SiargaoTrips
A traditional Filipino bangka outrigger boat on clear blue water
Siargao Island, Philippines

Siargao itineraries — 3, 5 and 7 days, and the transfer each day needs

Most Siargao itineraries are a list of places with hours attached to them. Two of the island’s four big days cannot be scheduled by you at all — so this one gives you the shape of a trip, the order that survives contact with the island, and the transfer each day needs.

We publish a shape, not a schedule

Every Siargao itinerary you will find online is a timetable: day one at nine, day two at seven, lunch here. We cannot honestly write one, and nor can anybody else. Two of the four things people come to this island for are scheduled by something other than you — the tide opens the Magpupungko rock pools and closes them again, and the sea decides whether the boat days to Sugba Lagoon, Sohoton Cove or the three islands off General Luna run at all. A plan that assumes both will cooperate on the dates you happened to book is not an itinerary, it is a wish. What follows is the shape instead: what genuinely fits into three, five and seven days, the order that survives contact with the island, and — because this is the part we are actually here for — the transfer each day needs. No hours, no fares, no journey times. Our companion guide on how many days you need explains why the length of a Siargao trip is an arithmetic problem rather than a matter of taste; this page is what you do with the days once you have counted them.

Three launch points and one road corridor — the geography that fixes the order

The reason a Siargao itinerary cannot be shuffled freely is that its headline days start in three different places, and two of them are nowhere near where most people stay. Island hopping to Naked, Daku and Guyam leaves from the beach at General Luna and needs no road transfer at all. Sugba Lagoon is a boat from Del Carmen port, on the opposite, western side of the island. Sohoton Cove is not on Siargao at all — it sits on Bucas Grande, in the municipality of Socorro, and is reached by sea from Dapa in the south. Only the fourth is a road day: the Magpupungko rock pools are on the east coast, and when we checked the stops of the so-called land tour — Maasin River, the Coconut Road viewpoint and the Tayangban cave pool — against the mapped road corridor to Magpupungko, every one of them fell within a few hundred metres of it. The land tour is the Magpupungko road with stops on it, not a second direction to buy. So a working itinerary alternates rather than clusters: a boat day, then a road day, then whatever the weather has left you.

Read about: Siargao land tour →

The two days you do not control

Magpupungko is a tidal site in the literal sense — at high water the rocks sit under open sea and the pools people photograph are not there to visit. Philippine tide predictions are published officially by NAMRIA, and the tidal day runs about 24 hours and 50 minutes, so the low-water window drifts roughly fifty minutes later with each day that passes. Over a five-night stay that moves the usable window by about four hours: a pool visit that was a comfortable mid-morning on your first day is an early start or a late afternoon by your last. The boat days are gated by weather rather than by the clock, and on this coast that is not a formality — the sea can be closed to small craft by coast guard advisory in any month of the year, as our guide to leaving the island sets out. Treat both as movable and the trip works. Pin either to a named day and everything behind it falls over.

Get a quote: General Luna → Magpupungko

Sohoton is the one day somebody else’s timetable governs

If Sohoton Cove is on your list, it is the day to build the rest of the week around, and for a reason most itineraries never mention. Bucas Grande is a separate island and a separate municipality: the provincial government of Surigao del Norte records that Socorro comprises the whole of Bucas Grande and is bounded to the north by the municipality of Dapa, which is why Dapa is the crossing point rather than General Luna. The same provincial page publishes the public pump-boat windows for that crossing — Dapa to Socorro at 7:30 to 8:00 in the morning, daily, and again at 3:00 to 4:00 in the afternoon. Only the morning window makes a day trip possible, and Dapa is on the far side of the island from where most visitors stay, so this day opens with a cross-island road transfer rather than with breakfast. Two honest caveats. That provincial page is undated and its own population figures come from the 2000 census, so treat the windows as indicative and confirm them locally on the day. And a chartered boat is not bound by them at all — a charter from General Luna needs no road transfer to Dapa whatsoever, which is a genuinely different trip, and one worth asking us to price both ways.

Get a quote: General Luna → Sohoton Cove

The cove is tide-gated too, and the sources disagree on which way

There is a second constraint on the Sohoton day, and it is why we will not put an hour against it. The only way in and out of the cove is a low cave passage, and every account agrees that the tide governs whether a boat can get through. They do not agree on which end of the tide opens it: the cove’s own Socorro page and several long-standing Philippine travel guides say it is passable only at low tide, while others state the reverse — that low water leaves the entrance too shallow and the passage needs the tide up. We are not going to pick a side and print it on a transfer company’s website. The practical consequence is the same either way. The hour you can enter is set by that day’s tide table and read by the operator running the boat, not by you and not by us, so keep the whole day clear and never stack a departure flight behind it.

Three days: choose one big day, and mean it

A three-night trip is not three days on the island. Arrivals cluster around a short daily flight schedule at Sayak, and departures are stricter still — every carrier into Sayak closes its domestic airport counter 45 minutes before departure, and Sunlight Air shuts online check-in two full hours before the flight — so a mid-morning flight home has already taken your last morning. Counted honestly, three nights is about one full day plus two part-days. Spend the part-days in and around General Luna, where Cloud 9 and the boardwalk are walkable and nothing has to be arranged in advance, and spend the one full day on a single big thing. Take the boat day if the forecast is kind, in which case the island hop off General Luna is the one with the least travel attached to it; take Magpupungko if your dates happen to put low water at a civilised hour. Attempting both is the most reliable way to make a short Siargao trip feel like a coach tour. Transfers this needs: the arrival leg from Sayak Airport or Dapa Port to your base, one day-tour transfer if you choose the road day, and the departure leg back.

