Busuanga Mountain Bike Day Trip

• Day Trips
• Mountain Biking
• Palawan

On mid-range single shock mountain bikes (or double shock at additonal price) come and discover the exhilarating beauty of the Philippines! We’ll take to quiet gravel and sealed roads and we’ll also blaze carabao (buffalo) trails, penetrate bamboo groves, rainforest and ford streams–swimming in them with abandon. We’ll also take time out to take in the varied landscapes and to meet the locals. Behind us or nearby will be 1, 2 or even 3 support vehicles for back-up, supplies, spares and respite.

Busuanga is one of the country’s least densely populated islands. The roads are quiet, ideal for biking. The single tracks, most cut by carabao carts, are numerous and make uncannily suitable trails for biking.A typical trip commences with a 6.30am Coron hotel pickup and van transfer to Tribal Adventures’ expedition base SandCastles. It can finish back in Coron town, at SandCastles, or somewhere between, with van transport back to Coron by sundown assured.

A favourite ride are the Sugod Single Tracks. Most portions are surprisingly forgiving, the verdant bamboo and wood forests and numerous streams riders pass–ensuring cool, tropical riding conditions. For a full-day trip, we combine these trails with another series of forested and semi-rural tracks that lead back to SandCastles on a 35 km fun ride that passes the village of Cheey and Minit Beach, the trail graded at 2.5/5.

For a 3/5 rating ride of 45 kms, you can try SandCastles to Coron via Decalachao, San Nicolas and Guadalupe. The rating rises more because of the heat than the physical roads, which technically are more benign than the Sugod Single Tracks.

For a 4/5 rating ride of 50 kms, try SandCastles to Coron via Decalachao, Airport single track by-pass, single track to Santa Monica. More than half the time is spent on single tracks.

Should you be interested in the SandCastles-Amaha-Sinibayan-Buluang-Ocam Ocam route that takes in waterfalls and swimming rock pools, this trip is included in the other Busuanga Bike programme where proceeds flow to helping school children. The route is 80% rough dirt roads and tracks and has a 4/5 rating.

Route choice is made easier by the season. Do you like it wet? When wet from June to October the Sugod tracks are awesome with dozens of creek crossings and plenty of opportunities for a dip. When it’s drier from November to May the carabao trails of Sugod are more forgiving and the track is at its fastest. This is the trail that has the most canopy from trees and bamboo–so it’s the coolest whatever time of year.

All trips may be run in reverse and pick up and/or drop off, as the case may be, are incorporated in the tour prices.

Tribal Adventures has a couple of Giant dual suspension bikes priced at an additional 2,000 pesos a day. Pre-reservation essential. Use of E-bikes on the trips with few or no single tracks are available for an additional 1,000 pesos. Again, pre-reservation is essential.

The tour can start from Palawan SandCastles or elsewhere on Busuanga.