Patar Beach

Patar runs along the western edge of the Bolinao peninsula, and its sand is genuinely golden rather than white - a coarse, warm-coloured grain that turns bronze in the late light. The beach comes in sections: the main stretch with cottages and grilled-seafood stalls where day-trippers park, and quieter runs north and south where the shoreline breaks into limestone shelves and rock pools that fill at low tide with small fish and urchins. The water shelves gently and the surf is usually mild, though the west-facing coast picks up swell in the amihan months. Above the beach stands Cape Bolinao lighthouse, a nineteenth-century tower on the headland with the whole coast below it, and the peninsula's other attractions - the Enchanted Cave's swimming pool, the Bolinao Falls, the giant clam nursery - fill the rest of a weekend. Sunset is the beach's fixed appointment, with the sun dropping straight into open sea.

What you actually see

• The golden sand - warm-toned beach running north and south.
• The rock pools - limestone shelves filling at low tide.
• Cape Bolinao lighthouse - the headland tower above the coast.
• The sunsets - straight into the South China Sea.

When to go

November to May for the driest weather; weekdays for space, since Pangasinan weekends bring crowds from Manila. Low tide reveals the pools.

Honest expectations

Facilities are simple cottages and stalls rather than resorts, and the main section can be littered after busy weekends. Rocks and urchins make footwear sensible. Amihan swell can make swimming choppy.

Nearby

Bolinao Falls, the Enchanted Cave and the Cape Bolinao lighthouse are minutes away; Hundred Islands lies an hour east.