Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.
In numbers
810km²
Area
264km
Coastline
811m
Highest point
Mount Dajo
300,000
People
29°C
Warmest sea
May
1,430km
To the mainland
When to go to Jolo
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).
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.
Volcanic island in the southwest Philippines
Jolo is an island in Philippines. It belongs to Sulu Archipelago. It covers 810 km², with 264 km of coastline. Its highest point, Mount Dajo, rises to 811 m. About 300,000 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 1,430 km away.
Getting there
- Jolo Airport (JOL)airport on the island, with scheduled flightsCar hire at GES airport (General Santos)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- Ferries5 ferry terminals on the island
- 1,430 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 Jolo.
- 3beaches
- 1lighthousesJolo Lighthouse
- 5ferry terminalsBus-bus Port, Jolo Ferry Terminal and 3 more
- 2marinas
- 60named peaksMount Sinumaan, Mount Tunggol, Mount Bagsak and 57 more
- 16volcanoesBud Tumantangis, Bud Dajo, Sungal and 13 more
- 2waterfallsTambuang Falls
- 1hotels, guesthouses and apartments
- 6restaurants, 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
Jolo in our other atlases
Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Jolo, each with its own numbers.
3lakesLakeyas
Largest lake
0.72km²
Panamao Lake
according to Lakeyas
Warmest lake
28.4°C
Siet Lake
surface water, warmest month · according to Lakeyas
3 lakes
on Lakeyas, the lake atlas
- Panamao Lake0.72km²
- Siet Lake0.57km²
- Timpuok Lake0.28km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
The shape of the land.
On average the island stands 122 m above the sea. 81 % of it is below 200 m.
- 31 %0–50 m
- 50 %50–200 m
- 17 %200–500 m
- 1 %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.
50 km
All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).
Towns on the island
- Jolo101,002 people
- Kansipati14,552 people
- Anuling10,039 people
- Parang9,681 people
- Lu-uk9,558 people
- Karungdong7,269 people
- Kulase7,148 people
- Punay6,099 people
- Talipaw5,977 people
- Kajatian5,436 people
- Payuhan4,519 people
- Maimbung3,779 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 | 29 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 |
| Night low (°C) | 26 | 26 | 26 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 27 |
| Sea (°C) | 28 | 28 | 28 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 28 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 28 |
| Rain (mm) | 110 | 83 | 88 | 84 | 117 | 154 | 179 | 151 | 162 | 210 | 125 | 104 |
| Wet days | 16 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 17 | 22 | 23 | 21 | 20 | 22 | 21 | 20 |
| 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) | 16 | 15 | 12 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 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 | +0.6 | +0.5 | +0.6 | +0.7 | +0.7 | +0.4 | +0.8 | +0.8 | +0.8 | +0.5 | +0.8 | +1.0 |
| 2021 | +1.1 | +0.9 | +1.0 | +0.5 | +0.6 | +0.6 | +0.6 | +0.8 | +0.7 | +0.7 | +0.6 | +0.6 |
| 2022 | +0.3 | +0.4 | +0.7 | +0.2 | ±0.0 | +0.3 | +0.4 | +0.6 | +0.5 | +0.1 | +0.6 | +0.5 |
| 2023 | +0.4 | +0.2 | +0.2 | +0.2 | +0.3 | ±0.0 | −0.2 | +0.6 | +0.3 | +0.5 | +0.8 | +0.5 |
| 2024 | +0.9 | +0.4 | +0.2 | +0.3 | +0.6 | +0.4 | +0.2 | +0.3 | +0.3 | +0.2 | +0.7 | +0.7 |
| 2025 | +0.8 | +0.7 | +0.4 | +0.1 | +0.3 | +0.1 | +0.2 | +0.2 | +0.1 | +0.2 | −0.1 | +0.5 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Nearby
More islands nearby.
Lugus Island
Philippines37 km²68 m47 km away
BasilanPhilippines1,223 km²377 m120 km away
Tawi-Tawi IslandPhilippines568 km²549 m153 km away
Sibutu IslandPhilippines105 km²23 m225 km away
Sitangkai IslandPhilippines0.08 km²1 m242 km away
Mapun IslandPhilippines63 km²49 m316 km away
Sipadan
Malaysia0.17 km²27 m347 km awayAbout these numbers
| Names, area, population | Wikidata (Q860298) · 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 | Lakeyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0, LakeTEMP (Korver et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0 |
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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