Philippines
Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.
In numbers
302km²
Area
154km
Coastline
525m
Highest point
42,662
People
30°C
Warmest sea
May
942km
To the mainland
When to go to Balabac Island
Best for the beach from January to May.
The sea is warmest in May (30 °C) and coolest in February (27 °C). You can swim comfortably all year (21 °C or more).
Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.
Island in the Philippines
Balabac Island is an island in Philippines. It covers 302 km², with 154 km of coastline. Its highest point rises to 525 m. About 42,662 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 942 km away.
Getting there
- Kota Kinabalu International Airport (BKI)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 249 km in a straight lineCar hire at BKI airport (Kota Kinabalu)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- FerriesBuliluyan to Balabac
- 942 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
- From January to Maybest months to go (from 30 years of averages)
Plan the trip
Ferries, stays and things to do
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
On the island
What you find on Balabac Island.
- 1beaches
- 2lighthousesCape Melville Lighthouse, Espina Point Lighthouse
- 2ferry terminalsBalabac
- 9named peaksBalabac Peak, False Balabac Peak, Transept Hill and 6 more
- 2hotels, guesthouses and apartments
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.
The shape of the land.
On average the island stands 64 m above the sea. 92 % of it is below 200 m.
- 64 %0–50 m
- 28 %50–200 m
- 8 %200–500 m
Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).
Size, for real
Next to islands you may know.
20 km
All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).
Towns on the island
- Balabac9,881 people
Month by month
The weather on the island.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon high (°C) | 28 | 28 | 28 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 28 | 29 | 28 |
| Night low (°C) | 27 | 27 | 27 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 |
| Sea (°C) | 28 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 30 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 28 |
| Rain (mm) | 202 | 107 | 96 | 94 | 151 | 199 | 213 | 192 | 227 | 273 | 246 | 263 |
| Wet days | 20 | 12 | 13 | 15 | 21 | 25 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 27 | 27 | 26 |
| Sun h/day | 6.7 | 8.0 | 8.5 | 9.0 | 7.6 | 5.8 | 5.5 | 5.8 | 5.3 | 6.0 | 6.2 | 5.9 |
| Wind (km/h) | 22 | 21 | 18 | 15 | 13 | 15 | 17 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 20 |
Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.
Recent years
Warmer and cooler years at sea.
Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | +0.7 | +0.4 | +0.6 | +0.7 | +0.6 | +0.4 | +0.9 | +0.7 | +0.8 | ±0.0 | +0.2 | +0.7 |
| 2021 | +0.3 | +0.4 | +0.5 | +0.2 | ±0.0 | +0.2 | ±0.0 | +0.4 | +0.3 | +0.6 | +0.4 | +0.6 |
| 2022 | +0.5 | +0.6 | +0.9 | +0.2 | −0.1 | +0.3 | +0.1 | +0.3 | +0.4 | −0.1 | +0.3 | +0.4 |
| 2023 | +0.3 | +0.5 | +0.1 | +0.6 | +0.2 | −0.1 | −0.3 | +0.6 | +0.5 | +0.9 | +1.3 | +0.8 |
| 2024 | +1.0 | +0.9 | +0.1 | +0.4 | +0.7 | +0.6 | +0.3 | +0.4 | ±0.0 | +0.4 | +0.6 | +0.8 |
| 2025 | +0.7 | +0.8 | +0.4 | +0.2 | +0.4 | −0.4 | −0.1 | +0.1 | −0.3 | +0.2 | +0.2 | +0.6 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Malaysia
BruneiAbout these numbers
| Names, area, population | Wikidata (Q431583) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Outline | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Sea temperature | NOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020 |
| Climate | NASA POWER · 1991–2020 |
| Relief, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Towns | GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
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