This is Part 2 of Touring Ilocos Without a Car series
Pagudpud lies on the north of Laoag. It’s pretty cold out there during the “ber” months pretty much like Baguio. From Laoag, it is a 2 hour bus ride. There are two good beaches in Pagudpud, one is Saud and the other is Blue Lagoon or what they call “Maira-ira“.
GOING TO PAGUDPUD
The airport is located in a town outside Laoag so when you leave the terminal, you will see some jeeps, tricycles and the Fort Ilocandia bus waiting at the parking lot. It’s up to you if you want to ride the jeep or the small tricycles (I mean really small compared to Manila trikes) going to Laoag since the fare is the same, Php40 – Php50 per head depending on how good you are at haggling.
Take the trike if you wanna go directly to your hotel. Take the jeep if you’re headed for the bus terminals at Laoag.
So after some haggling with the jeepney driver, we agreed to the Php 40 fare. If you’re accommodation is in Saud, buses going to Pagudpud will do, but if you’re staying at Kapuluan Vista Resort (like we did) which is nearer Blue Lagoon, ask the driver to drop you off the bus terminal with buses going to Cagayan or Claveria.
We took the St. Joseph bus, but there are other nicer buses out there. The fare for ordinary bus going to Pagupud is Php60 each. We didn’t mind riding an ordinary bus since the weather is already cool. Keep in mind that the last bus leaves at 6 PM.
The ride going to Pagudpud takes around 2 hours, but it seems like 4 hours to me because I forgot to pee before we left. Since our flight was delayed, we didn’t have time to eat lunch so all I had was some peanuts that we bought inside the bus.
There’s a Jollibee within walking distance from the bus terminal where you can relieve yourself and grab something to eat.
Whether you’re headed for Saud beach resorts or Kapuluan Vista Resort, the bus will drop you off the highway and you have to take a 10-15 minutes tricycle ride going to your destination. The fare is around Php 40 per tricycle (not per head).
Finally, at around 5 PM we arrived at Kapuluan Vista Resort hungry and weary. Mike, the owner, was there to greet us. It’s getting dark outside so we just grab an early dinner of their fine bagnet and headed straight to our room to get some rest.
FARE BREAKDOWN:
- Jeep/Trike going to Laoag – Php40-50 per head
- Ordinary bus going to Pagudpud – Php60 per head
- Trike going to resort – Php40 per group
I’ll talk more about the place on the next part.
If you have any questions/suggestions/corrections, please feel free to leave a comment. Thanks!
Filed under: Travel
thanks for dropping by my blog. back in college, we had a class that had an ilocos trip. we left thursday midnight and was supposed to go back sunday. one of the great & unforgettable/memorable experiences of my college life. we were supposed to go back sunday but our last stop was in baguio. my friends & i and our nffs (new found friends) decided to stay for another night in baguio and we had a blast.
going to ilocos was really wonderful.the old churches, the beaches, etc… too bad, pagudpud wasn’t popular then. now, i’m too busy with work to try and relax in pagudpud, which i heard was really wonderful.
yup ganda doon. gusto kong ulit bumalik sa pagudpud pagsummer. maganda talaga doon pag di maalon.
Hi, me and my friend are going to vigan-laoag-pagudpud this april.
magtatanong lang ako pare kung kaya ba naming tour ng whole day ang vigan including those museums then go back laoag to visit sta. monica church at lapaz sand dunes?
Isa pa pala, what’s the last trip of buses vigan-laoag, laoag-pagudpud?
hope you can response with this.. thanks
calvin: well kaya if you would start really early. kung mag-start ka sa vigan make sure by 2 PM max nasa bus ka na going to Laoag. You have the whole morning to tour vigan which is doable tapos get lunch then go to laoag which is a 2-hour travel. Then from there 30 minutes to sta. monica balikan then another 30 minutes to sand dunes. add ka na lang kung ilang minutes ka sa place na yun. importante si you get to sand dunes before sunset para sulit, wala kasing ilaw dun eh.
as for the bus vigan-laoag, alam ko meron sila sa gabi pero di ko alam kung till what time. 8 pm siguro. ask na lang sa tourist center doon. tapos laoag-pagudpud mga 4 or 5 pm ata last.