Around Dumaguete
Dumaguete has to be one of the most comfortable places to live in the Philippines for the expat. It is a well organized, clean college town with a low cost of living.
One of the nicest features of this city is the walkway alongside the seawall where food vendors set up tables and chairs every night and cook fresh food.
It’s peaceful to be able sit there watching the waves or just strolling by in the cool evening.
Dumaguete noise and fruit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C101XJLdQEI
There is a small mall with a great bakery in the lower level. A big city market has all kinds of local produce and fish.
Pizza shops, Jolibee, McDonalds and other fast food places abound for those addicts that need a fix.
Scooby’s has two fast food places with reasonably fast internet upstairs.
There is a National Bookstore on Siliman Ave, and a great internet cafe next door - Biz Hub. Doonut and pastry shops are just across the street. Dumaguete really is a great little college town!
Casaroro Falls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_URrET8sAw
The ferrys leave from the dock right in town.
Many hotels are available in all price ranges. The Vintage Inn by the city market is my choice because you can get a good clean room for 252 pesos.
The mini buses that go to Sibulan leave from the lot right across the street. The ride costs 9 pesos. Sibulan is the port where the pump boat and the fast ferry leave for Cebu which is where you will want to go if heading to Moalboal.
If you are going direct to Cebu City the best bet is to take the Ceres Liner from the bus terminal about a kilometer past the bell tower.
For 250 pesos you will get transported directly to Cebu City in about 4 hours. The fare includes a quick boat ride between the island of Negros and Cebu.
It’s a landing craft type boat and the bus will drive up the ramp onto the boat with several other buses for the trip across. You will ride across the ferry on the upper deck.
Maayo Shipping
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EaplZyJwHg
A monument to 7 Catholic sisters that arrived in Dumaguette in Oct of 1904 looks pretty cool out there on the boardwalk.
They were the beginning of the St. Paul Acadamy now the St Paul College. I think that early pioneers like these had a lot to do with the present day sucess of this city.
Dumaguete at night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_oPF_QDU2Y
Motorbikes are available for rent for 250 pesos a day.
Adventure Dive has a colorful dive shop / Mexican Restaurant right on the main street. I find the owner to be quite friendly and accommodating. They leave from Dauin where the dive boat is kept.
Most dive shops are based in Dauin around 12 kilometers from Dumaguete but it is nice to be be based in town so there is more to do at night.
4 bell watchtowers were originally built in the 1760’s and one was rebuilt in the original location 1876. They were an early warning system set up warn the locals when they were getting attacked by pirates so they could get an organized defense to resist the invaders.
Negros itself is a beautiful island with waterfalls and caves and great diving.
For people looking to relocate to Negros this would be worth investigating.
Some people might feel that there are already too many foreigners in the area and they might have a point.
Hi dp
Last week Juvee and I took the bike from Dumaguete around to Bayawan. Juvee’s Dad has a little farmlet up in the hills, place called Tayawan. Arrived at Bayawan around 4pm, checked into Casa Roserio oppisate the Petron. This is not the cheapest accomadation in town, but I had stayed there before, and for one night I figured the bank account would stand it. There are a range of rooms, all clean, neat and very tastefully decorated. Cheapest at P1200.
They have a restaurant(signwritten as Japanese/Chinese but they actually cook anything!) the cooks are Ernie and Alex. We took a walk along the Bayawan waterfront, really nice boulavard with little stalls selling cold SMB. Back at the restaurant we ordered gambas and steak with mushrooms. Dp I can honestly say I have not eaten tastier dishes anywhere in the Philippines. Magnificent! Ernie and Alex are masters of the art of Fil cooking, and we congratulated them. Highly recomended if you find yourself in Bayawan!
Next day we met up with Juvee’s Dad and followed him on the hubble-hubble to Tayawan. As expected the road deteriorated from awful to diabolical. As also expected the hubble-hubble driver easily out-rode me despite my XT 225 being the far superior bike.
Tayawan is high on a mountain plateu with amazing views of all the high points of southern Negros. Juvee’s Dad has a mahogoney tree plantation and some corn growing there as well as a charcol business. We stayed about an hour, the weather getting more and more looking like rain.
On the way back to Bayawan it did rain and we sheltered in a little church. After the rain stopped we continued all the way back to Dumaguete.
Really enjoyable overnight trip, I like Bayawan, reminds me of Dumaguete 10yrs ago!
Cheers
Lindsay
Hi Lindsay,
Thanks for the trip report.
I am getting hungry just reading about that food!
Have a safe trip back,
dp
Warm and gentle people.
Hi,
Cool website, Planning on visiting Dumaguete this christmas time for a couple weeks. Gonna start off in Tacloban with my gf and then head to Cebu for a day and then to there…Wondering if anyone knows what to expect around this time, like How’s travel, activities, and stuff in the area around and on christmas day and new years? Stores close? Buses, Jeeps, and Ferrys shut down? Limited amount of trips? Lots of people? Should i be booking hotels early, or is it cool to just show up and theres vacancys and all.
oh, and only 2weeks, Dec. 21-Jan. 2, should I be taking planes from Tac to Cebu and then Dumaguete or buses and ferrys fine, i dont mind the longer times, but if there’s plenty to do for a week in Dumaguete, i’m thinking planes to save time?
Thanks alot.
Hello Jimmy,
There might not be a direct flight between Tacloban and Cebu, be sure to check first.
Dup Tours runs a shuttle between Tacloban and Ormoc in Leyte. You could then proceed to Cebu City via the fast ferry. (easy trip)
Ceres Line Buses runs between Cebu City and Dumaguete and the fare includes the short ferry ride on the Maayo Shipping between Cebu and Negros Islands.
http://www.dutchpickle.com/philippines/negros/maayo-shipping.html
Ceres Lines
http://www.dutchpickle.com/philippines/misc/ceres-lines-dumaguete-to-cebu.html
The Christmas season is very hectic in the Philippines. Most businesses will close Christmas Day.
Resorts are often fully booked during the Christmas / New Years Season.
You could even get to Cebu via Bohol - a cool island with tarsiers and the Chocolate Hills.
http://www.dutchpickle.com/philippines/bohol
cheers
dp
Thanks alot!