Island guide · cost of living
The cost of living in Siargao, honestly.
Siargao is cheaper than home and more expensive than the rest of the Philippines, and one choice decides your monthly total more than all the others put together: where you sleep. Get the accommodation right and the island is genuinely affordable; pay nightly rates for a month, eat every meal at a tourist café and run the aircon around the clock, and it stops being cheap fast. Here is the real 2026 breakdown, in honest ranges, so you can build a budget you will actually hit.
How much does it cost to live in Siargao?
Three realistic monthly tiers for 2026. Treat these as composite estimates built from the line items below, and remember the caveat that runs through this whole guide: your room choice moves the total more than everything else.
| Tier | Per month (2026) | What it buys |
|---|---|---|
| Frugal | ≈₱35,000–55,000 | Budget room or monthly dorm, local food, own scooter, café wifi, light aircon |
| Comfortable | ≈₱65,000–100,000 | Private room or studio, mixed dining, scooter, coworking membership, moderate aircon, weekly activity |
| Higher-end | ₱120,000+ | Villa or nice apartment, mostly restaurant dining, heavy aircon, private tours |
Accommodation: the line that decides your budget
Monthly rent in General Luna, by type, for 2026. These are long-stay rates; the nightly prices you see on the booking platforms are far higher, and a monthly deal typically saves 50 to 70 percent over booking night by night. The best long-stay rates come from asking directly and from local groups rather than the OTAs.
| Type | Monthly (2026) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Dorm bed (monthly) | ≈₱9,000–15,000 | Extrapolated from ₱400–700/night; confirm the monthly discount directly |
| Budget private room / homestay | ≈₱15,000–25,000 | Family-run; the island's biggest category |
| Mid-range room / studio | ≈₱25,000–45,000 | Where most working stays land |
| Villa / apartment | ≈₱45,000–100,000+ | Whole place; best value shared between people |
Which type suits which trip is the whole subject of our where to stay in Siargao guide. The one rule that saves the most money: if you are here for a month or more, never pay nightly prices; ask for the monthly rate.
Food and drink
| Item | Typical 2026 price | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Local carinderia / turo-turo meal | ≈₱80–150 | Where the locals eat; the biggest saving |
| Tourist café / restaurant main | ≈₱150–450 | General Luna's café strip sits at the top |
| Specialty coffee | ≈₱120–180 | Cheaper away from the tourist belt |
| Local beer | ≈₱60–120 | Store price low, bar markup higher |
| Groceries, cooking at home | ≈₱2,000–4,000 / week | Reported range; imported goods carry an island premium. Confirm on arrival |
Getting around
A scooter is effectively essential, and monthly rental is the sensible way to hold one: budget around ₱350 to ₱600 a day, ₱3,000 to ₱3,500 a week, or roughly ₱5,000 to ₱9,000 a month negotiated directly. Fuel runs about ₱52 to ₱72 a litre and moves with global prices. Short tricycle hops in town are ₱20 to ₱50 a person, and a motorbike-taxi (habal-habal) runs ₱100 to ₱300 by distance. The full detail, plus licences, checkpoints and road honesty, is in the getting around and island essentials guide.
Internet, SIM and coworking
A local Globe or Smart SIM is cheap and a sensible work backup: the SIM itself is ₱40 to ₱50, and monthly data packages run from around ₱500 for 20GB up to about ₱2,000 for the biggest bundles; travel eSIMs sit in a similar range. Coworking day passes are commonly around ₱250 to ₱650, with monthly memberships from roughly ₱2,500 to ₱7,000 depending on the space (one well-known General Luna space reportedly runs about ₱250 a day and ₱2,500 a month; confirm with the operator). What "fast enough" actually means, and how to check a place before you book, is in the wifi and remote-work guide.
