Paguriran Island & Lagoon Travel Guide

Note: This Paguriran Island travel guide was initially published in our old website 5 years ago. We are republishing it here now, along with some updates.

Stunning aquamarine water enclosed in a huge rock formation.
Shallow crystal clear sea water stretching a long way from the shore.
Accessible beautiful destination.

Those are just some of the marketing lines for this once isolated lagoon in the middle of the sea. Situated in the idle town of Bacon, in the Province of Sorsogon (one of the provinces of Bicol Region), is the enchanting Paguriran Island. It silently sits in Barangay Sawanga before its name created storm in the virtual travel world. Now, a lot of tourists flock in the area. This jewel of Sorsogon has able to create a name – a major breakthrough – 5 years after we first set foot in the place and got lost in reveries.

It was almost night when I first saw Paguriran Island Resort, and I wasn’t impressed. Although the sands were white as shown in many photos, the shore was rocky and almost bare. There were dried leaves and fallen twigs scattered far and wide. Dogs were roaming around freely by the shore, meeting strangers and asking for food. There were no other activities to keep us busy, neither we can enjoy a decent bath at the sea because it was dark and the salt water had seem to already given up covering the ocean floor. When its low tide, a kilometer walk away from the resort will bring you to a knee-deep part of the ocean.

I do not know exactly how many resorts were there. What you will find in the place is a community of people and some cottages made of bamboo and nipa facing the sea. Is that enough to qualify the place as a “resort”? Anyway, the resort where we stayed had several cottages being offered for Php300-Php400 per night, but I told the owner/caretaker that we will just camp out and all we need was a little piece of the shore where we can pitch our tents. They kindly showed us to where we can put our “home” for the night and we agreed to pay Php100.00 (for the four of us), Php50 each.

During our stay, there were only two groups of tourists in the area — one group was occupying one of the close cottages of the resort, and our group who kept a muffled conversation in the dark corner of the resort. The presence of the other group was very evident as we can hear them belting out in their rented karaoke. They were the only source of noise in the secluded rural world by the beach. We only managed to sleep when they stopped singing.

The night passed so swiftly and the dawn came just of the same pace. The island did not give up on impressing me. That very day, we were able to discover the unrivaled charm of the place and fully appreciate its beauty. The beauty which I did not see the day before was revealed to me, in full sublimity.

Not far from the resort is the “actual” Paguriran Island. Well, I do not actually refer to it as an island since it is not a piece of sub-continental land, but a huge piece of rock surrounded by water. This jagged big rock is surrounding a shallow pool of aquamarine water that appears like a concealed lagoon in the vastness of the sea. You will find the lagoon inside the jagged rocks. Indeed an awesome spot! Very fascinating!

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That was five years ago. Now, hundreds of people flock to the area to take a glimpse of the famous lagoon in the middle of the sea, and I wonder how “noisy” it gets there now especially during summer.

Check accommodation in Sorsogon here. 

How to get to Paguriran Island from Metro Manila

• From Metro Manila, you can take any Sorsogon-bound bus such as Penafrancia Tours and Isarog Lines. Get off at Sorsogon City.
• From Sorsogon City, you can ride a jeepney going to Barangay Sawannga via Bacon town proper. Just tell the driver that you are heading to Paguriran Island. The trip took us almost two hours.
  From the highway where the driver will drop you off, you can take a 10-minute walk to get to Paguriran Island Resort

Alternatively, if you are coming from Bacon District, take the 40 minutes boat ride to Barangay Buenavista and another 20 minutes boat ride from there to Paguriran.

Paguriran Island & Lagoon Budget

Travel Tips for Paguriran Island & Lagoon

• The main attraction of the place is the lagoon; thus Paguriran Island is only good as a side trip but not for overnight stay. The only reason why we stayed there overnight was because we were looking for the cheapest place to stay before we head to Bulusan Volcano (check back if you’re interested to climb Bulusan Volcano for a detailed climb guide) for our climb and Paguriran was the best place we found. Imagine, Php50 per head for an overnight stay. Such a steal! If you really want to stay overnight, you can find some Sorsogon hotels here. 
• Bring lots of food. Only sari-sari stores are available in the area.
• Be part of Love, Eat, Wander community for more amazing travel destinations. Follow us in Twitter and Instagram, too for interactive updates!
• If you are looking for tour packages, check with our travel partner Sole Adventours! They are experts in travel-related field!

Thank you for dropping by!

Missy of 

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