Road trips around Philippines

[Dave Hounddriver]

If anyone has done any interesting road trips in a small car I would love to hear about them.  Lots of people do road trips on motorcycles or high road clearance vehicles but what about road trips that any car can do?

I just did one that I enjoyed.  From Dumaguete/Sibulan cross on the ro-ro to Santander, Liloan.  Drive to Moalboal (great road now) in an hour and a half.

Continue from Moalboal to Balamban which took 3 and a half hours due to some miserable rain and some road construction.  The turn off just past Barili is easy to miss as its not marked.  We asked to locals standing nearby if that road was the turn off.  One said yes and the other said "bad road, better you keep going on this one"  So we did turn off there and the reason it was bad was the heavy rains in the construction zone but once past that it was normal.  A bit tricky in a "low to the ground" car but it was downhill so we slid through it just fine.

From Balamban to Bogo was another 2 and a half hours drive with some construction but nothing the car couldn't handle.

On Monday we do the trip home in reverse.

One point I want to make is do not trust the "ground level images" from Google maps.  This is Philippines and what looks to be a nice, freshly paved road in the Google map images is often a flooded out, rocky section of "never-fixed" road or it has turned into one of the ever ongoing construction projects.  but its nice to see how the road once looked when the picture was taken.

[Old55]

I suggest you take the LST from Hagnaya Cebu to Santa Fe Bantayan and drive around Bantayan love that place. Roads to Hagnaya from your location are good as are the roads on Bantayan.

[AlwaysRt]

My wife and some friends just did this trip Thurs/Fri Trip to Simala Parish Church, Cebu, Philippines 

(Audio is not great, she had the GoPro in the underwater case the whole time)

Edited September 23, 2017 by AlwaysRt

[Queenie O.]

Nice and extensive road trip Dave!

Being here in the north we always love driving the mainline way to Bogo City as it's very scenic with all the greenery and trees of the many sugar cane haciendas. We took a shorter  west going road trip too last week-- although in a bigger vehicle, but it may be of interest too.  We went up to mainline by Borbon town through Sogod and turned over toward Tabeulon on through  Tuberon and Asturius heading towards Balamban. We had hoped to visit a new public flower garden there called Alahandra's Garden, but heavy downpours ended up closing the garden.  The atmosphere going west seemed quite flatter and rural farmlike, than our hillier east ocean side in Tabogon town. A lot of tricycles and trisikads filled the roads in those western towns. Corn fields on one side of the road and rice paddies on other sides!

I agree about Google maps not being always what one encounters--I'd like to know what you thought about the super high inclines heading up towards Balamban? They were rather intimidating, and I'd never been so high up in Cebu before!  We had breakfast at an eco resort called  West35 which was airy and pretty and we were told is only 35 KM from Cebu City! Going back down in the heavy rain in Balamban was kind of scary too as we had to kind of ride the brakes through the downpour!  Once in Balamban proper we headed to Toledo, and then made our way back the way we came to home. We'd like to try your route next time towards MoalBoal,. Nice to know that the road is very good now. Haven''t been there in a long time. Cebu is very different geographically and atmosphere wise, so it's really worth getting out and seeing it for us.

We saw a new Indy film lately, about a family that takes a road trip from Cebu City to Santander and on over to Dumaquete in an old multicab to attend their estranged father's funeral. It's called Patay na Si Jesus. If anyone can catch this movie, it was really worth seeing! Nice scenery too! Try to look for it Dave. It had some English subtitles as it was in Tagalog and Cebuano.

 

 

Edited September 24, 2017 by Queenie O.

[Dave Hounddriver]

4 hours ago, Queenie O. said:

by Borbon town through Sogod and turned over toward Tabeulon on through  Tuberon and Asturius heading towards Balamban.

I am wondering which road you took to cut across from Borbon to Tabuelon.  The one I took to come here is the southernmost road which shows on Google as the main one.  The second option Google maps gives cut across from just north of Borbon to just north of Tabuelon and it looks to be narrow but if its smooth and no construction I may go back that way.

Which did you choose?

As to the road that cuts across from Cebu to Balamban, many say its the best route across the island but yes, it has steep sections.  In my old diesel pickup I had trouble with the steepest parts (years ago) but my Honda Civic just works a little harder and has no problems.

Its frustrating to have such low ground clearance as I took a side trip up into the mountains where my car should not be going and a mud hole did some damage to the paint on my grill.  No problem.  Paint touch ups are cheap in Philippines but it is a bit frustrating.  I had walked the route first to be sure my car would go through and did not consider that the flying mud would be like sandblasting on my paint 

But all in all, roadtrips are fun so long as the road is passable.

