We just went to Boracay for a few days, and we decided to try the land route to go there. Jumped in to the van and headed up north... 5-6 hours later we pull up at the Cirlce Inn in Bacolod, super nice and clean place with very reasonable rates... Stay over night... well half over night to get up at 4am... We grab a taxi on the street and head to OceanJet at the pier in Bacolod. 6.15 is the first ferry over to IloIlo arriving at 7.15am There is a lot of hustle and bustle at the pier in IliIlo, we were basically decided on a bus from IloIlo to Caticlan, but the inferno of people out there turned up a decent van for P3100 all the way up to Caticlan. This is around a 5 hour drive, so that price is very reasonable... 2pm that afternoon we checked in to our hotel in Boracay, and we were in the water on White Beach within minutes
Well Dane , It goes without saying that we all would love to see some pictures of you and your compadre and... of Boracay... Meanwhile you are gone plans are made to have our own Duma Headbangers Band " The Rhoodies " ?? singing lud clear and way out of tune "Smoke on the Water and other goodies . My favorit is " Fire " by "The Crazy world of Arthur Brown... Lets rock and shock the town........
Ages ago we made the trip to Boracay in a day ,but it was definitely a tiring journey .There were lot of hassles and loads bureaucracy craps in both ports of Bacolod and Ilo-ilo in connection to bringing in with us the car, as if you're crossing to a foreign country .I wish they had made it simplier .We started the journey on the dot at 4:00 am early in the morning,this was is 1999.We arrived at the Bacolod port at around 9:30 am and more waiting time for the ferry.To cut this short,we arrived at Ilo-ilo nearly midday and carried on driving only had few stops one for lunch in Roxas or the rest were only to stretched stiff bodies.We arrived Caticlan around 5:00ish pm and ,quickly left the car with a local we knew,then catched the boat to the island and was there around 6:00ish pm,getting darker finding our hotel ,added to that we were all knackered .On the way back we stayed overnight at Ilo-ilo. For easier trip to Boracay it's better to stay overnight in either cities ilo-ilo or Bacolod.It's a very long journey in a day driving your way through ,but it's doable. Nxt time we did in 2004, was to cut the journey and stayed overnight in Ilo-ilo and carried on for Caticlan the nxt day . A lot better.The van charter we had from Ilo-ilo -Caticlan cost only 2,500 pesos ,same on way back .But I suppose considering inflation rate that time and now,prices climbing up . --------------------------- To Earlmj This must be something new and cracking expat band for Duma. All our thumbs up for it ,keep us posted man.:D
Driving from Dumaguete to Boracay We were warned about the crap we had to go through to bring the van from Negros to Panay... So we chose to leave the van in Bacolod and rent a van with driver from Iloilo to Caticlan
Bus from Iloilo to Caticlan I did this trip in 2000 or 2001 It is quite easy as well, there are several busses a day - travel time is around 6 hours
cebu pacific are now flying cebu-kalibo (2 hours on bus to caticlan)check their website for times and prices. 800 pesos on promo one way
