Cagbalete Island: Tips, Itinerary and Expenses

I know you’ve been waiting for this post. 🙂

 

Day 1
Time	Activity	Cost (per person)
11:00 PM	Assembly at JAC Liner Kamias	25
11:30 PM	Departure to Lucena	218
3:30 AM	Arrival at Lucena Grand Central Terminal
4:30 AM	Ride bus going to Mauban	54
5:45 AM	Arrival at Mauban
6:00 AM	Ride trike going to Pantalan/port	10
6:15 AM	Arrival at Pantalan/port
bought water & other supplies	28
Environmental fee	50
7:00 AM	Ride private boat to Cagbalete	300
Tip for porters	8
8:30 AM	Arrival at Villa Noe	400
BRUNCH
SWIM/REST
DINNER
squid & fish for lunch	38
other groceries	200
9:30 PM	SLEEP
Subtotal:	1331

Day 2
Time	Activity	Cost (per person)
8:00 AM	Rise & Shine
9:00 AM	Breakfast
Swim
Prepare to go back to MNL
12 noon	boat from Cagbalete to Pantalan/port
1:30 PM	trike to JAC liner (going to Cubao)	20
1:50 PM	trike to van going to Lucena Grand Central Terminal	10
2:15 PM	Van ride going to Lucena Grand Central Terminal	60
3:15 PM	Arrival at Lucena Grand Central Terminal
LUNCH
5:00 PM	bus left for Cubao	218
8:30 PM	Arrival at Cubao
taxi going home	35
Subtotal:	343

GRAND TOTAL: Php1,674 (excluding pasalubong)

Around Php2,000 will be spent including pasalubong and some taho (Php10 each) and balot (Php20 each).

 

TIPS, TIPS, TIPS!!!

1. Use the Cubao – Lucena Grand Central route to maximize your time and for a stress-free travel.

2. The non-AC bus from Lucena Grand Central going to Mauban is full of mosquitoes! -_- Bring mosquito repellant!

3. Take the private boat from the port to Cagbalete. You’ll have more free time and you’ll get to the island earlier rather than wait for the passenger boat.

4. You may opt to buy food at the island instead of bringing food with you – that is if you like eating fish. There are several vendors selling fish round the clock.

5. Take the van going back to Lucena Grand Central instead of the non-AC bus. It’s more comfortable and the price difference is just around Php6.

6. The more, the merrier, the cheaper! 🙂

Cagbalete Island: Where to Stay

There are a lot of blog posts on where to stay in Cagbalete. Here are some of them:

Villa Cleofas

Pansacola Beach Resort

Villa Noe Beach Resort

Dona Choleng (with AC rooms)

 

The resorts are owned by 1 family with just varying prices and amenities. Most of the resorts have cottage-type rooms with fans. I think, as of this writing, only Dona Choleng has rooms with AC thus, they’re a bit expensive. The rest ranges from Php1000 – 4000 depending on the number of people.

We opted to stay at Villa Noe Beach Resort because they are quite new. Although most of the blogs I read stayed at Villa Cleofas. Anyway, the 2 are just near each other.

The room we got was a room good for 4 – 6 people, Php2000. You may opt to bring your own tent so you’ll just have to pay for Php200/night. They also have their own tents which you can rent for Php300 – 500/night depending on the tent.

When we arrived, we thought the room was too small for all 5 of us to fit so we asked if there are other available rooms that are bigger. We were okay in having to add a few amount as long as we’re comfortable. Good thing there was a room that’s just Php1000 good for 2-3 people. We took 2 of those rooms so we didn’t have to add any amount. 🙂

1st room given to us

inside the room we stayed

room/s where we stayed

just the basics

 

The cottage where we get to eat and stay lazy was given to us for free. 🙂

 

Too bad I wasn’t able to take pictures of the restrooms but I assure you they are clean and well-maintained. There are 2 shower rooms, 2 toilets, and 2 shower/toilet rooms.

They have a “cooking area” where you have to use charcoal to cook your food. It’s always a great experience to cook from scratch. Just bring your own charcoal and if it runs out, they sell charcoal for Php20 a pack. 🙂 They lent us cooking utensils but it’s also better if you bring your own.

1.1kg squid for Php110

80g fish for Php80

no room for rice cooker

Our stay at Villa Noe and Cagbalete was just really great! Time went by really slow that we were able to take a rest for what seemed like hours but in reality it wasn’t that long. We didn’t even think of going island hopping, kayaking, or scuba diving because we were that satisfied just listening to the wind and waves and looking at the wonderful view in front of the beach.

We enjoyed the water because it was warm! 🙂 However, high tide comes in late in the afternoon so if you like deep waters you’d have to wait til then.

the view

Villa Noe Beach

low tide

Cagbalete Island, Quezon

I came across Cagbalete in one of the must-see destinations in the Philippines and I took a mental note of going there. Good thing my sister invited me and my bf to join her and her bf in going there. There were 5 of us, including our youngest sister.

The journey was really long – 5 to 6 hours of 2 bus rides, 1 trike, and 1 boat but it’s all worth it. Initially we planned to meet at JAC Liner Kamias at 3am but due to the coming holy week next week, we thought there might be more travellers/bus riders on that day so we decided to meet the night before at 11PM. Good thing we changed plans as we had more time on our hands and we were not stressed with the travel going to Quezon. Also, it’s a good thing that we were wrong – there weren’t much bus riders then. Yay!

 

How to go to Cagbalete via Mauban

1. Ride JAC Liner bus at Kamias, Cubao going to Mauban

*The Mauban route has only 2 schedules. One starts at 5AM. If you miss it, the next one is in the afternoon I think.

2. Ride trike going to Pantalan/port

3. Ride boat going to Cagbalete

 

How to go to Cagbalete via Lucena Grand Central Station (this is what we did)

1. Ride JAC Liner bus at Kamias, Cubao going to Lucena GRand Central Station

* This route has almost 24 hours schedule (pls check JAC Liner’s website)

2. Ride (non-AC) bus going to Mauban

3. Ride trike going to Pantalan/port

4. Ride boat going to Cagbalete