[Queenie O.]

1 hour ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

I am wondering which road you took to cut across from Borbon to Tabuelon.  The one I took to come here is the southernmost road which shows on Google as the main one.  The second option Google maps gives cut across from just north of Borbon to just north of Tabuelon and it looks to be narrow but if its smooth and no construction I may go back that way.

Which did you choose?

As to the road that cuts across from Cebu to Balamban, many say its the best route across the island but yes, it has steep sections.  In my old diesel pickup I had trouble with the steepest parts (years ago) but my Honda Civic just works a little harder and has no problems.

Its frustrating to have such low ground clearance as I took a side trip up into the mountains where my car should not be going and a mud hole did some damage to the paint on my grill.  No problem.  Paint touch ups are cheap in Philippines but it is a bit frustrating.  I had walked the route first to be sure my car would go through and did not consider that the flying mud would be like sandblasting on my paint 

But all in all, roadtrips are fun so long as the road is passable.

Hi Dave,

Yes many things to consider on roads under construction, during flooding or wet weather etc. Somehow we knew that Balamban was mountanous, but just didn't expect those high curves!

The  Borbon route to Tabuelon takes you by a side road through Barangay Sagay, which is kind of hilly and there are some unfinished parts of the road leading to the mainline.  Borbon is my husband's old home town and where I was assigned back in the day. so we're more familiar with it.  Your better bet that we mostly travel, is to go to Barangay Damulog in Sogod, and take the "mainline" highway route a ways up heading towards Bogo City.  In a short time you'll come to a big church, and there will be a sign pointing left leading to Tabuelon. If you were heading back south you would just ride that mainline highway back down to Damulog, and head south.

Edited September 24, 2017 by Queenie O.

[Dave Hounddriver]

56 minutes ago, Queenie O. said:

Borbon is my husband's old home town and where I was assigned back in the day

Small world.  That is where Lynne is from (barangay Bagacay area) and the main reason for our road trip is for her to go up into the hills for a family party.

[Queenie O.]

4 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

Small world.  That is where Lynne is from (barangay Bagacay area) and the main reason for our road trip is for her to go up into the hills for a family party.

That is a ways from the town proper!  He's from Barangay Cadaruhan along the coast..

[davewe]

18 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

If anyone has done any interesting road trips in a small car I would love to hear about them.  Lots of people do road trips on motorcycles or high road clearance vehicles but what about road trips that any car can do?

I just did one that I enjoyed.  From Dumaguete/Sibulan cross on the ro-ro to Santander, Liloan.  Drive to Moalboal (great road now) in an hour and a half.

Continue from Moalboal to Balamban which took 3 and a half hours due to some miserable rain and some road construction.  The turn off just past Barili is easy to miss as its not marked.  We asked to locals standing nearby if that road was the turn off.  One said yes and the other said "bad road, better you keep going on this one"  So we did turn off there and the reason it was bad was the heavy rains in the construction zone but once past that it was normal.  A bit tricky in a "low to the ground" car but it was downhill so we slid through it just fine.

From Balamban to Bogo was another 2 and a half hours drive with some construction but nothing the car couldn't handle.

On Monday we do the trip home in reverse.

One point I want to make is do not trust the "ground level images" from Google maps.  This is Philippines and what looks to be a nice, freshly paved road in the Google map images is often a flooded out, rocky section of "never-fixed" road or it has turned into one of the ever ongoing construction projects.  but its nice to see how the road once looked when the picture was taken.

This is a fantastic topic, first because we just took our first mini road trip in Negros and 2nd because next month we are going to Moalboal. Janet has been saying "let's take the car" and grumpy old Dave has been saying "the ferry and bus are so easy". But the truth is I could not remember just how good or bad the roads were (we were in Moalboal a couple years ago).

As to our mini trip, we went from Dumaguete to Siaton. For those in the area, the road from Zamboagnita to Siaton is almost completed, is very nice and nearly unused. I mean in 20 minutes I saw 1 or 2 cars.

Next month we take another weekend trip to Moalboal to go to a place we really like, T-Breeze. But my recollection from a couple years ago is that the drive from the town to T-Breeze was a real PITA. Not sure if it's any improved by now.

Edited September 24, 2017 by davewe

[Jack Peterson]

4 minutes ago, davewe said:

As to our mini trip, we went from Dumaguete to Siaton. For those in the area, the road from Zamboagnita to Siaton is almost completed, is very nice and nearly unused. I mean in 20 minutes I saw 1 or 2 cars.

Yep that is Good but just beware of the next section between Siaton and Bayawan. After rain it is a Swamp, you will need a full under car wash on the return to Dumaguete