Typhoon Morakot (Philippine code: Kiko) wreaked havoc in Northern Philippines and made parts of the Halsema Highway (the vital strip of road that links many of the Cordillera’s towns) virtually impassable. Fortunately, there was no reported casualty or injury as a result of the landslides.
The biggest landslide occured along the roads of Sabangan, Mountain Province (around 2 hours away from Sagada by way of Baguio). The problem has already been resolved so vehicles of all sizes could once again pass.
Bus trips are rarely canceled to and from Sagada. Depsite typhoons and heavy rains, buses arrive and leave as scheduled unless there’s a blocked road due to landslides.
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Northern Luzon is one of the most visited areas in the Philippines. The western side of the Ilocos region features the historic streets of Vigan, Ilocos Sur, the iconic churches of Paoay and Bantay, the Marcos stronghold of Batac and the famous beaches of Pagudpud.
I was on holiday in Pagudpud when I had the urge to go back to Sagada. It’s not an easy trip to Sagada, but here’s what you have to do if you feel like making the most out of your trip up north.
From Pagudpud, you would need to take a bus that would get you to the Partas station at Laoag City. The fare will me minimal (less than 100). You may wait along the highway for passing buses from Cagayan Valley. Bear in mind though that most of the buses are probably full and you will have to stand the rest of the way (around 90 minutes).
Upon reaching the Partas station, you may buy tickets for Baguio. The company has an annoying policy of not allowing advance bookings and they only open the ticketing office 15 minutes before the bus leaves. This creates a mad dash to the ticket booths once the trip schedule is announced. The fare from Laoag to Baguio is 382 pesos. The bus would make two stops (one in Vigan). The trip is a staggering 6.5 hours.
From Baguio, you may take the Lizardo Buses at Dangwa station (again, it’s at 220 pesos) every hour from 6AM to 1PM. 
It was pretty hard, but I still made it to Sagada! Travel safely!
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I took this shot of Bomod-ok Falls December 23 last year. No one was there and we had the place to ourselves. We could just leave our stuff at some random rock and you can forget about it. The days running up to Christmas aren’t that busy for Sagada, actually. It gets much more crowded after December25.
How crowded? *read more to continue* (more…)
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We’ve been noticing a lot of questions regarding how much money is needed to tour Sagada so we’ll do another budget entry.
It’s simple math.
Let’s start with the things that you can do absolutely nothing about – you would really have to pay this amount.
Getting There
The fare going to Sagada regardless of where you go – may it be via Baguio, Bontoc or Banaue is more or less the same. The cost will be running up close to 1500 php (37 USD).
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Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has just declared eight “long weekends” for the year of 2009. You may want to consider these dates when scheduling your Sagada itineraries. I got this list from the popular travel blog Byahilo.
6 April – Araw ng Kagitingan instead of April 9
9 April – Holy Thursday
10 Apr – Good Friday
1 May – Labor Day
12 June -Independence Day
21 August – Ninoy Aquino Day
31 August – National Heroes’ Day
21 September – Eid’l Fitr
1 November -All Saints’ Day
2 November – All Soul’s Day
30 November – Bonifacio Day
24 December – Christamas Eve
25 December -Christmas Day
30 December -Rizal Day
31 December – New Year’s Eve
Happy traveling!
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