' tables relocated to several blocks of streets around and between the two markets, in a rather chaotic way.

The Jaro Market, just west of Jaro cathedral, is not particularly impressive most of the week, but it expands a lot on the market day (Wednesday), when it occupies an entire street (appropriately named Market St). The market in Oton is pretty good as well. Smaller markets can be found in other neighborhoods as well, e.g. Lapaz Public Market (off Luna St, just north of the Iloilo River brigde), Arevalo Market (south of Villa Arevalo District Plaza), Tagbac Marketplace, etc.

If you're staying at a place with your own kitchen, then, besides several supermarket chains, some specialist groceries may be of interest as well. In particular, Hua Kong in Rizal St downtown sells Chinese basics, such as various kinds of soy sauce and vinegar and loose tea (not tea bags). All About Baking Iloilo (a national chain, with branches downtown and in Jaro) carries various cooking/baking ingredients rarely available in local supermarkets, including some dairy products, cocoa powder, and matcha tea powder.

Eat
Good restaurants in Smallville: Pirate's bar which has a wrecked ship attached to its façade as a design. It's a bit dim inside but it adds to the relaxed atmosphere. They also have a dance club beside the main building. The club has laser lights and great speakers, just be aware that it can get quite congested with cigarette smoke. Annex is for those who love to karaoke.

For local delicacies, you can try the famous biscocho from the aptly names Original Biscocho Haus. There are several branches and stalls around the city, but the main branch is near the Jaro Plaza.

Krua Thai also has some tasty foods. Almost everything on the menu is good and it's a refreshing break from the typical Ilonggo cuisine. A little bit further is Boardwalk which has a few of restaurants. Notably is Paprika where there is almost always a live band performing. They have a selection of sea foods. The B Place is a bar with a relaxing view of the river as well as the cool breeze moving through the place. The food is again typical of bars in this area.

Beside Smallville is Uncle Tom's which have excellent Spareribs, Steaks, Fried Chicken, Baby Backribs and the best of all: Ox Tongue. Their gravy is very tasty and the you can tell that the chicken was well marinated and seasoned. Along the highway you can find Dos Maria's where they serve pizzas that are big; having a diameter of around 20 or more inches. Though the pizza is big the taste is generic and really unsatisfying. Afriques is an Italian themed restaurant with a touch of Ilonggo flavor. They serve a variety of pizza and pasta-type dishes, most of which are extremely delicious. The pizza is tasty but it's crust can be better. Most of the dishes are served in generous portions especially the sauces. They have two locations: one near Plaza Libertad, General Hughes street and the other beside of Hotel del Rio. Ted's Batchoy is arguably the best Batchoy shop in iloilo. Batchoy is a mix of noodles and pork Chicharon along with some spices and a tasty broth. It's very good and filling espcially if you're very hungry. It's one of Iloilo's native dishes.



Drink
There are a number of karaoke bars, beer houses and strip clubs in the city, however, these tend to be unsafe for tourists. The safest and cleanest venues to enjoy the city's night life are found in Smallville, near SM City in Mandurriao. There are different bars and restaurants with a wide menu and good drinks to choose from.

Stay healthy

 * Healthway QualiMed Hospital Iloilo Atria Park District, Mandurriao, www.healthwaymedicalnetwork.com.ph/, +63335004000
 * The Medical City-Iloilo Branch Locsin Street, Molo, www.themedicalcityiloilo.com/, +63335001000
 * Iloilo Mission Hospital Mission Road, Jaro, www.facebook.com/iloilomissionhospital/, +63333200315
 * St. Paul's Hospital General Luna Street, Iloilo City Proper, www.sphiloilo.com/, +63333372742
 * Western Visayas Medical Center. Q. Abeto St, Mandurriao, ,

Cope

 * Bureau Of Immigration Iloilo Office. 2nd floor. Customs House Building. Aduana Street.

Go next

 * A short ferry ride to the island of Guimaras.
 * Ferry to Bacolod or Cebu City or Manila or Palawan.
 * Bus or Van to Roxas, Kalibo, Caticlan.
 * Bus or Van to San Jose de Buenavista 2½ hours by bus from Iioilo