Utilities and essentials
| Item | Typical 2026 cost | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Electricity (rented place) | ≈₱1,500–3,000 light AC · ₱4,000–8,000+ heavy AC | Aircon is the biggest hidden bill; island power is expensive |
| Drinking water (5-gallon refill) | ≈₱15–30 | Do not drink the tap; refill stations everywhere |
| Laundry | ≈₱50–90 / kg | Reported range; wash-dry-fold, fast turnaround. Confirm at the shop |
Surf, boats and the fun stuff
A surf lesson with a board and instructor is about ₱500 to ₱1,000 an hour; board rental is roughly ₱150 an hour or ₱350 to ₱500 a day; a joiner island-hopping day trip to Naked, Daku and Guyam is about ₱1,500 to ₱1,900 a person. A yoga drop-in or a gym day pass generally sits in the low hundreds. Surf prices and logistics get the full treatment in our surfing Siargao guide.
Cash, ATMs and GCash
Budget for a cash island. General Luna has only a handful of ATMs, they are unreliable, they run dry on weekends and holidays, and foreign cards are sometimes refused, with per-withdrawal fees around ₱200 to ₱250. Most local eateries, tricycles, boats and sari-sari stores are cash-only. Withdraw a buffer before you arrive or early in your stay, keep small bills, and set up GCash, which many General Luna cafés and shops accept, as a backup rather than your only payment plan. Cards work only at some higher-end places, often with a surcharge.
Questions we get at the bar
How much does it cost to live in Siargao per month?
For a long-stay visitor in 2026, roughly ₱35,000 to ₱55,000 a month lives frugally (budget room, local food, your own scooter), ₱65,000 to ₱100,000 is comfortable (a private room or studio, a mix of local and café dining, coworking), and ₱120,000 and up is a higher-end villa lifestyle. Your accommodation choice moves the total more than everything else combined, so pick the room first.
Is Siargao expensive?
By Philippine standards, yes, General Luna is one of the pricier spots, because it is a tourism hotspot on an island where many goods arrive by barge or plane. By Western standards it is still cheap. The honest framing: cheaper than home, more expensive than mainland Philippines, and more expensive than it was before the tourism boom. Cooking, eating local and staying monthly are the three biggest levers.
How much is rent in Siargao?
Monthly, in 2026: a budget private room or homestay runs roughly ₱15,000 to ₱25,000, a mid-range room or studio ₱25,000 to ₱45,000, and a nicer villa or apartment ₱45,000 to ₱100,000 or more. A dorm bed booked monthly is cheaper again. The key point is that monthly rates are 50 to 70 percent below the nightly prices on the booking sites, and the best long-stay deals are arranged directly, not through a platform.
How much does food cost in Siargao?
A meal at a local carinderia is about ₱80 to ₱150; a meal at a tourist café or restaurant in General Luna is more like ₱150 to ₱450 for a main; a specialty coffee is ₱120 to ₱180. Cooking from the public market is far cheaper than eating out, though imported groceries carry an island premium. Eating where the locals eat is the single easiest saving.
Do I need a lot of cash in Siargao?
Yes. Siargao runs largely on cash. ATMs in General Luna are few and unreliable, they run out of cash on weekends and holidays, and foreign cards are sometimes rejected, with withdrawal fees around ₱200 to ₱250. Withdraw a buffer before you arrive or early in your stay, carry small bills, and set up GCash, which many General Luna cafés and shops accept, as a backup rather than your only plan.
Can you live in Siargao on a budget?
Yes, if you commit to the local economy: a budget monthly room, carinderia and market food, your own monthly-rented scooter, café wifi over a paid coworking membership, and light use of aircon, which is the biggest hidden bill. That lifestyle sits comfortably in the ₱35,000 to ₱55,000 a month band. The costs that blow budgets here are nightly accommodation, daily restaurant dining and heavy air conditioning.
One monthly rate, and the guessing stops.
Tuloy is nine private ensuite rooms in General Luna on a simple monthly rate, from ₱35,000, which sets the biggest line in your budget and keeps it there: Starlink with a PLDT fibre backup, a real desk, a scooter arrangeable at the door, and a community already here.