Motorcycle Tour in the Philippines

Discover Luzon Island region on two wheels! The start of this adventurous motorcycle journey starts in Angeles City. You ride via the west coast to the mountainous area of Northern Luzon. The route is both on-road and off-road through remote areas, small villages, rice fields, through rivers and an association of many mountain ranges to discover the Philippines. Organized in cooperation with Ride 2 Discover, this motor trip is perfect for a few days after the tour on one of the tropical islands of the Philippines, such as El Nido near Palawan or Boracay.

Key information

Terrain: a mix of asphalt and off-road
Bike: rental bike (Honda CRF 250 L Enduro or Honda XR 150 Enduro)
Mileage: 2310 kilometers / 1435 miles
Daily rides: 130 - 270 kilometers / 81 - 168 miles
Riding gear: not included, but mandatory: helmet, motorcycle jacket with protection hand-shoes a good sturdy (motor) pants with protection or with loose knee protection and sturdy high (mountain) shoes
Meals: breakfast

Highlights

Starts and ends in Manila
Ride along the coastal road into the mountains
Navigate your bike through mud and sand-covered roads
Visit the best-preserved Spanish colonial city in the Philippines, Vigan
Enjoy a stay in popular windsurfing town of Santa Ana
Admire the five-star view of the rice terraces of Batad
18 nights accommodation

Skill level

Intermediate

Styles

11 riding days

Group size: 4-8 participants

Airport transfer included: Ninoy Aquino International Airport / Villamor Air Base

Airport transfer included: Clark International Airport

Program

Day 1 - Arrival in Manila - Angeles City

You fly to Manila where you will be welcomed by a taxi driver who will take you to Angeles City in about two and a half hours. Your night is in Angeles City in a clean three-star hotel within walking distance of the center. Several bars and restaurants are right around the corner, here you can eat locally and western food.

Day 2 - Angeles City - stay

After a good night's sleep and breakfast, you first go through some things that are important for this trip, particularly participation in traffic will be discussed in detail. The rest of the day you have the opportunity to explore the city. Then you pick up the engines at the end of the day.

Day 3 - Angeles City - Subic (155 kilometers / 96 miles)

After you have secured the bags on the bikes, you leave Angeles City and head southwest towards the Bataan National Park. Via a slightly meandering road through this park, you arrive at the west coast of Zambales where the town of Subic is located.

Subic Bay was an American base that was closed in 1992 at the end of the Cold War. However, the Philippine government has reopened this naval base in order to keep a closer eye on the Chinese actions in the South China Sea.

Tonight you will sleep in Subic. Your hotel with swimming pool is located right in the center on the beach. Many small-scale bars are right around the corner.

Day 4 - Subic - Alaminos (190 kilometers / 118 miles)

After breakfast with a view of the port of Subic, you ride further north to the town of Alaminos and the Hundred Islands National Park. Tonight you sleep in a hotel that is located directly at the harbor where the boats go to the various islands. You stay here for two days.

Day 5 - Alaminos - stay

During this rest day, you can optionally make a day trip to the Hundred Islands Park. This park consists of 124 separate islands distributed in the Gulf of Lingayen in North Samar with an area of 16.76 square kilometers. Three of the islands are accessible to tourists, namely Governor, Quezon, and Children's Islands. Here you can snorkel, kayak or dive.

Day 6 - Alaminos - Baguio (130 kilometers / 81 miles)

The first part, you ride along the coastal road then you slowly go into the mountains to the tourist mountain city Baguio. For those with guts, you can have lunch on the way at a restaurant that can only be reached via a scary bridge.

You stop along the way at "The Lion's Head" and "The Lady of the Way". Your overnight stay is in Baguio. The hotel is located on the edge of the center, with a nice view of the valley.

Day 7 - Baguio - Cervantes (150 kilometers / 93 miles)

You leave Baguio and quickly enter the high mountains. Here you get a breathtaking view over the Pulog Mountains. The mountain road is quiet, the river sometimes flows along the road and the landscape becomes rougher. Due to the many landslides in the rainy season, parts of the road are covered with mud and sand. This is good to ride with your Enduro's.

Tonight you spend the night in the village of Cervantes. The guesthouse is simple but clean. There is no other option at this remote location where there is no internet coverage and telephone traffic is very limited.

Day 8 - Cervantes - Vigan (130 kilometers / 81 miles)

Today you ride into the mountains of Ilocos to enjoy the scenery and many winding bends. After a few hours, you descend and ride towards the coastal road to follow it to the town of Vigan.

Vigan is the best-preserved Spanish colonial city in the Philippines and even throughout Asia. It is like going back in time. The residents are proud of their special history and culture.

Actually, the colonial inner city of Vigan should not have existed anymore. It has miraculously escaped devastation during the Second World War. Japanese troops fled the city just before Americans wanted to bomb Vigan. The Allies, therefore, broke off the mission at the last moment.

The sixteenth-century Spanish colonial city of Vigan is on the Unesco World Heritage List. The buildings are a mix of Filipino, Chinese and European architecture. In the evening, you can enjoy dinner in the central square of the city.

You spend the night in a four-star hotel, a Spanish colonial building right in the center with shops and restaurants right around the corner.

Day 9 - Vigan - Tabuk (230 kilometers / 143 miles)

The route today is the longest off-road day of this trip and goes inland through the Cordillera Mountains. Due to the many landslides and the mud, this road is frequently damaged and hardly repaired.

You ride this extraordinary mountain landscape far away from the civilized world. You understand that the group will stop regularly to be able to take in the environment or to capture this in the picture. Your overnight stay in the evening is a simple but clean hotel with a swimming pool in Tabuk.

