The Virgin Island of Sungyot, La Union: The Best Island in the Philippines!

When people hear about the Philippines their automatically associate this island nation with such places as Boracay, Coron or Palawan.

In this post I want to talk about an interesting alternative (I’ve actually already written this post in Tagalog at https://italpinoy1967.wordpress.com/2020/09/16/songyot-ang-pinakamagandang-island-sa-buong-pilipinas/, but I am seeing it fit to let the world, not just Filipinos, know about this unique place): the virgin island of Sungyot in the province of La Union.

I assume that there are a lot of virgin islands in the Philippines, but Sungyot is not just a virgin island: it is the virgin island, the virgin island by definition.

But how did I discover this place?

A Thriving Marriage is About Mastering the Art of Finding a Win-win Compromise

My wife is the typical Filipina who, when she goes home to the Philippines, is merely interested in going home and staying there.

I am much more prone to adventure and exploring new places, so the idea of spending my whole vacation in the Philippines in my wife’s barangay and around is not exactly my idea of vacation.

But in a thriving relationship (which is the ideal scenario that I have been moving toward since I got married) you need to master the art of finding a win-win compromise, which, last time I visited the Philippines, meant spending 2/3 of my vacation in my wife’s province and 1/3 of it off on my own.

All Roads Lead to Cubao

Because I have friends in the province of La Union, I decided to visit them, as La Union is a very strategic province: one can easily go from there to Bolinao and the One Hundred Islands or to the Cordillera.

So I left my wife’s town and I headed to Cubao.

I live in Rome, Italy and here in Italy we have a saying that goes “all roads lead to Rome”.

And it’s exactly the same thing in the Philippines, as in the Philippines there is one place that all roads lead to: the bus terminal of Cubao, from which one can take buses to go anywhere in Luzon.

All roads (and buses) lead to Cubao

The Virgin Island of Sungyot

So off I went and, after 4-5 hours I made it to the village of Damortis, La Union.

I was rather excited because I was imagining that from there I could easily make it to Sagada, Banaue, Bolinao and a lot of other places.

But I was told that there was no need whatsoever to go to any of those places (even though I managed to at least go to Baguio and the One Hundred Islands) because, right in front of the pantalan of Damortis there was Sungyot “virgin island iyan, virgin island” they promised.

“Let’s go” I replied.

“Bukas na” they promised.

Come bukas we went to Dagupan to see the shopping mall, as for the “virgin island” I was told to wait another day.

Come next day we went to Agoo…to eat at the Jollibee.

“Virgin island tayo bukas, huwag kang mag-alala” they promised.

Come next day… shopping mall na naman sa Rosales.

……

Eventually….

Eventually we made it!

As promised they took me to the promised land: the virgin island.

And here it is….

Not bad….but, I mean, “is this it?” I asked puzzled

So I embarked on a tour of the island to look for traces of “virginity” and….yes, I did spot some “virgins” hanging out with their boyfriends…but also some nakatambay na boys sipping some (vir)gin…

Yes!!!!!

Sungyot is definitely a must see!

“Virgin island iyan, virgin island….”