Ciudad de Zamboanga (Zamboanga City)

Zamboanga City cheap accommodation - Atilano compound

How to get there? If you're arriving from the Zamboanga City airport, just walk up to the airport's gate and look for a jeepney with the signboard "CANELAR". Tell the driver that you are going to Atilano compound or Gerry's Grill in Mayor Jaldon street. The fare is 7 pesos each person and travel time is about 15 minutes. You can also take a tricycle from the airport but prepare to pay a "special-ride" fare which of course is more expensive than taking the jeepney. You can ask the jeepney driver to drop you off at the Atilano compound. You can also stay at the right side of the jeepney (facing the driver) and look for Gerry's Grill Restaurant at the right side of the road and don't forget to knock on the jeepney's ceiling when you alight - all this time I thought you have to yell PARA for the driver to stop because their main dialect is Chavacano which is practically a Spanish-based language. When you're already at the restaurant, just go straight the road. At the end of the road you have to turn right and you will see the cluster of inns and pension houses around the area. For visual learners check this out:

ride a Canelar-bound jeepney from the airport

pay 7 pesos each person

alight on this street right beside the restaurant

go straight ahead

turn right at the end of the road

and there you will see the cluster of pension houses
There are about 5 pension houses in that area and almost all of them offer cheap rates for either 12-hour or 24-hour stay. There's the N. Atilano New Pension House, Chang-V Atilano Pension House, Atilano New Pension House, KNC Atilano Pension House and Casa Don Atilano. I noticed that all of those are bearing "Atilano" on their names only to find out that it was a surname of a former mayor in the city.

N. Atilano New Pension house

Chang-V Atilano Pension House

Atilano New Pension House

KNC Atilano Pension House

We checked out all the pension houses and we ended up with Casa Don Atilano to be our temporary refuge for 3 days. We booked an Aircon room for 2 nights for 600 pesos per night. The room that was assigned to us was huge. I think it's really meant for a family. There's a double bed on one side and a single bed on the other side. There were also two bathrooms in the room - funny, I know! It made us scram to choose our "own" bathroom (which is great because we sometimes fight about it when we travel). We also had a TV in that same room but the room was really huge for the two of us. I still can't get over with the size of the room. 

the Aircon rooms

our room is on the rightmost side of the photo

double bed/ TV/ Aircon/ bathroom

some kind of a kitchen with a sink/ two more doors/ mirror/ tables and a space

single bed and J's bathroom

my bathroom

What I love about Casa Don Atilano is that their pension house is a bungalow-type and the location is just perfect. It is far from the downtown and there's this feeling that you are just at home in your own neighborhood. Also, you can ask for a free hot drinking water anytime for free (even at wee hours of night, the thermos pot is just on the front desk). 

What I don't like about the place is the water supply. They turn it off sometimes and when we needed to take a shower one night, we can't seem to figure out where to go to ask for a help because there's no one in the front desk. Good thing we stocked up some water in both bathrooms. The next day we even have to ask them for the water supply in our room - they might have forgotten that they have guests because we were the only ones who were occupying the pension house. 

Going back to the airport from Casa Don Atilano pension house you just need to go to the main highway and wait for a jeepney with the signboard "AIRPORT". Hop on the jeepney and pay 7 pesos each person and within 15 minutes, you'll find yourself in the most visually and aesthetically appealing terminal in the Philippines.