Getting Back to Manila from Baguio City
April 27, 2009 by lisa
Filed under travel & transportation
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Originally, I thought that for folks coming up to Baguio City from Manila, getting back to Manila would be a cinch. As it turns out, the road getting back home is still a little tricky for some folks.
In analyzing why this is so, I guess it’s caused by several things:
1. The landmarks and road signs that folks are watching out for would be different going up than the landmarks folks are looking out for going down.
2. There are weird signs in Pangasinan that keep saying “To Manila” or “Alternate Route to Manila” that cause folks to bypass Urdaneta, and after three hours, folks still end up within Pangasinan, or worse yet, Nueva Ecija.
3. Folks do not realize that to enter the SCTEX, one must get to Tarlac, as the first entry point is Tarlac City right after entering it from Gerona, with the next being La Paz (I think the landmark for this is McDo — never passed this route) and the next being the Hacienda Luisita entry point.
So to complement all other the other “How to Get to —” guides and articles I have published, I decided to create a How to Get Back to Manila from Baguio City Advisory at Go Baguio! Your Complete Guide to Baguio City, Philippines.
Timely, I suppose, for to the May 1 weekend vacationists coming up (and going down) in the next few days. It was written in time for Holy Week I think but it’s not one of the pages that few people have visited yet.
The advisory contains a DO NOT TURN LEFT IN PANGASINAN warning there, and a whole lot of other info, which is still basically the reverse of How to Get to Baguio City.
One more tip about getting to Manila via the SCTEX is, to remember and to be assured that there are prominent signs pointing to the SCTEX in Tarlac province, so don’t “jump the gun” and make any turns in Pangasinan, ok?
Lastly, I would prefer to suffer the dust, heat and chaos of Urdaneta City than risk not being able to get back to MacArthur Highway.
Here’s a list of all those Baguio Travel Advisories I have written so far:
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Hi Lisa,
actualy the detour in binalonan is a much more efficient route to get to manila from baguio… in my opinion. I conducted this test last year using my 97 Civic Vti, wherein i drove all the way from baguio to balintawak. I left Baguio in the morning for the two tests, and surprisingly, the binalonan detour saved me around an hour of driving from taking the manila route, gas consumption is also minimum as i cruised through the binalonan detour with minimum traffic, oh, and i also saved a few hundred pesos as i didn’t have to go through the SCTEX and majority of the NLEX (the binalonan route leads you directly to Bocaue Bulacan NLEX exit/entry). SIgns are also easy to follow and understand, however, it never hurt to bring a map of Luzon, which i never leave the house without. Anyway, whatever route you take, just drive safely.
Paul
Thanks Paul for telling us all about your experience with the Binalonan detour.
I guess folks get lost passing this way when they TRY TO GET BACK TO MacArthur Highway and find that they only end up in Carmen, Pangasinan. That’s why, in other blog entries we find comments that they “took 3 hours and still ended up in Pangasinan.”
But if folks go from Pangasinan to Nueva Ecija to Bulacan and then onto the NLEX Bocaue entry, one actually does not need to pass Tarlac or Pampanga anymore. I have traveled this route several times, but only, mostly when bridges were being repaired in Tarlac, but find that:
1. In the roads connecting Pangasinan to Nueva Ecija, during heavy rains, the roads get flooded and actually disappear — and one can end up driving the car into a rice paddy;
2. The traffic in some towns in Nueva Ecija can sometimes be heavy, too.
3. The road in Bulacan towns are not always very smooth (took the VW Heb once passing this route).
All in all, it’s really just Urdaneta — sometimes Villasis, too — in Pangasinan, that is a pain and that we all are trying to avoid. The SCTEX pretty much takes care of avoiding the traffic in southern Tarlac (because the northern towns of San Manuel, Moncada, Paniqui and Gerona enjoy relatively light traffic, except maybe on long weekends) if one takes the Tarlac City SCTEX entry upon exiting Gerona.
You are so right about bringing a road atlas or a map at all times. Actually, this saves folks a lot of time, instead of relying on road signs, especially in Pnagasinan.
Thank you so much!
hi lisa
im missing you. please tell me when you get back to baguio or if you’re around. i’ll drop by with either cake or donuts, whichever seems yummier at the time.
^^
or if you like, i’ll be in manila next trip on a(wait for it, wait for it…) BUSINESS TRIP! My first ever. My number is still the same.
hugs!
Hi Rose,
Am in Manila till tue or wed. I’ll be back in Baguio by mid next week — will let you know when plans are firm.
Miss you too!