Short answer: A foreign visitor pays about PHP 400 in statutory fees on the way in - a PHP 300 environmental fee under Malay Municipal Ordinance No. 431, plus a PHP 100 terminal fee under Malay Ordinance 2020-430. Domestic non-Aklanon visitors pay PHP 150 for the environmental fee. The terminal fee is charged again on the way out. Bring cash.
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Search on Trip.comFor travellers arriving at Caticlan or Kalibo and crossing to Boracay through the Caticlan jetty port. Fees below are the ordinance rates, last checked 30 July 2026 against the Province of Aklan portal and Philippine Information Agency reporting on the ordinance. The province publishes the governing ordinances but not a plain-language rate card, so confirm the current amount at the counter.
| Line item | Amount | Set by | Collected by | Frequency | Checked |
|---|
| Environmental fee, foreign visitor | PHP 300 | Malay Municipal Ordinance No. 431 | Municipality of Malay | Once per stay | 30 Jul 2026 |
| Environmental fee, domestic non-Aklanon | PHP 150 | Malay Municipal Ordinance No. 431 | Municipality of Malay | Once per stay | 30 Jul 2026 |
| Terminal fee, Caticlan | PHP 100 | Malay Ordinance 2020-430 | Province of Aklan | Each direction | 30 Jul 2026 |
| Boat transport, Caticlan to Cagban | PHP 50-100 | Operator tariff | Boat operator | Each direction | 30 Jul 2026 |
| Land transfer, jetty to hotel | PHP 150-350 | Negotiated | Tricycle / e-trike / shuttle | Each direction | 30 Jul 2026 |
| Inbound total, one foreign visitor | PHP 600-850 | - | - | - | 30 Jul 2026 |
None of that is the hotel, the flight or the meals. It is purely the cost of crossing a two-kilometre strait, and it is the part travellers routinely leave out of a budget.
The four charges between Caticlan airport and your hotel
The sequence is fixed and it happens inside one building. You arrive at the Caticlan jetty port terminal, pay the environmental fee, pay the terminal fee, buy the boat ticket, cross, and take a tricycle or e-trike on the Boracay side. Four transactions, three different recipients.
The confusion is structural rather than anyone's fault. These are not components of one fee - they are separate charges levied under separate ordinances by different levels of government, collected at adjacent windows. That is why travellers who prepaid one still queue for another.
Kalibo arrivals face the same chain with a two-hour road transfer bolted on the front. The van fare from Kalibo to Caticlan is a fifth line item, and it is the reason a cheaper flight into Kalibo is not always the cheaper trip.
Environmental fee versus terminal fee: two ordinances, two recipients
The environmental fee is set by Malay Municipal Ordinance No. 431, approved by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Aklan on 9 November 2020 and published the following month. It is tiered: PHP 300 for foreign tourists and PHP 150 for domestic tourists who are not Aklanon. It is charged once and covers your whole stay, so two weeks and two nights pay the same.
The terminal fee is a separate instrument. Malay Ordinance 2020-430 raised the terminal fee at the Tabon port in Caticlan from PHP 50 to PHP 100, and it goes to the Province of Aklan, which runs the passenger terminals at Caticlan and Cagban. Because you use a terminal in both directions, you pay it twice.
Getting that distinction right is what prevents the departure-day argument. A foreign visitor's inbound statutory cost is PHP 400; the outbound adds PHP 100, not another PHP 400.
The exemptions almost nobody claims, and the penalty for faking one
Ordinance 431 exempts a wider group than most visitors realise. Aklanons are exempt from the environmental fee. So are returning Aklanons and balikbayans, along with their children and grandchildren, and those aged 12 and below.
If you have Aklanon family, that is a real saving across a group, and it is claimed with proof rather than assertion. Travellers with children should also check the age threshold - a family of four with two children under 12 pays the environmental fee twice, not four times.
The ordinance also puts a price on abusing this. Misrepresenting yourself as an Aklanon to claim the exemption carries a PHP 2,500 fine and possible charges. It is the kind of provision that exists because people tried it.
