Manila to Banaue with a stopover

Hello,

We`ll be arriving in Manila at around 10 a.m after having spent 2 days on route. Our plan is to travel up north to Banaue, but think it would be wise to give ourseleves sometime to rest before taking the long journey there.

We would rather leave Manila right away and stay somewhere along the way so to breake the long trip to Banaue into 2 sections and take sometime to adjust to Philippine time.

Where would be a good place to make that stopover? At first I thought of Baguio, but travelling 5-7 hours by bus seems too much for us to handle.

One more concern-arrival on April 3rd. what`s it like in terms of hotel vacancies/buses etc.?

Hope you can assist

Thanks!

Manila to Banaue with a stopover

Option 1

The journey from Manila to Banawe (via Nueva Ecija and Nueva Vizcaya) is 9 hrs approx and it will be in the evening and arriving early morning in Banaue. In this option you will just sit/sleep it out on the bus. Even if you hire a private car and travel in the morning, there is not much to see until you reach Dalton Pass in Nueva Viscaya. From Dalton Pass you will reach Banaue in 3 hrs.

Option 2

If you take the Baguio route then you will be taking the following

- Manila to Baguio 6hrs

- Baguio to Bontoc – 8 hrs

- Bontoc to Banawe – 4 hrs

And you spend more time on the road before you reach your destination.

I hope with the above, you will nail your initial move.

Manila to Banaue with a stopover

WOW, that was quick!

I see your point but as I said in my post, upon arrival we would already be ';on the road'; for 48 hours, taking a 9 hour trip (not inclusive of transfer time from airport to bus station in Manila) or even 5-7 hours is not an option. There is only so much a person can take, and after all we are on vacation not on the Amazing Race (-;

What we are looking for is somewere within 2-3 hours travel time, on route from Manila to Banaue where we can `crush` for 1 night and carry on the next day to our destination.

Any suggestions?

Amazing Race..! haha, Im sorry about that.

Sure, you have options

1) Spend an overnight in Manila and travel the next day. You are then well-rested.

2) You can taxi your way to Cabanatuan City (2-3hrs from Manila). From there you can rest and catch the next bus to Banawe, if seats are available.

3) As I have suggested earlier; you arrive 10am and the trip to Banaue is around 7pm - you have at least 5 hours of rest/wait time. You part rested and seat is likely assured.

April is when many are having a holiday/being with relatives.

Thanks edwinic.

At this point in time we are thinking of renting a car %26amp; driver, to pick us up from the airport and drive north, with that much needed stopover.

This brings me to my next question, what`s it like at the begining of April, is air-con a must?

If you are settled with renting a car and driver, then you are now in a better position to move into details.

Airconditioned transport - yes it is much preferable and you can put it on/off once you reach Baguio all the way to Banaue (or the reverse route)

Aircond hotel - in Banaue most of the hotels and inns are not AC%26#39;d.

Thanks.

I`m now trying to track down 8008 Travel %26amp; Transport, which came highly recommanded here, but can`t seem to find them on Google nor is there a phone #/e-mail in this forum.

With regard to car w/driver rental, will we be able to reach and travel between the various sites around Banaue with our rented car or is the terrain not suitable for private cars?