Puerto Galera Hotels and Resorts in Alphabetical Order

	Buri Beach Resort Rates start from US$180 nett
	Shoreline blanketed by fine sand, verdant space lined by tropical palm. Built in a traditional style of architecture fused with modern facilities, the resort is the ideal place to spend the holidays. It is a gateway for island hopping, diving, snorkeling and more.

	Marco Vincent Resort Rates start from US$123 nett
	This Hotel Resort is approximately 100 meters from the renowned White Beach of Puerto Galera. An exclusive retreat offering the utmost in relaxation, recreation and fine dining. It is the perfect venue for family vacations, weddings, parties, conferences, seminars, company team building, private gatherings; or simply communing with the exquisite natural surroundings.

	Coco Beach Island Resort Rates start from approx. US$53 nett
	A sprawling 10 hectare beach resort with facilities made from all-natural materials, it is where the sea is blue and full of beautiful fishes and corals in different colors and shapes. Where hills are full of coconut palms, definitely, an idyllic place to recharge frayed nerves, with its cozy ambience of bamboo and nipa hut in its very Filipino type accommodation...

Coco Beach Island Resort's 3 Days/2 Nights Packages

Puerto Galera Hotels & Resorts Location Rates start from Rating Inclusions Book Now El Galleon Beach Resort Small La Laguna Beach US$ 51 nett Overnight Room accommodation, taxes, service charge Book Now Coco Beach Island Resort Barangay Behija US$ 106 nett 2-Night Room accommodation, round trip transfers (Manila - Coco Beach - Manila), buffet breakfast, taxes, service charge Book Now Marco Vincent Resort White Beach US$ 123 nett Overnight Room accommodation, taxes, service charge Book Now Buri Beach Resort Sabang US$ 180 nett Overnight Room accommodation, Round trip boat transfers (Muelle Pier at Puerto Galera - Buri Beach Resort - Muelle Pier), Full American breakfast, Scheduled snorkeling trip to Coral Garden, Complimentary use of non-motorized water sports equipment, Resort-wide Wi-Fi connection, taxes, service charge Book Now

A chain of mountain ranges cut down the length of the main island. The mountain heights average 3,500 feet in altitude, with the highest peak rising to 6,800 feet at Mount Matalingahan. The vast mountain areas are the source of valuable timber. The terrain is a mix of coastal plain, craggy foothills, valley deltas, and heavy forest interspersed with riverine arteries that serve as irrigation.

Economy of Puerto Galera

The natives of Puerto Galera primarily lived by fishing, crude farming, and hunting. They raised animals and planted rice, corn, sweet potatoes and other root crops, using the slash-and-burn method until the Spaniards introduced to them the use of plow.

Today, however, most of the locals are engaged in various sorts of tourism-related livelihood. The others are either into farming, livestock raising, fishing, or minimg.

The major produce of the town includes rice, banana, corn, vegetables, root crops, mango, and coconut. Livestock production consists of chicken, cattle, pig and goat. While land quarrying and mining yield non-metallic minerals like marble, sand gravel and boulders for construction. The marble mine in Barangay San Isidro, which boasts of 17 shades of marble and which has become a major tourist attraction, is estimated to last for centuries of mining operation.

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Brief History

Much like the province of Oriental Mindoro to which it belongs, Puerto Galera is very rich in history. Literally meaning "Port of Galleons," it became popular among seafarers during the prosperous years of the galleon trade beginning on the 10th century. Owing to its excellent natural harbor - which until now is considered one of the most beautiful and safest in the world - Puerto Galera became a regular stopover for merchant vessels sailing along the important trade routes of the Near East, Indian coast, Indo-Chinese coast, China, Philippines, Sumatra, and Java.

The Muelle Bay area, in particular, was used extensively for dock repairs and as a safe anchorage for all types of sailing vessels. Here, too, a lot of merchant ships docked to trade with the natives.

Puerto Galera was such important port that some historians even believe the name "Mindoro" was derived from Minolo, one of Puerto Galera's old settlements. These are claims, too, that 16th century references to Mindoro often only meant the harbor of Minolo. Also spelled Minoro, Minolo was a small coastal settlement northwest of the Poblacion of present-day Puerto Galera. then the center of trading, Chinese merchants bartered with natives of Minolo, exhanging glazed porcelains for gold, jade, corals, shells, birds, rattan, and other forest products that were abundant in the island. An excavation of an ancient gravesite near Minolo lends proof to this - the antiques unearthed from the gravesites were traced back to the 10th and 15th centuries, mostly from China, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Sta. Lourdes Tagbanua, Puerto Princesa City is where the Honda Bay can be seen. The bay consists of several islets with shallow reefs, bordering fabulous beaches and small resorts which have become the favorite water sports destination of local and foreign tourists alike.

By the 17th century, under its Spanish colonizers, the island of Mindoro was organized into a coregimiento, with Puerto Galera as the capital. The seat of government remained here throughout the Spanish and American rules, up until 1903.

After more than two centuries, the capital of the province was transferred to Calapan (now a city and the present capital of Oriental Mindoro), which was geograpically blessed with wide agricultural lands. Puerto Galera was then annexed to Calapan as a barrio. Finally, on December 7, 1927, the Philippine Congress passed Act 3415 creating the independent municipality of Puerto Galera.

Epigraphs referring to two historical landmarks have now become major tourist attractions in Puerto Galera - the commemoration Cross for Cañonero Mariveles and the Black Rice display-board, both in Muelle Pier.

When Puerto Galera was made capital of Mindoro, it was originally located in Barrio Lagundian. But the frequency of the Moro attacks forced the Spaniards not only to transfer the seat government to its present site, but also to build watchtowers and station battleship that guarded the waters of Puerto Galera was the Cañonero Mariveles, which sunk due to a violent storm in 1879. To remember the battleships, a wooden corss was built at Muelle Pier with the following inscription: "Ultima tierra que pesarou los tripolantes del cañoneros Marivelles el 18 de Noviembre de 1879." One of the greatest relics of the past century, this Cross was renovated in 1938 by a Spaniard named Luis Gomez y Sotto.

Aside from introducing tools to increase farm productivity, the Spaniards also built a rice granary in Puerto Galera to stash grains ready for shipment. This storage is believed to have caught fire in the late of 18th century, and a huge volume of palay (rice grains) were burned and tossed into the sea. It would decompose and eventually vanish. But for some magical reason, the burned rice grains were preserved by seawaters. to this day, handful of whole charcoal-black rice grains continue to appear on the banks of Muelle Bay, mysteriously carried by the waves with the changing of tides. A huge glasscase collecting them now stands along the tricyle terminal on Muelle Pier.

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