Morning walk at Kalye Crisologo
It was another productive weekend we had. We initially planned hiking Mt. Pinatubo but due to some reasons, plan A wasn’t push through, we then proceeded to plan B which is backpacking Ilocos.
We made it from South to North of Ilocos, Vigan – Paoay – Bangui – Loag in one day. It was a fun day with a good friend, where night bus was our home for 2 nights. A great experience and an amazing memories worth keeping for. I always felt so excited whenever I have a backpacking trip like this. We believe it was a very short trip considering llocos is so big and a lot of places to visit. But due to some reason, we can’t prolong our trip, we decided to explore this in one day, choosing the ones we would really wanted to visit among any other tourist spots there. So our main target was to visit Kalye Crisologo in Vigan (South) and Sand Dunes in Paoay (North), along the way were just side trips. As we ended our trip, we both felt that we had visited a lot of places in Ilocos and proved that it’s really possible to explore it in one day as long as a planned itinerary is plotted in advance. Happy and fulfilling, a big check marked our bucket list!
Tips:
- If you planned to commute, I recommend Partas or Florida bus, bus terminal is at Cubao or Pasay. I am not sure of the other bus companies going to Ilocos.
- Booking in advance is highly recommended especially when you have schedules to follow. You can check rates and schedule for advance booking online booking here
- If you’d prefer for a sleeper bus overnight, you can book Florida sleeper bus in advance. Reservations should be done here or contact their fb page here , 4 days in advance prior to date of departure. Sleeper bus will let you lie down to sleep during your travel. But take note the space is so cute and narrow, I am not sure but I think approximately 16 inches wide, just enough for a normal Filipino size.
- Pack light and prepare yourself for 8-10 hours of travel depending on traffic. We left Cubao terminal at 8pm and arrived Vigan at 4am, just in time for us to explore Kalye Crisologo when the shops were not yet open, the people were still sleeping and the sun was about to rise again.
- It’s better to hire tricycle if you’re in a hurry to take you to places you’ve wanted to visit. We hired one for 6 hours at Php400.
- There are shower rooms in Vigan that you can pay for 50 pesos. You can ask your driver to take you to Hidden Garden, which serves breakfast if you’d like to and a paid shower to freshen up.
- After exploring Vigan, we then headed back to Vigan bus terminal to catch a bus going to Ilocos Sur. The next stop was Paoay Sand dunes. Take a bus going to Laoag and alight at Batac Crossing.
- Hire a tricycle that will take you to Paoay Sand dunes plus other destinations nearby. We hired one for Php2500 from 11am until 7pm.
- We failed to book the sleeper bus 4 days in advance, so we asked the driver to drop us in their terminal to secure a slot for a night trip before proceeding to our next destination. There’s only 1 schedule for sleeper bus daily, departure at 9pm and estimated arrival at 6am in Sampaloc, Manila.
- I recommend to book your trip in Biyaheroes because of their good service. They will SMS you to remind what are the necessary things that needs to be done before departure. During our scheduled trip my friend was not able to catch our reserved seat, I asked the Biyaheroes’ staff of the possibility to move our schedule for the next trip, they won’t allow us, instead they asked me to just wait for my friend and come back to them if she’d arrived before our time of departure. I’d came to the window again and again to update them that my friend was still on the way and was stuck in heavy traffic but still they won’t allow me to moved our time. Almost 2 hours of waiting, we missed our trip. I’m worried to pay double because we already missed it. I’d came back to the window when my friend arrived and they let us took the next trip without any charges. I felt so blessed and thankful. Indeed, biyaheroes are heroes!
Budget and Itinerary :
Day 0
6pm – Arrival, Partas Bus Terminal Cubao
7pm – dinner (Php 100)
8pm to 4 am – travel time from Cubao to Vigan (Php 665)
Day 1 AM
4am – Vigan bus terminal to Kalye Crisologo (Php 20/head)
4:15am to 9am – exploring Vigan by tricycle (Php 400 for 6 hours)
Places visited in Ilocos Sur (Vigan)
– Kalye Crisologo
– Vigan Fountain
– Bantay Church and Sinking Bell Tower
– Hidden Garden (Php 50 shower, foods are available but are more expensive )
– Local Food Place (Breakfast, Php 150)
– Baluarte (Entrance, Free)
Must try local food
– Bagnet (1/4kg = Php380)
– longanisa
9am – back in Vigan bus terminal
10am – depart to Ilocos Norte, alight at Batac Crossing (Php 110)
11am – hired tricycle to explore Ilocos Sur (Php2500)
Day 1 PM
Places visited in Ilocos Norte
– Paoay Church, lunch along the way (Php100)
– Ilocos Norte Municipality plaza
– Paoay Sand Dunes (4X4 Ride for 1 hour at Php 2500/car includes unlimited sand
boarding along the way)
– Bangui Wind Mills (more than an hour each trip, to and from)
– Kapurpurawan Lake Formation (Php15 entrance fee)
– Lighthouse
7pm – end of day trip. Back to Florida bus terminal for our night bus trip to
Sampaloc Manila
– Florida sleeper bus (Php 800), secure slot ahead. We booked the ticket around
2 pm before our trip to Bangui that day.
9pm – bus departure, Florida bus station, Ilocos Sur
6:30am – bus arrival, Sampaloc Manila
Must try local food
– Empanada (Php50)
Budget breakdown/head for a group of 2. Other expenses are optional
300 – food, Php100/meal,3 meals
665 – fare from Cubao to Vigan, Partas bus
50 – shower
220 – tricycle fare while exploring Ilocos
110 – fare from Vigan to Batac Crossing
1250 – tricycle fare while exploring Ilocos Norte. An option of Php800/tricycle,
daytour for places within the city not including Bangui Windmills
30 – Rock Formation, entrance fee
800 – sleeper bus from Laoag to Sampaloc
Total budget – at least 3500 per pax
Live. Get out and Explore! 