There are 2 bus services that can take you to Banaue. Which is cheap, or else you can hire a private vehicle. Bus journey is like 10 hours. All the buses leave at night. 2 bus services go to Banaue. Florida and Ohayami. Florida is a the super luxury one which a toilet inside the bus. Ohayami is luxury but you don’t find a toilet there. You’ll get 2 breaks during the journey. As it’s night, you can have a good sleep.
I booked these buses through www.pinoytravel.com.ph Absolutely a fantastic customer care which I’ve never experienced in my life so far. My email thread with them led like 20-25 email thread but they were really helpful with finding me the every bit of detail I wanted. So I highly recommend them. Bus fare for each bus service doesn’t exceed 600 pesos including Pinoy Travels commission. Compare to their email supporting service, that small commission of 50-60 pesos is worth paying.
I’ll direct you from Manila airport. You’ll have to get to Florida or Ohayami bus terminals. Both situated closer to each other.
Getting to Florida bus terminal from Airport was bit messy for me. I was coming from Palawan. Airport to Bus terminals are like 15 km away.
But Pinoy Travels guys have advised me due to Manila traffic it could be a 1 hour ride. As well as taxi fee is like 200 pesos. I realized the value of their advices as once I landed in airport, I came out and was looking for a taxi, One guy came to me and asked for 2500 pesos for taxi fee. In Philippines white taxi cars have meters and yellow taxi cars don’t have meters. Never get into a yellow taxi without confirming the fee. Issue with white cars is, if you don’t know the surrounding well, drivers will take rounds till their fee get more. Best solution is Uber. As prices are fixed. That Uber tip was also given to me by Pinoy travel guys. Those tiny little information matters a lot. Bus departure times from Manila are, 10.45pm(Florida), 10pm(Ohayami). And Bus fares are 530 pesos(Florida) and 450 pesos (Ohayami). Only Ohayami buses operates Banaue to Manila. Departure time is 7pm and bus fare is 450 pesos.
I took the overnight Florida 10.45pm bus to Banaue. I reached Banaue around 7.30am. Joel was there to pick me. It is a free picking and dropping. The main reason why I selected them, One less trouble of getting fooled by Taxi. But when I reached there, It was a place where you cannot find lot of luxurious stuff. Climate is fine. Bit cold. Unpredictable rains, landslides as well. One thing to note about bus journey is, as per the reviews I've read before going, Bring your warm clothes as bus drivers used to put the maximum A/C on. But for my case, I didn't notice it much. Maybe I was sleeping or Maybe bus drivers have learnt their lessons after many complaints.
As I figured there're 3 key personnel in this place. Denvil, Joel and Ronie. All are very friendly, very helpful and you can trust your life getting isolated with them. First day I did the Banaue view point trail with Denvil. He took me safely. I was travelling solo but he took the every measure to keep me safe. Next day I did the batad trail with Ronie, which is absolutely fantastic. Joel took us to the starting point by his van. It was supposed to be a habal-habal ride. But previous evening I showed Joel 2 nasty cuts in my legs during a random chat. So Batad trail morning he told he'd take us there from van. They are such nice people. If you want to see original rice terraces, You should visit Batad.
It is one of the 5 UNESCO world heritage sites there, Banaue rice terraces are not a UNESCO world heritage site due to some modifications made later. If you want to see original rice terraces, You should visit Batad. It is one of the 5 UNESCO world heritage sites there, Banaue rice terraces are not a UNESCO world heritage site due to some modifications made later.
I've attached in the photos about the trail and the prices.
For a solo traveler I thought Banaue is bit expensive, But for a group it may not as costs are divided. Let's say you want to do the Batad trail, Guide fee is 1300 pesos and Habal habal fee is 1000 pesos. Habal habal will wait till you come from trekking. It's like a 4-5 hour trek.
I stayed at Bogah Home stay. Rice Home stay is situated in the same place. Only divided by 2 boards. The place has food you want, Coffee, tea and other soft drinks. Rooms are comfortable.
Hot baths available. WiFi is considerably fine. I spent 2 days(1 night) here. Ronie escorted me to the Ohayami bus terminal. That was also free.
No ATMs in Banaue. But there's a joint you can do foreign exchange.
I was traveling solo. But Denwil, Joel and Ronie took a good care of me. I’d suggest these guys to anyone who wish to visit Banaue, You can trust your life with these 3.
I couldn’t do a separate video on Batad but Ronie took me to see a waterfall as well.
Also Joel drove to show me several other rice terraces as well, which were not included in my tour I booked with them. Couldn’t visit the last one due to a heavy landslide. I’d highly recommend these 3 people and Bogah Homestay if you’re planning to visit Banaue.
In case you interest, I’ll leave the Facebook accounts of them so you can contact them before you plan your tour.
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