Puerto Galera is an unusual place. Only a couple of ours buy bus and an hour and a half by boat from Manila, it is a favourite place of Manila residents to escape to for a short holiday or a weekend at the beach. But when we visited we did not see many locals. We were keep bumping into aged Americans who apparently decided to move to Puerto Galera in order to spend the rest of their lives there together with their Filipina wives.
From the nature point of view, Puerto Galera is not a real tropical paradise. We had a reasonably nice room with a perfect view of the bay, especially in the morning and at sunset, but the sea is rather polluted and thus not very nice to swim in. Puerto Galera hotels offer day-trips to nearby uninhabited islands with nice beaches and clearer waters. Locals told us that there are some nice snorkeling and diving places around Puerto Galera which we haven't checked out. Based on our snorkeling experience on Virgin Island off Bantayan Island we do not entirely believe the stories of rich marine life. If you prefer to stay on solid ground, you can take a trip from Puerto Galera to nearby waterfalls or to Sabang, 6 kilometres away. Sabang is much livelier resort town than Puerto Galera. However, the beach at Sabang is rather polluted and when we visited we smelled sewerage everywhere. In Sabang there is no shortage of discos with exotic dancers, whose jobs, judging from the number of sexually deprived German tourists, include more than erotic dancing.
If you are searching for some peace at the seaside near Manila, you might enjoy a few days at Puerto Galera. If you get bored, Sabang is just a short tricycle ride away. In Puerto Galera we discovered one of the best restaurants in the Philippines too. However, if you are looking for splendid tropical beaches, skip Puerto Galera and head straight off to Boracay or at least Bantayan.