The Ultimate Philippine Loop – 21 Days on the road Nov 2024

21 days and 5 Philippine islands in 1 ride.

The Ultimate Philippine Loop

A Scandinavian friend-tour that no locals dare to do as a group

A road map by: Tom Stenshavn

The reason that no commercial tour companies are doing these tours here in the Philippines, is the challenges of ferries and weather. Phillippines is very unpredicatble weather-wise and it can be a disaster for the actual tour if you go as a group with pre-booked hotels and suddenly is stuck due to a typhoon, rain-storm or bad weather forecasts that makes a ferry either very late or cancelled or roads to have mud-slides and closures. But what is an adventure without all this? We only live once, and we love challenges, so let`s do it!

A group of 6 scandinavian riders met up in Manila, and it was Cecilia and Ragnar from Sweden, and Ove, Audun, Jahn Henrik and myself from Norway. As i made a very similar route for the Thailand company, Big Bike Tours and rode this route with them in April 2024, i found it to be wise to try to do most of the same route with small modifications, and i would lead this tour from Manila around on 5 islands before ending back in Manila again almost 3000 KM and 21 days later. This was not only meant to be a motorcycle adventure tour, but also a holiday without stress and with relaxed times in the afternoons, and with 2 full rest days in Boracay Island, 1 in Angeles city, and for some of us, 1 in the mountains of Baguio.

We all got our Honda CB500X rental bikes loaded up with panniers and top-boxes and was ready for a day in Manila before heading south. The first night, we all met up in my favorite Argentinian Steakhouse, El Gaucho for a nice dinner.

The rain season is just over, and the weather was great, but suddenly there was breaking news on TV and all over the internet. It is today the 15th of November, and we are riding out in the morning on the 17th….

I was on the live weather forecast the whole nights, then also the day after on the 16th, and the storm just came closer and closer and was to hit us right in the face from the south where we were heading and then north after that. The storm was predicted to leave Manila on the 17th in the evening around 11 PM, so we had noe other choice than to stay an extra night in Manila and wait it out…. THen start early morning on the 18th and ride 2 days in one ride, the whole 400 KM to Naga City in one day.

Luckily we stayed, as we could see some damaged roads on our journey southbound, and we also needed to skip all the sights on the tour to reach our target, so a transport-start on our journey on trafficy roads with a lot of potholes and cracked concrete. But we made it through and reached our destination at the Summit Hotel in Naga at 4:30 PM in the afternoon.

Now we are back on track, and then we had an original plan to go from Naga to the Island of Masbate, and from there take a ferry to the north side of Cebu. That also sudddenly wasn`t possible, as the ferry from Pio Duran was closed down, and the ferry now went from Pilar Port further south. Would be doable, but then also the ferry from Masbate to Bogo, Cebu was only once a week and of course not the day after tomorrow. We were not taking any chances of finding another not-advertised ferry from the small island of Masbate, so i needed to find a solution.

After talking to locals, calling around and using some contacts, i found a ferry from Matnog to Maya, Cebu and that was perfect. It was Monday and this ferry left Matnog on Wednesday at midnight, so we made two nice short riding days to Matnog from Naga, riding in the beutiful ocean side mountains to Legazpi, visiting the Mayon Volcano and much more, and overnight in Legazpi.

After a great evening in Legazpi with checking out the local life and a good night sleep, we had a very short ride to Matnog and was expected to be there around 1 PM for lunch. We could not sit and wait for 11 hours for the ferry to leave, so we checked in to a hotel i used earlier in April at Casa Tente to relax, swim in the pool and sleep a few hours before the long ferry of 12 hours to Cebu, leaving at midnight.

We were at the ferry port at 1 PM, and registered the bikes, and the ticket booth for the Lite ferry to Cebu opened at 2 PM, so i went back to buy tickets. Luckily i was there at 2 PM, because at 3 PM, the tickets were all sold out. It`s a lot of paperwork to get ferry tickets, and i used around 2 hours for it all. First register the bikes and riders/passengers, then 1 km back to the ticket office to buy tickets, and then 1 km back again to pay port fees, coast guard registration, and some other unknkow small fees in a total of 6 booths before we were done. Around one kilo of paper for 6 bikes was our key to get to Cebu.

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The ferry overnight was a total of 12 hours, and we had bunk beds in a huge airconditioned room. It was quite OK, and not uncomfortable at all, and kind of cool to sleep so many in teh same room. But it was freezing cold in there, so luckily i had my riding jacket with me. I noticed the aircondition was at 18 degrees, and normally we put that on 25.

