“Stefan, let’s go to Boracay and become beautiful mermaids!”
The thing is, Seby wasn’t joking when he said this to me as we were planning our Philippines trip. He showed me the Boracay Mermaids Instagram profile and exclaimed proudly – “this is going to be us!”
And sure enough it was!
Along with our mermaid adventures along Boracay’s gorgeous White Beach (more about this below!), this tropical Filipino island offers so much for LGBTQ travellers. It has an exciting (albeit small) gay scene to check out with many excellent gay friendly hotels, secluded beaches and highly rated restaurants.
Boracay used to be infamous for being a crazy party island where anything goes! However, things got so raucous and out-of-hand that the government decided to close it for a big 6 month clean up in 2018. Post-clean up, Boracay is as buzzing as it was before, but a lot cleaner, with stricter rules in place to adhere to in order to keep it clean.
Following our visit to Boracay, we’ve put together this detailed gay guide summarising the best gay hotels to stay, places to go out, things to do and other practical tips for LGBTQ travellers. We’ve also included a section about the rules in place in Boracay after the big 2018 cleanup.
Is Gay Boracay safe for travellers?
Absolutely!
The Philippines is generally a gay friendly country, particularly by Asian standards: we’d certainly rank it as one of the most gay friendly countries in Asia. This is largely down to the fact that despite being a very Catholic country, the Filipinos are extremely hospitable and welcoming. They are eager to please and show off their country, especially to foreigners.