The mountainous landscape of the pretty town of Santa Fe is the main tourist attraction and is a natural wonder but lacks simple tourist infrastructure.
The area gets its name from a beautiful daughter of one of the first settlers on Tablas Island, Romblon, and as well as hilly areas there are also many bays and beaches that are clean and boast good swimming. Yet there is little else to do and not much in the way of accommodation to choose from.
Mount Calatong is located in Santa Fe and locals describe it as enchanting with its granite slopes, and there are many animals in the area that make the climb more interesting. Apart from a few natural environs to explore, there is little else here and it is best to pass through on a daytrip rather than stay for long.
Travel to Santa Fe – getting there
Manila has the nearest international airport and there are four weekly flights that go to Tablas from the capital with flight times of an hour. From Caticlan in Aklan you can take a 10-minute jeepney ride to the port then an hour-long boat journey to Santa Fe. Batangas offers an 8-hour ferry ride to Odiongan, from where it is a further 2-hour jeepney ride to Santa Fe.
Santa Fe attractions
Santa Fe Trail: a zigzagging road from which you can see the Tablas Strait and neighboring islands.
Canyayo Beach: an unusual beach that has an ocean bed made up from pebbles and has deep waters close to the shore.
Side trips from Santa Fe
Sibuyan Island: neighboring island that is home to Mount Guiting-Guiting and worth a trip to from Tablas.
In brief
What to do: swimming, hiking and mountain exploring.
Best time to go: December to May.
How long? A day.