12 hours went fast, and we get our beuty sleep, some easy instand nudels and coffee to breakfast, and arrived around lunchtime in Maya, Cebu. Only 1 hour ride to our resort, where we could again relax and swim in the pool or ocean.

Yeah, one more thing… before we arrived, the ferry staff had a christmas concert for us. Pretty cool!

The beer was cold, the pool and ocean was near and we all enjoyed the La Mer Resort in Maya, Cebu so much that none of us remembered to take any photos.

We are now alrady on day 6 of our 21 day journey, and we ride out at 08:30 AM taking the west coast of Cebu against Cebu City. Stopped at some local shops to have a coffee and was planning to see some sights along the way, until one of the bikes got a tire-problem. There was a flat, but no-one on this coastline could patch it, and it was also leaking in a formed plug. That is not good, and we needed a new tire. After almost two hours of calling and checking to find a tire nearby, almost taking the bike to Cebu sity on a truck, we found a tire shop that had the perfect tire just 500 meters from where we sat and had lunch. New tire mounted, and we were on our way again.

Stopped only at the Temple of Leah on our way to Cebu City and that is a great sight.

Cebu city has a lot to offer, but we were a bit pressed for time this afternoon, so we headed out for dinner and drinks in a nearby bar not far from our hotel, and then to bed. We all knew there was going to be rtaffic out of the city the next morning, so we all wanted to be ready early for that.

We were partly right. The traffic out of the city was not too bad, but we hit roadworks on the way over the small mountain from the east to the west side, and hit heavy traffic. Still we were at lunch on the west coast early and regrouped for a final ride in Cebu to the ferry to Dumaguete.

In Dumaguete, we are as far south as this tour goes. We are now heading north again.

The ride from Dumaguete, crossing the island of Negros has some of the best roads on this tour. It is nice tarmac all the way, less traffic than most islands, and also great scenery.

We visisted first a nice beach resort for refreshments, and then we headed north over a great mountain before ending in Bacolod. We stopped first at Emelyn`s Cafe for s small lunch, and then at Stonehaven Cafe for a great mountain view and refreshments. Down in Bacolod, we overnight at a large hotel by the ferry to the island of Panay.

Tomorrow, we are starting with the ferry to Panay island, and we go at 4 AM as we decided to stretch the ride all the way to Boracay for 3 nights of beach-life there.

Finally, we reached the popular tourist island of Boracay.

We parked our bikes and gear at the guarded parking lot just near the ferry pier, and we hired an agent to take us all the way to the boat and to the hotel on the other side. Lucky that we paid extra for that service as the lines were crazy long. We reached our hotel in less than 30 minutes.

Boracay beach life always starts with a beer in the popular bar, Nigi Nigi Noos and from there we had nice seafood dinners and party, relaxation some sightseeing, food again, relaxation, massages and so on… Nothing in details, as this has to be experienced and everyone has different wishes. They will all be fulfilled in Boracay, that`s for sure.

Last day of the island life, we checked out around 11 am and headed to get the bikes and take the fast cat ferry to Bulalacao. A 4 hour ferry that is the second longest on this tour.

That was very fast and also a very bumpy ride. For some it was a less of a problem than others, but we managed through the waves and on the other side waited only a one hour ride to our next destination on Mindoro Island, and that is overnight at the Casa Gracias Resort near the port of Roxas.

The island of Mindoro, is also not the biggest, so we are crossing it in one day.

We are headed the coastline up to the north end of Calapan and then over the mountain to Puerto Galera and the diving village of Sabang Beach. Here we are staying at the nice Mermaid Resort for the night in a small diving village with small narrow streets, bars, restaurants and small shops near the small beach. A nice and cozy place for not only divers, but also for bikers.

After our visit here, we ride back over the mountain to Calapan to take the ferry to Batangas and back to the island of Luzon again where we started our journey. We need to get up early as we have a long day, and we want to make the 8 or at least the 10 AM ferry. After this a ride on the tollway over Manila and up to Angeles City.

The island of Mindoro, is also not the biggest, so we are crossing it in one day.

We are of course staying in the ABC Hotel in Angeles City.

The mountains of Baguio is where the adventure really begins. A truly stunning view and steep roads with curves and hairpins makes this a challenge for even the experienced rider at times.

We are staying two nights in Baguio and ride a day tour to the highest point on mount Pulag.

Baguio is a “must see” city in the clouds and offers a lot of mountaint activities a part from riding as well.