Day 10 - Tabuk - Pagudpud (270 kilometers / 168 miles)

You ride further north through mountainous areas along the Chico River and later Abulog River. The road is often well asphalted and sometimes no more than a gravel road.

In deserted surroundings and without a telephone signal, you ride towards the northern coast road which with its 1300 meter long Patapat viaduct brings you to Pagudpud, Blue Lagoon Beach. You spend the night at the tropical Blue Lagoon Beach with its pearly white beaches.

Day 11 - Pagudpud - stay

Today is a rest day to relax with a beer or fresh juice on the beach or to entertain you with the various activities around and in the water. If you have not ridden enough yet, you can explore the area and visit the tropical and less crowded Saud Beach.

Day 12 - Pagudpud - Santa Ana (230 kilometers / 143 miles)

You ride eastwards back via the Patapat viaduct, the coastal road from Pasaleng Bay. You leave Ilicos Region and go via Portugal and Pamplona to Santa Ana in Cagayan Valley.

This region is becoming increasingly popular among kite and wind surfers who exhibit their skills at the extreme point of the mainland, Anguib Beach. The hotel is located directly on the beach and also has a swimming pool.

Day 13 - Santa Ana - Tabuk (200 kilometers / 124 miles)

After a few days of beach, the batteries are recharged and you will ride back to the south. Via several secondary roads, you take a stop at Quibal where you can visit a seven-room limestone cave with a chapel. You continue the road and ride to Tabuk, where you have already had an overnight stay.

Day 14 - Tabuk - Batad (155 kilometers / 96 miles)

The route continues south, you ride through the Mountain Province. The mountain road is alternatively of good quality to parts that are in poor condition. Cause again are landslides that have taken place in the rainy season. Beautiful views with a lot of rice fields and terraces. Especially the town of Banaue is known for its beautiful rice terraces.

Then, you go via a mountain road more inland to Batad. Here you will stay overnight. This isolated village can only be reached on foot. You park your motorbikes, the last 20 minutes you continue on foot to your guesthouse. Your belongings can be brought to the guesthouse by porters.

It is a simple guesthouse with a five-star view of the rice terraces of Batad. Your friendly hostess provides a good dinner and breakfast of your choice.

Day 15 - Batad - Baler (265 kilometers / 165 miles)

After breakfast, you walk up again. The carriers deliver the luggage, then you ride to the south again and then turn off towards the east. The middle part of this stage is flat but will change again later. The mountains are back in front of you and on well-asphalted roads, you ride to and through the Quirino Mountains.

You partly follow the coastal road and end today in Baler. At first sight an average place, however, when you go to the beach you will find many surfers and nice restaurants. Somewhat outside of Baler you spend the night in nice cozy wooden houses with a private beach.

Day 16 - Baler - Angeles City (205 kilometers / 127 miles)

The last stage of the tour back to Angeles City is magnificent. You ride through the Aurora Mountains where the road slowly turns into sand, mud, and finally a gravel path. As long as no new bridge is built, you will have to cross a 100-meter long river. Your night in Angeles City is the same hotel as at the start of your trip.

Day 17 - Angeles City - stay

Today you can fill in at your own discretion.

Day 18 - Angeles City - Manila

A taxi ride of 2,5 hours back to the capitol. Around noon, you arrive in Manila. The rest of the day you can explore Manila.

Day 19 - Manila - Departure

End of the tour.

Motorcycle available for this tour:

During this trip, you ride on a Honda CRF 250 L Enduro (some available) or Honda XR 150 Enduro.

A support car with a local driver will accompany you, a minimum of six participants is required. The support vehicle will transport the luggage, spare parts, and tools. With a minimum of four participants, this adventurous journey continues without a support car, luggage will be carried in two side bags on the bike.

This trip is accompanied by an English speaking Dutch tour guide.

Physical challenges

During this trip through the north of the Philippines, you ride a lot between 1,000 and 2,400 meters altitude and sometimes through reasonably deserted areas. You ride on light motorcycles which make the trip suitable also for those riders who have never undertaken an adventurous motorcycle trip before. The daily distances vary however are not long giving rise to frequent opportunities for stopping along the way to take photographs or to visit villages.

Clothing

Mandatory are a helmet motorcycle jacket with protection hand-shoes a good sturdy (motor) pants with protection or with loose knee protection and sturdy high (mountain) shoes. Luzon has a tropical climate without a clear difference between the seasons. Most of the rain falls between May and November. Tropical storms and hurricanes can also occur during this period.

Motor Trails plans the trips before or after. A summer motorcycle jacket with protection is recommended. Furthermore, good sunglasses are useful and a helmet with a visor that protects against the dust. Yet it can again ignore all predictions, so you have to aware of a possible rain shower on all journeys.

Skill level:

Intermediate

can ride for three to four hours
average riding experience
little assistance required
comfortable with extreme curves and leans
average experience with unsurfaced roads
steep ascents and descents

How to get there

Recommended Airports

MNL

Ninoy Aquino International Airport / Villamor Air Base

84 km

Transfer included

CRK

Clark International Airport

5 km

Transfer included

Arrival by airplane

Please book your flight to arrive at Clark International Airport (CRK) or Ninoy Aquino International Airport / Villamor Air Base (MNL). Transfer from and to the airport is included.

Airport: Ninoy Aquino International Airport / Villamor Air Base Airport transfer included: Ninoy Aquino International Airport / Villamor Air Base No additional charges. You can request this in the next step.

Airport: Clark International Airport Airport transfer included: Clark International Airport No additional charges. You can request this in the next step.

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