Basilan

1,223 km² of land in the Celebes Sea.

City of IsabelaMalusoAl-BarkaTuburanLamitan CitySanta ClaraSumisip

Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.

In numbers

1,223km²

Area

275km

Coastline

377m

Highest point

259,796

People

29°C

Warmest sea

May

1,495km

To the mainland

When to go to Basilan

Best for the beach from January to May.

The sea is warmest in May (29 °C) and coolest in February (28 °C). You can swim comfortably all year (21 °C or more).

28°28°26°

Jan19

28°28°26°

Feb15

28°29°27°

Mar16

29°29°27°

Apr18

29°29°28°

May24

29°28°27°

Jun27

29°28°27°

Jul27

29°28°27°

Aug26

29°28°27°

Sep25

29°28°27°

Oct26

29°28°27°

Nov25

29°28°27°

Dec23

Sea temperature (the water level) Air: night low to afternoon high Wet days Best months

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 and mainland of the province of Basilan

Basilan is an island in Philippines. It belongs to Sulu Archipelago. It covers 1,223 km², with 275 km of coastline. Its highest point rises to 377 m. About 259,796 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 1,495 km away.

Getting there

Zamboanga International Airport (ZAM)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 40 km in a straight lineCar hire at GES airport (General Santos)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
FerriesIsabela - Zamboanga, Isabela - Malamawi, Isabela - Hadji Muhtamad
1,495 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

Car hire at GES airport (General Santos)Discover CarsSee

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 Basilan.

1beaches
1lighthousesKulay bato Lighthouse
6ferry terminalsIsabela and 5 more
6named peaksAbong-abong Peak, Mount Mohaji, Mount Matanal and 3 more
3volcanoesBasilan Peak, Mount Sinangcapan, Pangasahan Hill
4waterfallsSanta Clara Waterfalls, Cabunbata Falls, Bulingan Falls and 1 more
4hotels, guesthouses and apartments
5restaurants, cafés and bars

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Basilan in our other atlases

Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Basilan, each with its own numbers.

1beachCoastya

Beach with the warmest sea
29.1°C
Bucbuc Cove
sea in the warmest month · according to Coastya

1 beaches

on Coastya, the beach atlas

Bucbuc Covecove29.1°C

Open Coastya ↗

The shape of the land.

On average the island stands 212 m above the sea. 56 % of it is below 200 m.

22 %0–50 m
35 %50–200 m
34 %200–500 m
10 %500–1,000 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.

Basilan1,223 km²

Tenerife2,038 km²

Long Island3,529 km²

50 km

All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).

Towns on the island

City of Isabela67,336 people
Maluso31,374 people
Al-Barka23,736 people
Tuburan8,204 people
Lamitan City6,114 people
Santa Clara4,306 people
Sumisip3,735 people
Semut3,423 people
Tipo-Tipo2,981 people
Tairan Camp2,766 people
Colonia2,587 people
Guiong2,477 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	29	29	29	28	28	28	28	28	28	28
Night low (°C)	26	26	27	27	28	27	27	27	27	27	27	27
Sea (°C)	28	28	28	29	29	29	29	29	29	29	29	29
Rain (mm)	109	77	83	89	131	167	184	155	168	193	130	113
Wet days	19	15	16	18	24	27	27	26	25	26	25	23
Sun h/day	6.7	7.3	7.6	7.9	7.1	6.2	6.1	6.6	6.3	6.3	6.8	6.8
Wind (km/h)	15	14	11	8	9	12	13	15	12	11	11	12

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	+0.7	+0.5	+0.5	+0.6	+1.0	+0.9	+0.9	+0.8	+0.7	+0.9
2021	+1.0	+0.8	+1.1	+0.5	+0.5	+0.5	+0.5	+1.0	+0.6	+0.9	+0.7	+0.5
2022	+0.2	+0.6	+0.7	+0.3	+0.2	+0.3	+0.5	+0.6	+0.5	+0.3	+0.6	+0.5
2023	+0.2	+0.4	+0.4	+0.5	+0.4	−0.1	−0.1	+0.5	+0.1	+0.4	+0.6	+0.5
2024	+0.7	+0.5	+0.5	+0.5	+0.6	+0.5	+0.3	+0.4	+0.3	+0.2	+0.6	+0.7
2025	+0.7	+0.7	+0.8	+0.5	+0.4	±0.0	+0.2	+0.3	+0.1	+0.3	−0.1	+0.4

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Photos

Seen by visitors.

View of Basilan Island (Isabela & Lamitan) from Ship, Mar 2026 (2) — Ralff Nestor Nacor · CC BY-SA 4.0

Basilan Island viewed from Zamboanga City — Aldous Mariano Cariño · CC BY-SA 4.0

Basilan Peak — Aldous Mariano Cariño · CC BY-SA 4.0

View of Basilan Island (Isabel & Lamitan) from Basilan Strait, Mar 2026 — Ralff Nestor Nacor · CC BY-SA 4.0

Nearby

More islands nearby.

Jolo

Philippines810 km²811 m120 km away

Lugus Island

Philippines37 km²68 m166 km away

Tawi-Tawi Island

Philippines568 km²549 m273 km away

Mindanao

Philippines97,530 km²2,954 m342 km away

Sibutu Island

Philippines105 km²23 m345 km away

Negros

Philippines13,075 km²2,460 m396 km away

Sitangkai Island

Philippines0.08 km²1 m362 km away

Panglao Island

Philippines90 km²190 m389 km away

About these numbers

Names, area, population	Wikidata (Q810053) · 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
Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfalls	Coastya — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

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