Cebu driving to Carmen to Safari Park with wife and child

Never driven in Cebu before so have no idea of the road conditions, any suggestions as to route ? also has anyone been to the Safari Park area for rooms ... Thanks

 

Well the plan now is to RoRo to Cebu to stay for 1 night near SM seaside to go to the Aquarium and next day drive to Safari park and on to Cebu R resort on the other side for 1 night and then to drive down the coast and stay somewhere for 1 night and then back to Negros... so I guess I am sorted but feel free to chime in ....

 

Road conditions in Cebu are ok but traffic is horrible most of the time.
Just check it out and maybe doing short trips in Cebu buy taxi would be an option.

Coming from Dumaguete for me going via Moalboal is the better option. The route is slightly longer but traffic is much better in my experience.

I am mostly staying at Marco Polo hotel in Cebu. Rooms are average but food, pool, sky bar and views are excellent. It's not that far from SM Seaside and you go by taxi to any location for a few Peso.

It's always difficult to give suggestions but that's the way I would do it.

 

Agree with Stefan about taking the Moalboal - Barili - Carcar route rather than the coastal road, for traffic reasons as well as the difference in road condition. Yes the Barili-Carcar section is a "mountain road", but no really steep sections and hardly any s-curves, very doable). The coastal route via Oslob, Dalaguete, Argao still has some quite bad sections with deep potholes (last time I tried that route was in April this year), I would definitely advise to stay at the "El Salvador Resort" in Danao, a little south of Carmen. Perfect for a day trip to Carmen. I stayed there multiple times (my wife is from Danao), nice place, clean, they have family rooms, reasonable prices, good restaurant and swimming pool (link). To drive from Dumaguete all the way to Danao is quite doable in one day. Get an early start, take the ferry from Sibulan to Santander-Liloan somewhere early morning (boat goes every 90 minutes), stop for early lunch in Carcar (Jollibee).
The time it takes to get from Talisay to Mandaue is a bit hit and miss, depending on the date/day you intend to travel, make sure to take the Cebu south coastal road to avoid getting stuck in traffic in central Cebu City.
We normally get up early, bring breakfast and coffee, take the 6 am boat and eat, and arrive in Danao by mid to late afternoon, driving defensively at normal speeds for the Philippines. Best to avoid driving in the dark.

 

Excellent advice ... looks like I catch the CSCR all the way to SM seaside where we will stay across the road... before going on to Danau.... Since we can travel any day what would be the best day to travel... Sunday ?

 

I would avoid travel on 24/26 dec (might be quite busy with people trying to get somewhere for Christmas and/or get home again). Other than that just avoid hitting traffic into / out of Cebu City during rush hours. Lastly, keep an eye out for the weather forecast. As long as it doesn't get any worse than "isolated showers" you should be fine, but obviously you don't want to drive in heavy rain for hours on end.

 

Thanks, rest assured that I always check weather and would not attempt to go during holidays...

 

Has anyone recent experience of travelling either way around Cebu island from Liloan port to Cebu City? Going there in a few days and wondering which route is now best. Thanks in advance.

 

Thanks C/Head. There was some debate about taking the other coast route with less road-workings. Google says it's slightly longer time wise, but might be less unpredictable?

Strange how the bus takes 23 minutes less than a car, or maybe not seeing how the Ceres guys drive.