Iligan City is a 50/50 place in terms of safety for foreigners. More so on the safe side than non-safe if you have some experience in living or traveling overseas.

There have been a few bomb attacks over the years, but nothing directed at foreigners per se. Likewise with kidnappings. Most kidnappings happen between Iligan and Zamboanga city. Note I wrote between, and not “in” said cities. Iligan itself, while it does have few expats around is not such an exciting place. It was also pretty devastated by the typhoon this year. There are more retiree expats in the much safer city of Cagayan De Oro which is just an hour or so to the North East of Iligan. Or again in Davao way down south in Mindanao. In terms of not being totally isolated that is.

You might also want to do some online searching for expat forums in any town, join them, and ask some questions. Just take a little of what’s said with a grain of salt. There are some very nice expats in Mindanao, but the majority like their beer and girls so it can be a bit slanted in terms of relevance. Another place you might like to ask is on http://liveinthephilippines.com a good reference guide and http://www.mindanaobob.com

There are a few British retirees around, but it’s mainly North American and a few Australian, and North European.

Hope this helps!

My intention is to retire there (in a few years time) but I am reading conflicting reports as to the safety of this area for British citizens.

There are very few places we can call “Very Safe” as most places have their own problems, however would it be foolhardy to retire there and am I reading too much into the “dangerous” information I am finding on the web?

I look forward to reading your comments.

-riko- Now that’s got to be painful! My commiserations …

Marc h Thanks Marc, I am hoping to shed some positive light on this great region, stay tuned!