Boracay iPass and what prepaying does not skip
The provincial government collects through the Boracay iPass platform, which bundles the port terminal fee, the environmental fee and boat and land transport into one prepaid transaction. The official iPass page lists the service categories and links the governing ordinances, and manual windows at the jetty port remain open.
What prepaying buys is a shorter queue at the fee counters, which on a busy afternoon is worth real time. What it does not buy is a bypass of the terminal, the boat manifest or the security check. You walk the same route through the same building.
Note that the province publishes the ordinances rather than a consumer rate card. That is why the amounts above are given as ordinance rates with the instrument named - so you can check the source rather than trust a figure copied between travel sites.
A worked total for one traveller, one way
Take one foreign adult flying into Caticlan and staying at Station 2. Environmental fee PHP 300. Terminal fee PHP 100. Boat PHP 50 to PHP 100. E-trike to Station 2 between PHP 150 and PHP 350 depending on whether you share it. That lands between PHP 600 and PHP 850 to reach the hotel door.
Going out, the environmental fee does not repeat, so the return leg is the terminal fee, the boat and the land transfer: roughly PHP 300 to PHP 550. A return trip therefore sits near PHP 900 to PHP 1,400 per person in transfer costs alone.
A Filipino visitor from outside Aklan replaces the PHP 300 with PHP 150, bringing the inbound total to roughly PHP 450 to PHP 700. A family with children aged 12 and under drops the environmental fee for those children entirely.
Where the published fare stops matching the receipt
Three gaps recur. Land transfer is the biggest variable: a shared e-trike and a private one differ by a factor of three for the same journey, and drivers quote the private rate first. Agree the fare and whether it is per person or per vehicle before loading bags.
Boat fares differ between the regular crossing and fast or private options, and late crossings can carry a surcharge. Some resorts include the transfer, which is worth confirming before paying for it twice.
The last is timing. Caticlan jetty port congests around the mid-afternoon arrival bank, and the fee counters are where the delay sits. Prepaying through iPass or arriving off-peak is the practical fix.
What most guides get wrong about Boracay's entry fees
The most repeated error is a flat PHP 450, presented as what everyone pays - usually as PHP 300 environmental plus PHP 150 terminal. Both halves are off. The terminal fee is PHP 100 under Ordinance 2020-430, and the environmental fee is tiered rather than flat, at PHP 300 for foreign visitors and PHP 150 for domestic non-Aklanons. A Filipino traveller reading that figure overpays their own budget by a third.
The second error is silence on exemptions. Almost no guide mentions that Aklanons, balikbayans and their descendants, and children aged 12 and below, are exempt from the environmental fee under Ordinance 431. For a Filipino family that is the single largest saving available at the counter, and it goes unclaimed because nobody writes about it.
The third is treating Boracay iPass as mandatory. Coverage often reads as though the island is closed to anyone who has not prepaid online. The manual counters at the jetty port are still open, and prepayment is a convenience rather than an entry requirement - which matters if you land without a working data connection.
Frequently asked questions
How much is the Boracay entry fee in 2026?
About PHP 400 for a foreign visitor arriving: PHP 300 environmental fee under Malay Ordinance No. 431 plus a PHP 100 terminal fee. Domestic non-Aklanon visitors pay PHP 150 for the environmental fee.
Is the environmental fee charged again when I leave?
No. It is once per stay regardless of length. The PHP 100 terminal fee is charged in each direction, so budget PHP 200 for it across a return trip.
Who is exempt from the Boracay environmental fee?
Aklanons, returning Aklanons and balikbayans along with their children and grandchildren, and anyone aged 12 and below, under Malay Ordinance No. 431. Claiming the exemption falsely carries a PHP 2,500 fine.
Do I have to use Boracay iPass?
No. Manual payment windows remain open at Caticlan jetty port. The platform bundles the terminal fee, environmental fee, boat and land transport into one prepayment and mainly saves queue time.
Can I pay the Boracay fees by card?
Plan on cash. Prepaying through the iPass platform is the digital route, but the counters at Caticlan jetty port and the boat and tricycle operators are a cash environment.
Is flying into Kalibo cheaper than Caticlan?
Only sometimes. Kalibo adds a road transfer of about two hours to Caticlan, and that van fare plus the time often cancels the airfare saving. The jetty port fee chain is identical either way.
