One of my favorite tourist destinations in the Philippines is Camiguin Island a.k.a. The Island Born of Fire. Located in Northern Mindanao, Camiguin is the second smallest province in the Philippines. Apart from its historic sites, beautiful coastline and environmental tourism areas, visitors just love the crystal clear water.
Who wouldn’t want to visit a place as beautiful as this?
Last weekend, my entire family and I went to Camiguin for a 3-day, 2-night escapade. Being the one fond of researching, preparing itineraries and following budgets, I took it upon myself to plan the entire trip to Camiguin Island. It’s not my family’s first time to visit the island. However, we try to discover new things and stay in a different place every time we visit. Now if you want to visit the island as well, I will share some tips, recommended tours and hotels in Camiguin. Just click my Camiguin Island page.
In the meantime, I will share this Camiguin travel guide. Learn how to reach Camiguin Island via air and land transportation options.
From Manila:
– Fly from Manila to either Cagayan de Oro City or Butuan City. Both CDO and Butuan are about 3 hours away from Camiguin Island. In CDO, you will land at the new Laguindingan Airport.
From Cebu City:
– There are direct flights from Cebu to Camiguin Island.
From Davao City:
– You can fly from Davao International Airport to Laguindingan Airport. You can also take the bus. You can either ride the Davao to Butuan Yellow Bus or the Davao to CDO RTMI bus. If you’re going to take the bus, proceed to the Davao Overland Terminal in Ecoland.
Now if you’re traveling from CDO to Camiguin Island (like what my family and I did), go to Agora Terminal. Look for the yellow buses that are bound for Butuan. These buses operate 24/7. Tell the conductor that you need to alight at Balingoan Port.
Fares are Php 70.00 (non-airconditioned bus) and Php 145.00 (airconditioned bus). Travel time is roughly 2 hours. I highly suggest that you ride the airconditioned bus for faster travel.
From the Balingoan Bus Terminal, you can either ride a tricycle (fare is Php 8.00) to reach the Balingoan Port. My family and I only WALKED, though. The port is just two minutes away and we didn’t bring too much luggage anyway. From the bus terminal, turn right, walk for about 30 meters. On the left side of the street, you can find a signage that says Balingoan Port (Ferry to Camiguin Island). Take that turn and walk for about 30 meters more.
This is what we saw when we arrived at the port. We caught the very first ferry trip to Camiguin. We arrived just in the nick of time!
Fares for Camiguin Island ferry: Php 170.00 (regular), Php 145.00 (student), Php 135.00 (senior citizen), Php 85.00 (children)
Every passenger also needs to pay the terminal fee of Php 2.25 each. Travel time from Balingoan Port to Benoni Port in Camiguin Island is about an hour and a half.
At Benoni Port, Camiguin Island
Welcome to Camiguin Island!
You can find a tourist assistance booth at the passenger arrival area. You can also get resort brochures, emergency numbers etc.
At the Port of Benoni
Travel tip: If you plan to hire multicabs, habal-habal rides or vans in Camiguin, please note that the Camiguin local government has set minimum rental rates. For multicabs, for instance, minimum rate is Php 1,700.00 (first 8 hours, Php 150 per succeeding hour, less than 10 passengers). For more than 10 passengers, rate starts at Php 2,000.00 (first 8 hours).
I can recommend a multicab driver. CONTACT ME or tweet me to ask 🙂
If you need to book a hostel / inn in Camiguin Island, you can search here:
I will update this post with more Camiguin Island-related articles. Should you have comments or inquiries, please feel free to leave them below 🙂
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Mindanaoan is a multi-awarded blogger, content creator, seasoned social media strategist and publicist with undeniably successful track record. 2012 International Visitor Leadership Program (for global leaders) alumnus and O visa grantee (for people with extraordinary skills and who have risen to the top of their field). Avid traveler and a proud relief operations volunteer. Regular resource person for social media, blogging and content creation. Available for work and travel – [email protected]
