Waterfalls hopping in Albay

2 cities, 2 municipalities, and 2 waterfalls for the amount of less than 400 pesos. It has been raining for two weeks now at my hometown and this summer season has a rainy start. A day before our waterfalls hopping trip, I asked my sister if she wants to go with me to Legazpi City to try the go-cart at Embarcadero and she said yes, so that means this is one of those “biglaang lakad moments”. Me and my sister haven’t traveled together on any major lakwatsa so this would be our first time to travel together for an adventure.

PNR train fare table

My initial plan was to go to Legazpi City and visit Embarcadero, however, a more adventurous plan popped through my head. So I texted my friend who is based in Tabaco City and asked her if she’s available for a weekend getaway. And just my luck, it’s her day off from work. Me and my sister now have a free beautiful tour guide.hehehe! So my friend texted me the information that I needed to know on how to get to Tabaco City and I also informed her about our estimated time of arrival at Tabaco City.

Since I will be travelling with my sister and I don’t want to pay all the travel expenses, I told her that we will be travelling the cheapest way possible. (kuripot na kuya.haha!) I told her that we will only be spending 300 pesos each for this waterfalls hopping. I named it the 300 pesos challenge.heheh!

The next morning, the adventure day, we headed out to PNR Iriga City Station to catch the train going to Ligao City. By the way, PNR has a trip from Naga City to Ligao City but this is every Saturday and Sunday only. For weekdays, the train route is Naga City to Sipocot. PNR also has a daily trip from Manila to Naga City and PNR also have a 3x a week trip from Manila Tutuban Station to Ligao City. The travel time is 10 hours for Manila to Naga route and 12 hours for Manila to Ligao route. They have a sleeper coach, reclining seat coach and an ordinary or economy coach.

Anyway, back to my story. So we took the 8:30am train bound for Ligao City. The fare from Iriga City to Ligao City is 27 pesos and the travel time is 45 minutes only. Riding on a train is much cheaper and faster than riding a bus from Iriga to Ligao City. The train plying the Naga-Ligao route are non-airconditioned train. Oh, by the way, another tip, if you will be riding the Naga-Ligao PNR train, make sure you ride the 2^nd coach or the middle coach. Why? Because the 1^st and the 3^rd coach has a bumpy ride. Masyadong matagtag at baka mauntog ka pa sa dingding ng train at magkabukol.hehehe!

PNR Iriga City Train Station

PNR Iriga City Train Station

PNR train

PNR non-airconditioned coach

After arriving at Ligao City, me and my sister did a quick city tour, taking pictures of some of the landmarks in the city. After that, we then boarded a jeepney bound for Tabaco City via Sabloyon road. The jeepney terminal is located across the Novo Store.  The travel time from Ligao to Tabaco is about an hour and the fare is 42 pesos. It was raining when we arrived in Tabaco and we were hoping for a good weather pero masyadong nagpakitang gilas si ginoong ulan kya naging maulan ang lakad namin.

Ligao City Hall

Jeepney bound for Tabaco City

After meeting my friend in Tabaco, we immediately proceeded to Vera Falls. We rented a tricycle going to Vera for 150 pesos but the driver said that the tricycles can only go up to Barangay Soa because the night before our trip, the bridge was washed out by heavy rains. So we agreed and upon arriving at Barangay Soa, we then transferred to a motorcycle. The travel time from Tabaco City to Brgy. Soa is 15 minutes only while the travel time from Brgy. Soa to Vera Falls is another 15 minutes ride. The motorcycle rate is 50 pesos per person and for one-way trip only. There’s also an alternative means of transportation, near the city hall of Tabaco, there are motorcycles bound for Vera falls for only 70 pesos. Hindi kasi namin nahanap agad kya sumakay na lang kami ng tricycle at nagcutting trip. By the way, make sure na sabihan nyo ang driver na balikan kayo sa Vera falls para sa paguwi nyo or else you’ll end up walking several kilometers. The trek to Vera is an easy 10 minutes down the staircase from the parking area. There is no entrance fee at Vera and there are no cottages near Vera Falls. Pagdating namin sa Vera, masyado akong namangha sa ganda nya kasi there are a lot of minifalls that popped out from the side of the main falls. And since it rained hard the night before our trip to Vera, there was a huge volume of water. Naglunch lang kami sa Vera at nagswimming for an hour and then umalis na kami pabalik ng Tabaco City para mapuntahan pa namin yung Busay Falls.

Vera Falls, Malinao, Albay

Vera Falls, Malinao, Albay

From Barangay Comun, Malinao, this is the neighboring barangay of Brgy. Soa, we rented a tricycle for Busay Falls in Malilipot town. We paid the driver 200 pesos to bring us to Busay Falls and then Busay to Tabaco City. If you don’t want to pay that much, you can catch a tricycle bound for Tabaco City at Barangay Comun. The fare is only 12 pesos and then from Tabaco you can ride a tricycle to Busay Falls. So we travelled to Busay from Brgy Comun, and the travel time is roughly about 30 minutes. Upon arriving at Busay falls, we took some pictures and decided to explore the other waterfalls above the main falls. Busay falls is a multi-tiered waterfalls, and the locals told us that Busay is a 7-tiered waterfalls, that means there are 6 more waterfalls to see. We asked around for a guide and a local from the area offered to guide us to the 3 other falls. We want to see all the 7 waterfalls but he said it would take a whole day to explore the 7 falls but since it was already late afternoon when we arrived at Busay, we agreed to just visit the other 3 falls above the main waterfalls. So off we go to the other 3 falls. The 2^nd falls is just a mere 15 minute hike from the main falls. The 3^rd and 4^th falls are just another 15 to 20 minute hike. The 3^rd and 4^th falls are just near to each other but the 5^th, 6^th and 7^th falls would take hours or hike. So after swimming at the other 3 falls, we then trekked back to the parking area. We were rain-soaked since it has been raining the entire afternoon.

Busay Falls, Malilipot, Albay

Busay Falls, 4th falls

Busay Falls, the 3rd falls

Busay Falls, the 2nd falls

We travelled back to Tabaco City and my friend offered her place para makapagpalit na kami ng dry clothes before going home. Nagpaalam na kami at nagpasalamat sa friend ko and then me and my sister did a short city tour around Tabaco City and then after that, we then boarded a bus to Nabua town and then after an hour and a half we arrived at Nabua and rode a multicab bound for Iriga City, and then 15 minutes later, we were at our hometown now and rode again a tricycle at the city center to our house.

Pedicab at Tabaco City

Tabaco Church

Tabaco City Hall

It was a tiring but an awesome day. From the initial plan of just go-karting at Legazpi City, we ended up doing a waterfalls hopping in Albay. We failed on the 300 pesos challenge since we spend more than 300 but less than 400 pesos for the trip. For the amount of less than 400 pesos, we were able to visit 2 cities, 2 municipalities, and 2 waterfalls. Now, isn’t that  a cheap and “sulit adventure”, right?