We booked our Butuan flight months ago and since then I had been very excited to explore this part of the country. When I started my research, it was really hard to decide where to go since there are lots of beautiful places to go to in the South East side of the Philippines. All are easily accessible via Buses but it they are all spread across the province. Nung nagsabog ng magagandang lugar si Kuya Jess sa Pilipinas, ang daming napunta sa Surigao. Another limitation I had was finding limited info on the internet regarding travel schedules and since our ETA in Butuan is in the evening (730pm), I am quite unsure if there are night time bus departure schedules to and from Hinatuan (Enchanted River) which is 4 to 5hrs from Butuan. We can only afford to visit Enchanted river and go up Surigao and Siargao if we travel at night time. We’ve decided to skip it and save it for next time. We’ve finally decided just to go to Siargao and Bucas Grande Island for our 3 whole days here.
Day of our flight to Butuan: WE WENT TO THE WRONG TERMINAL! FLIGHT WAS NOT DELAYED AND WE WERE LEFT BEHIND BY OUR PLANE
How nice was that right? (all in sarcasm). On top of that, NADAPA pa ako sa gutter ng Terminal 4. HAHAHAHA! I know, what a way to start a supposedly nice birthday vacation. After sitting down in a corner and feeling sorry for both our missed flight and my big knee wound, we tried looking for another possible way to get to Mindanao and finally decided to just get a DAVAO one way ticket. We compromised and promised ourselves that we won’t spend more than what is needed since we already spent a big amount of money for the airfare… MAIPUSH LANG TALAGA. Our Itinerary changed last minute because of this new flight. Instead of skipping Enchanted River, this was included on top of our list. Walang talo, we agreed.
MANILA – DAVAO – BISLIG – HINATUAN – ENCHANTED RIVER – BAROBO – TANDAG (1NIGHT) – HAYANGGABON – BUCAS GRANDE ISLAND – SURIGAO (1NIGHT) – BUTUAN – MANILA
That was what our itinerary looked like. Slept for 2 nights in Tandag (name unknown) and Surigao (Metro Pension Plaza).
Here’s a quick guide of bus rates and travel durations for a Davao to Butuan itinerary. I was amazed with how bus terminals in Mindanao are interconnected and integrated. You’ll just need to know the first and last trips of your origin points to plan your itinerary ahead of time. The only 24/7 bus terminals available are Davao Ecoland, Surigao City and Butuan City bus terminals. Hope this helps.
| FROM | TO | TRAVEL TIME | HOW MUCH (PHP) | RENTAL RATE FOR 2PAX (PHP) | TRANSPORT | OTHER INFO |
| Davao Airport | Ecoland | 30-45mins | 250 | Taxi | Airport is far from Ecoland Terminal | |
| Ecoland | Mangagoy (Bislig) | 6hrs | 300 | Non-AC Bus | 6am to 12nn | |
| Mangagoy | Hinatuan | 1hr | 55 | Non-AC Bus | 1pm to 2pm | |
| Hinatuan | Enchanted River | 45mins | 300 | Habal Habal | Good for 2pax with Bags. Kuya will wait for you while you’re swimming | |
| Hinatuan | Barobo | 1hr | 47 | Non-AC Bus | 6pm to 7pm; last trip is 6pm | |
| Barobo | Tandag | 2.5hrs | 117 | Non-AC Bus | 7:00pm to 9pm | |
| Tandag | Hayanggabon | 3hrs | 150 | Non-AC Bus | 4am to 7am | |
| Hayanggabon | Bucas Grande Island | 2500 | Motorized Banca | Good for 2pax, Includes tours in Bucas Grande Island | ||
| Hayanggabon | Surigao | 2.5hrs | 120 | Shuttle Van | 5pm – 7:30pm | |
| Surigao | Butuan | 3hrs | 205 | AC Bus | 1pm to 4pm |
Bucas Grande Island and Enchanted River posts to follow soon. 🙂
hi is it okay if you’ll email to me the itinerary of this trip? We are planning to have Davao-Bislig-Lanuza-Butuan/Surigao route but since you had it for only 3d2n, I’m just curious if what’s the itinerary. Hope to hear from you 🙂
Hello Ming! We actually had no itinerary for this trip because we just got a last minute booking to Davao. We just relied on word of mouth. Asking the locals how to go to your next destination is the best way to go. Be sure to get the last bus trip as well.
Hi, would like to ask you something via email. What’s your email address please 🙂
Message me in fb nalang 🙂 Janyline Alipar-Beltran