Province of Cagayan Travel Forum

Hi VTers,

We are two Indian families staying in Manila and are planning to drive to Cagayan during March 20-23 holidays. I know its a long drive but we hope to see the country side rather than flying down. I will appreciate help on:
- is the drive enjoyable e.g. road quality, seeing the country-side etc.
- how to reach Cagayan by road (any helpful tips, route planning details, distances etc)
- any places of interest en-route
- where to stay e.g. Ivory Hotel, Casa Cayag any other recommended hotel
- white water rafting and other interesting activities that can be done
- anyone we can link up with any one there

Cheers

Anand

The road from Manila to Tuguegarao (and beyond) is paved concrete and traffic is light to moderate except for slight build up in some parts of Bulacan (which you can skip if you take the San Simon Pampanga route). In terms of scenery, my opinion, I started to enjoy it once we reach Nueva Vizcaya; really nothing to see in Bulacan and Nueva Ecija.

I recommend Ivory Hotel & Conference Center for accommodation. The rooms are clean, accessible, and moderately priced. They even have their in-house restaurant and swimming pool (in case you're interested).

From Manila, take NLEX and exit at (a) Sta. Rita passing through several towns of Bulacan and Nueva Ecija, (b) San Simon, skipping Bulacan and few towns of Nueva Ecija. Whichever route you take, drive towards Nueva Vizcaya (main towns are Sta. Fe, Bayombong, Solano, Bambang, Aritao but not in chronological order) and upon reaching Bagabag, there's a fork on the road, take the right lane. This time, you'll pass some towns/cities of Isabela until you reach the Cagayan boundary.

Just follow the signs leading to Tuguegarao, although at some point, you'll have an option which route to take, either via Tumauini or via Enrile. I would suggest the former, mainly due to its church with a bell tower that looks like a wedding cake.

Approximate travel time is 12-14hours including stops/rest.

Good call Aida. OP, the last time I was there with friends we stayed at Ivory Hotel. It was reasonably priced and the service was okay.

Hi Aida,

That was extremely quick, detailed and very helpful. Thanks a lot. Any tips on the white water rafting and about Casa Cayag for the adventure sports or are there any other options?

Anand

The roads to Cagayan is very much pavement and asphalt, definitely youll enjoy the mountains of Nueva Vizcaya and Isabela. Goodluck on your travel

Tuguegarao is about 10 hours drive from Manila, but i agree with Aida that the scenery along the way is pretty much the usual countryside scene in the Philippines.
We weren't able to do whitewater rafting because we went there last May, it was dry season (too bad), but there are also other great places to see and explore
in Cagayan. Here are some great places to visit:
1. Callao caves and boating at the Pinacanauan river to see the bat flight at dusk here; there is also an inn here but there is no need to stay here as Penablanca is only 30 mins away from Tuguegarao
2. Towns in Cagayan have great churches. Don't miss Our Lady of Piat Basilica Minore,Iguig with the Calvary Hill(am sure this will have lots of people as its holy week), Alcala, Gatarran church ruins, Camalaniugan for the oldest church bells and the Lal-lo church with its interesting cross marker.
3. Magapit suspension bridge
4. Go to the town of Claveria (hometown of VTer bick_packer). STay overnight at one of the beach houses in front of Claveria Beach. Ask one of the locals to tell you the interesting story of the rock outcroppings there (lakay-lakay and baket-baket). Explore the secret treasure that is Centinella beach and climb the quaint hill beside it. (This was the best part of our trip!!!)
5. Enjoy local food like empanada, pancit batil patong, Alcala pastillas and other local delicacies.

You could do the northern loop to Cagayan then go left until you reach Ilocos Norte (Pagudpud beach, Bangi Windmills,Cape Boreador lighthouse, then to Paoay/Batac/Laoag for the Marcos Museum, Malacanang of the North, sand dunes, Fort Ilocandia). Then go back down to Ilocos Sur (Vigan sights).

Enjoy!

Thanks Cess and all of you for the wonderful tips and insights. We also have got reservations at Ivory Hotel.

So I guess we are all set to drive down in 3 weeks. I liked the suggestion of Claveria and Centinela Beach. But just wondering what is possible in 2 days! We are keen on some white water rafting but the staying in a beach cottage at Clavria for one night looks attractive too. Is Ivory hotel a good base for doing all that is suggested?

