Useful Tips: Roadtrip to Bohol & Cebu via Maharlika Highway

[btboy]

Sharing some useful tips based on our recent Manila-Bohol/Cebu Road Trip (Dec. 2007) via the old Maharlika Highway. I'm returning the favor as I got most of the right info to carefully plan our roadtrip from this forum. Thanks again guys especially to "Vhenok"

Keywords:
Manila-Cebu Roadtrip
Manila-Bohol Roadtrip

1. Driving to the South Luzon. We took Quirino Highway. Some improvements and ongoing repairs, but I still consider it dangerous to drive at night

2. Matnog Roro Service: Still no definite schedule. Maharlika vessels are in awful state. Bigger, faster ferries of the other company preferred. P1,100 for 2-3hrs voyage depending on sea condition. One highly unsafe practice of the Matnog ferries: Cars/vehicles were not leashed

3. Driving in Samar: Allen-Calbayog roads are in very bad condition. There are ongoing road rehab works on the Calbayog-Catbalogan stretch. So expect single lanes, mud (rainyseason) or dust (summer). There were no adequate/visible warning signs. The Catbalogan-Calbiga stretch is not as bad as the Calbayog-Catbalogan stretch but u can still rip your tires. Calbiga-Tacloban section is newly asphalted. I drove slow, left Allen 11AM, arrived Tacloban 8PM. Driving at night in Samar not recommended. Patience, skills and luck are what you need. There are Jollibees now in Calbayog & Catbalogan.

4. Roro Service Leyte to Cebu: Option1> Isabel-Danao ETD 12nn daily (around P2,000, 4hrs, Aznar Shipping). Option 2> is the Bato-Cebu route, ETD 9PM (Tue,Thu, SUn) and ETD 9AM on Sat. >>Medallion Shipping at 09192271069/09212338971 (P2,300, 6hrs). There is also an Ormoc-Cebu roro, but I have no info on sched and rates.

5. Roro Service Leyte to Bohol: Bato/Leyte-Ubay/Bohol: ETD 9AM Daily, 3Hrs voyage, Medallion Shipping, for P1,800.

Btw: Bato, Leyte is about 2-2.5hrs from Tacloban City, via Palo-Abuyog-Baybay mountain route... enjoyable drive. There are decent inns in Baybay, Bato and Maasin, just in case...

Special note: Good roads around Leyte/Bohol are really fun to drive. Great also for motorcyling and biking. It compensated for the long boring drive in Samar.

6. Roro Service: Bohol-Mindanao: Two options: Jagna/Bohol-Cagayan De Oro, or Jagna/Bohol-Nasipit/Agusan. Check Cebu Ferries Corp. for rates & sched.

7. Roro Service: Bohol-Cebu (Lite Shipping): Option 1)Via Tagbilaran City ETD 12nn Daily (P3,000, 4hrs voyage), Option 2)Via Tubigon Port (1hr drive from Tagbilaran), ETD 12Nn Daily (P1,700, 2hrs voyage).

We drove to North Cebu (San Remegio, Malapascua & Batayan Island.)Careful on roads to North Cebu, a lot of sharp curves, slow drive from city to Danao.

8. Roro Service (North Cebu): Hagnaya to Bantayan Island, daily, almost every 2hrs, (Supershuttle or Island Shipping), P1,200 for 1.5 hr voyage

9. Superferry Cebu-Manila. SF12 is currently the best in the fleet to we chose it. P17,000++ for van/suv (ro-ro), one free economy ticket. Srtict security measures added comfort. Sulpicio is cheaper but the general state of their ship/rooms are "below-par" as other blogs indicate.

Maybe the Batangas-Mindoro-Panay-Negros-Cebu-Bohol-Mla route next time.

I hope this will be helpful to road travelers this summer and beyond

A glimpse of our long road trip (and side trips)....

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...zcsXRA&notag=1

[KBR]

WOW!! that was nice man! sana makapag road trip kami sa Pilipinas!! I havent been back home in like 12 years! but I'll definitely want to see the best places (and my family's provinces) in the Philippines! (malamang may convoy kami ng at least 2-3 SUV's. hehehe)



aite, peace.

[Onynz]

Nice one, that was one hell of an adventure...

up to be stickied for future ref...

[nels76]

-- triple post --

[nels76]

-- triple post --

[nels76]

btboy,

Very nice tip.

Kami naman is just two months away to going to Leyte pero
dadaan daw muna kami sa Borongan, Eastern Samar and I am really concerned sa road condition doon. Huling uwi ko pa doon is 1999
and the road condition was quite ok naman.

Pero that was about 9 years ago and based on last check ni utol nang umuwi sila last year is masama daw talaga kalsada simula Allen pa lang.

Gaano ba kasama? As in deep potholes or is it under construction lang and there is just one lane passable?

Can an SUV with Independent Suspension (not Solid axle) sa rear wheels
and not having a ladder frame survive the road there sa Samar?
Medyo concerned lang ako.

[GSTM9]

Very, very nice. I haven't done a RORO trip in more than 5 years now....at least there are some improvements and more routes.

The Samar landscape looks real bad. My folks did say that the road from Allen to Catbalogan is full of potholes and the like. The Bohol roads look superb by Philippine standards. I recognize the thatched hut at the Bohol Beach club.

I think most of the small ROROs don't tie down the vehicles since they're pretty cramped into the ship's hold.

It looks like you easily spent over P30,000 on RORO fares, not including your gasoline costs. A trip like this is easily 800 km one way for the land portion.

Do you think it would be cheaper and faster to go to Cebu/Bohol via the SRNH Mindoro-Panay-Negros-Toledo/Cebu Route? It seems that there is more scenery via this route, especially the mountains of Mindoro, Negros and Central Cebu, plus the plains of Panay. I reckon the land portion using this route will be about 600km or less.

Overall, I envy you. You must have had a grand time!

[btboy]

nels76> A CRV or a similarly-built compact SUV will survive but you may have to drive slow to find the right "line" to manuever. Otherwise, you may damage your suspension, sterring and blow up your tire. Use tires that can still withstand the road "craters", sharp edges of concrete and stones on the badly damaged roads, especially if your vehicle is heavy loaded. With the right music and company, driving in Samar can still be fun

Check out this very useful site for a virtual tour of Samar and the rest of Pinas. (Posted by an American-Filipina couple who travelled around the Pinas in 2006-2007 using a Nissan Sentra)

http://www.batch2006.com/

GSTM9>I computed that Mindoro-Panay-Negros-Cebu is bit more expensive, and willl require longer travel (moving+waiting) time due to the 5 roro rides (Manila all the way to Cebu then Bohol). If the complete rehab of the Samar's Maharlika is realized by 2010, then taking a round trip via the 2-routes will be the ultimate roadtrip to the Visayas.

[vhenok]

Sharing some useful tips based on our recent Manila-Bohol/Cebu Road Trip (Dec. 2007) via the old Maharlika Highway. I'm returning the favor as I got most of the right info to carefully plan our roadtrip from this forum. Thanks again guys especially to "Vhenok"

Thanks btboy for the compliment....my pleasure dude!

BTW, congrats on your road trip! Nice pics you got there....and also thanks for the updated infos...kinda miss driving down South, only if I can buy time!

[kerr_laos]

i'm planning to bring our family car to cebu end of this month, via matnog- allen, isabel to danao. ask lang po kung ano requirements sa TMG sa Matnog and Isabel, kailangan po bang original yung OR/CR or photocopy is enough. under financing pa po kasi yung car sa Bank at nakapangalan sa Utol ko yung car. di po kaya magkaproblema sa pagtawid sa mga RORO na ito. salamat po sa magrereply