Negros ｜ Adventures In Central Visayas
Negros island, located almost smack in the center of the Philippines, is a traveler’s paradise, with it’s fairly decent infrastructure and being mostly off the radar of the masses. It’s the slice of the real Philippines, with it’s small cities and abundant natural wonders to see. Sadly, it’s probably only a matter of time before it becomes overrun with begpackers and digital nomads, but for now it’s a cool place to be.
Getting To Negros
There are a few options to get out to Negros. Flying is the simplest way, with a few airports scattered around the island. The largest is Bacolod–Silay International Airport, located on the north-west of the island. This is another one of those airports that claims to be international, but I can’t find any information that confirms they have any international flights arriving or departing from here.
If you want to fly into the south section of the island it would be to Dumaguete–Sibulan Airport, which servers only a very limited amount of domestic flights, mostly with Cebu Pacific.
If you’re keen to see the whole island want to be smart about it, you can fly into one and out of the other, reducing the amount of travel on the island.
There’s also ports located all around the island, with boats making the trip from Manila and various other cities around the country. While these trips will take significantly longer and cost more than flying, you get the opportunity to stop at many small islands if you book a package tour.
Both Cebu and Penay islands are just a stone’s throw away and makes for a great island hopping adventure, if you have the time. Sadly, we did not.
Where To Go on Negros
Negros is a huge island and we only had time to cover a small part of it. We’d love to go back again and see more of it in the future.
➣Dumaguete
Coming soon…
➣Apo Island
Coming soon…
There’s far more to see on Negros and we hope to get back one day in the future. If you’re looking for more suggestions on where to explore we’ve heard great things about Sipalay, on the west side of the island, and the island of Siquijor, east of Negros.
Getting Around Negros
Getting around Negros was pretty painless. While Dumaguete does suffer from some traffic, it’s nothing like Manila or Cebu city. Outside of that, it was pretty easy going. most free of the horrendous traffic found in other parts of the Philippines, it’s comes at the cost of being limited to a few main routes. If you want to travel outside or beyond those routes you will either need to pay for private transpiration or rent your own. The most economical way is to use a combination of both.
We rented motorbikes in Dumaguete and used them the entire time we were there to explore the south of the island. This allowed us to stay in small towns and see places that were far off the beaten path.
It is also possible to find tricycles that will take you to some of these far flung places, but you’re going to pay a high price for that, as well as having limited mobility around if you’re stay in those places.
Alternatively, you can arrange transport with any resorts you’ll be staying. It seems that most will provide this service, for a price.
One thing you won’t find around the island are jeepneys. In their place, you are fleets of minivans plying the routes between the major tourist destinations. Word to the wise, make sure book tickets in advance during the high season or risk not being able to leave on the day or time you want to. Also keep in the mind that drivers will pack those vans tight, making the trip uncomfortable.
How Long To Stay on Negros
One could spend a good deal of time on Negros if you enjoy being away from the hustle and bustle of the big cities and other tourists. If we had had the time, I think we could have easily stayed for 3 weeks exploring this island.
Scams, Dangers, & Annoyances
In general, this is a safe place to explore. As most places in the Philippines, the people are incredibly nice. Real salt of the earth type people. The main danger we faced were road conditions. Many places are unpaved, so if you’re renting a car or motorbike it’s important to remain alert and drive defensively.
There is one major scam all travelers should be aware of:
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If you plan on just the bus, you should check out:
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Need more information about the Philippines?
Mill over our full write up on Manila HERE.
Read our full write up on Angeles City HERE.
Check out our full write up on Cebu HERE.
Look at our full write up on Laoag HERE.
View our full write up on Vigan HERE.
Peruse our tips on Palawan HERE.