Anand

Claveria is hours away from Tuguegarao so its not really advisable to go back to Ivory Hotel. It is quite a squeeze to do everything in 4 days. We went also for four days but we went by bus the night before. Our itinerary was something like this:
night before day 1-- board bus to Tugeogarao
Day 1: Piat church then back to hotel then Callao caves and bat watching
Day 2: town/church hopping through Cagayan towns until we reached Claveria
Day 3: claveria fresh water spring and centinella beach
Day 4: Pagudpud, Bangui windmill, Lighthouse on our way to Laoag
we then boarded the bus back to Manila in the evening

OR you could really just stay in Tuguegarao hehe. The whitewater rafting venue is 2 hours away from the city

Day 1: drive to Tuguegarao, rest
Day 2: am---Morning go to Our lady of Piat and Iguig Calvary Hill
pm---after lunch Callao cave and boatride at Pinacanauan river for the circadian flight of bats
Day 3: trip to Pasil, Kalinga for the whitewater rafting (2 1/2 hr ride)!!
Day 4: return trip ;)

OR im thinking of a third choice, one involving lots and lots of driving for you folks hehehe:

night before Day 1: drive to Tuguegarao so you'll arrive there early morning (can you manage this???) --.no country sights, hows your nightime vision?
Day 1: early check-in (as in just leave your bags at the Ivory Inn) then head to Kalinga for the whitewater rafting!!!
Day 2: Callao caves in the morning then check-out for more road trip. Pass by Calvary hill in Iguig (Because its good friday) and see devotees on the hill. Road trip to Claveria which is around 3 hours from Tuguegarao (overnight at Claveria beach)
Day 3: Centinella beach and the hill in the morning then and head to Pagudpud (one hour away) check out Maira-ira beach but head to the more popular Saud beach for your overnight
Day 4: start early for road trip to Laoag, on the way check out the Bangui windmills and the Cape Boreador lighthouse. Paoay by lunchtime-ish or a little after, Paoay church(try having lunch at Herencia Cafe, in front of Paoay church-- the pinakbet pizza is to die for, i digress)
& enough time to check out the Marcos museum for the wax-like image/body of the former dictator; then time to go south back to Manila
on the way down pass by Crisostomo St. in Vigan, best seen at night, have dinner here in one of the many restos. From here its 8 hours to Manila.
Be careful on your drive further down, im sure if you'll follow this packed itinerary, everyone would be DEAD TIRED!!!
I got tired just by writing this, hahaha. But it sure would be one interesting journey!!!

Good luck!!!!

Thanks again Cess for the suggestions and options…you must have really enjoyed the place to know it and remember the details so well! You had 4 full days and that’s where we may have to compromise a bit. We may hopefully be able to make up a bit by the transport flexibility. All four being able to drive helps a lot in others getting rest and moving around. Whitewater rafting site being 2 hours away was a good piece of information.

Wow you have laid down great choices. Let me see – staying at Hotel Ivory all the days doesn’t appear to be a good option if we are doing a loop, as driving back and forth to hotel Ivory daily is not a good way of making use of the time. Option 2 is for the lazy bones – which we certainly are not :) Your option 3 appears to be a real twister for endurance but we can give it a shot, except that we may not start from Manila driving at night – if we get lost we will have to wake up folks! They will drive us away instead of we driving on their advice. We will definitely start early though and hope to reach afternoon. We may keep ourselves to the nature related activities meaning compromise on seeing too many churches or spending too much time there. What would be the ‘don’t miss’ churches and sites? You have given a lot to plan and think about. The only thing I guess is to avoid the temptation of being too greedy. I really appreciate you spending the time. By any chance would you have any hotel contact details for places other than Taguegarao/Ivory? Let me work out an itinerary and bounce it off for your feedback.

hi! cagayan is a beautiful place and really the problem lies with how much time you're willing to spend. for your trip, i think the best time to travel is 8pm on the 19th. buying a good map will take care of your concern being lost. the reason is that manila to cagayan takes 11-12 hours and it would take a day off your trip should you decide to start early in the morning. should you still decide to start your drive in the morning, then a dip in hotel ivory's pool in the evening would be a nice way to relax. like cess, i suggest you spend day 2 visiting piat, st peter and paul cathedral and the callao cave. you may opt to buy groceries the night before and eat your lunch on your way to callao to save time...or try local eateries and order pancit! day 3, maybe you could have your white water rafting. i have researched about it for our own travel and will send you in a separate mail the infos i've gathered. unless it is raining daily in cagayan, the organizer do not offer this activity till month of august when the water is high enough for rafting. day 4 would be the return trip home.

Has anyone explored the Odessa-Tumbali Cave System that is 12.5 km long? Other caves include Jackpot caves. These are located at Sitio Abbenditan, Barangay Quibal in Peñablanca, 24 kilometers from Tuguegarao.