Your gateway to Negros Oriental, Dumaguete City is accessible via land, air, and sea. Flights are available from Manila, and Cebu City, ferries available from Manila City in Luzon, Cebu, Siquijor, Tagbilaran in Visayas; Dapitan, and Cagayan de Oro City in Mindanao. I got an email asking directions to Dumaguete City other than the route we did. So here is a (hopefully) complete transportation guide to help you plan your route to Dumaguete City.
FROM LUZON
Via Manila:
::: Manila – Dumaguete City
Flights are available
::: Manila – Cebu – Dumaguete City
Or you can do a road trip with these routes
West | Manila – Batangas – Aklan – Iloilo – Bacolod – Dumaguete
East | Manila – Naga – Legazpi – Sorsogon – Northern Samar – Tagbilaran, Leyte – Ormoc, Leyte – Cebu City – Lilo-an, Santander, Cebu – Sibulan, Negros Oriental – Dumaguete
* Though you could skip Leyte from Northern Samar to Cebu City, there’s a ferry boat from Calbayog, Northern Samar to Cebu City.
FROM VISAYAS
Via Cebu City:
::: Cebu City – Dumaguete City
Flights are avialable
Time Duration: 45 mins
Fast Crafts are available
* Do check it out first, you can check it out at the ticketing office at the pier, or at SM Travel Lounge in SM Cebu, or at ticketing offices you can find in the travel booking wing at the malls.
* I was informed that there’s a Cebu – Tagbilaran – Dumaguete route, though I do not know how long that will take you to get to Dumaguete City
::: Cebu City – Lilo-an, Santander, Cebu – Sibulan, Negros Oriental – Dumaguete City
1] Cebu City to Santander, Cebu (By Bus)
Take the van/bus at the Cebu South Bus Terminal
Travel Duration: 4-5 H
Fare: 165PhP Bus non-AC
200PhP Bus AC
160-180 PhP Vans
2] Lilo-an, Santander, Cebu – Sibulan, Negros Oriental
Travel Time: 45 mins – 1H
Fare: Quadro Alas Shipping Lines
62PhP Regular
52PhP Student or Senior Citizen
First Trip: From Liloan: 4:30 AM
Sibulan: 5:00 AM
Last Trip: From Liloan: 7:30 PM
Sibulan: 8:00 PM
Pumpboat
45PhP Regular
40PhP Student
38PhP Senior Citizens
First Trip: From Liloan: 6:00 AM
Sibulan: 6:30 AM
Last Trip: From Liloan: 5:00 PM
Sibulan: 5:30 PM
* I suggest that you take the fast craft if the weather is bad, and the water is rough. Then again, if you’re up for some adventure, don’t let my fair warning stop you.
3] Sibulan – Dumaguete City
* Instead of taking the bus, we asked for a trike to take us, and paid him 20PhP each, there were 4 of us.
FROM MINDANAO
Via Dapitan City:
1] From Iligan City – Ozamis City – Oroquieta City – Dapitan City
—– Check out the updated Iligan – Dipolog route HERE
—– Check out the updated Iligan – Ozamis – Dapitan route HERE
Via Cagayan de Oro City
1] From Cagayan de Oro City – Cebu City – Dumaguete City
* There used to be a direct overnight ferry for CDO – Dumaguete but I checked out some of the ferry sites that used to travel directly there, it was either it’s not updated or that they have stopped transit.
—- Check out Cebu City – South Cebu – Dumaguete City route above
+ Do visit the Tourism Office if you have time. They do not have any visible Tourism Information Desk at the Port upon our arrival. Good thing we already kinda knew what we wanted to see, and check out. To help you maximize your trip, and tour. I suggest you visit them, so they can help you plan your tour better.