Get a quote: Sayak Airport → General LunaGet a quote: Dapa Port → General Luna

Five days: one boat day, one tide day, one day of slack

Five nights buys roughly three full days, and it is the first length at which Siargao stops being a highlight reel. The shape that works is one boat day, one road day along the Magpupungko corridor — taking the land-tour stops on the way rather than as a separate outing, since they are on the same road — and one day deliberately left empty. That empty day is not idleness, it is the insurance policy: it is what absorbs a boat day the swell or the coast guard moved, or a tide window that drifted into your departure morning. It does not absorb the fixed closure below, which is a date to check before you book rather than a day to hold in reserve. If it turns out not to be needed it becomes a surf lesson, the Del Carmen mangroves, or a slow day on the boardwalk, none of which needs arranging. Transfers this needs: the arrival leg, one day-tour transfer to Magpupungko, one transfer to Del Carmen port if you choose Sugba Lagoon over the island hop, and the departure leg. If Sohoton is your boat day instead, add the early cross-island run to Dapa in front of the morning sailing window.

One date on this island is fixed, and flexibility will not solve it

Everything else here moves — a tide window drifts, a sailing gets suspended, a wet morning rearranges a day — and the answer to all of it is slack in your plan. There is one exception, and it is the only hard date we publish. A Del Carmen municipal ordinance declares a 32-day “annual tourist holiday” at Sugba Lagoon, barring entry and leisure activities every year from 10 January to 10 February, so the site can recover and its facilities be repaired; it has run on those dates since 2016. If your trip falls in that window, a spare day does not help you and neither does moving by one — the lagoon is shut for the whole of it. That is worth knowing before you book flights, not after. It is also not the end of the day out: only Sugba closes, and the municipality has said its other sites, including the mangrove forest itself and the islands of Kawhagan and Pamomoan, stay open, so a mangrove day from the same port is still possible. Tell us your dates and we will say plainly which of these your trip can actually include. The dates come from the ordinance, but the local government sets them, so it is worth a check nearer the time.

Seven days: two boat days, the north end, and still keep the slack

Seven nights is about five full days, and the first length at which you see the island rather than sample it. Two boat days, spaced apart rather than back to back so that a bad forecast has somewhere to move to; the Magpupungko and land-tour corridor as a single road day; and one day for the north end — Pacifico, Burgos and Santa Monica, the quieter half of the island and its longest road transfer, which makes it worth a day of its own or a night up there rather than a there-and-back dash. Keep the slack day even at this length; with two weather-dependent days in the plan you are more exposed, not less. One timing note if you are travelling in the late-year window: Cloud 9 is now a World Surf League Championship Tour stop, with the Philippines Pro scheduled for 31 October to 10 November 2026, which concentrates arrivals, rooms and vehicles into the same fortnight — so send the whole week as one request, arrival and departure legs included, with your flight numbers, and we will tell you what we can cover on those dates. Transfers this needs: the arrival leg, up to two boat-day road legs, the Magpupungko day, the north-end move in each direction — or a single one-way move if you split your stay between two bases — and the departure leg.

What to send us for a multi-day trip

You do not need a finished plan to ask us for a price. Send the dates, where you are staying, how many of you there are, and which of the big days you want to keep. Be specific about the base: a municipality name is not a location here, and with Del Carmen roughly three times the size of General Luna, a base given as a town rather than a resort or barangay is the most common reason a quote has to be revised. If you already know the arrival and departure flights, send both numbers — we work the first pickup and the last one backwards from them rather than from an hour that feels early enough. Then tell us which days are movable. That is the part that genuinely matters for a multi-day quote: a plan we know can slide by a day is one we can hold a vehicle and a driver against, and moving a transfer you already have is far easier than finding one on the morning the tide changed its mind. One fixed, all-in price by email, no deposit to ask for and no obligation to book.

No published price — and that is deliberate

A fair price depends on your date, your group, your bags and how long we wait. So we quote per trip instead of publishing a number we would have to hedge. Fill in the form below and we will send a fixed, all-in price by email.

Who you are booking with

Why travellers ask us

Siargao runs on tides, small roads and word of mouth. We quote by hand because that is the only honest way to price a trip on an island like this.

Booked in English, in advance

Arrange everything by email before you fly, from anywhere in the world.

Local drivers, local knowledge

Vetted local drivers who know the island roads, the tides and how long things really take.

Built around your flight

Pickups timed to your actual arrival at Sayak, not a guess — send us the flight number.

More on how we work — fixed all-in pricing, and what the quote covers before you commit.

After you send it

What happens to your request

  1. 1

    Tell us your trip

    Pickup, where you are headed, the date and how many of you. Add your flight number, your resort or any stops — whatever helps us get it right.

  2. 2

    Get a fixed quote

    We reply by email with a clear, all-in price for the right vehicle or boat. No account, no deposit to ask.

  3. 3

    Confirm & go

    Happy with the price? Confirm and we lock in your driver. You travel on a fixed price with a trip-day contact you can reach.

Get a quote

Tell us your trip. Get a fixed price.

Tell us your plans. We will email you a fixed, all-in quote.

Free to ask. No payment now, no obligation.

Your trip

Your trip

A property name — your hotel, hostel, villa or homestay — is worth more than the town on its own. Siargao’s municipalities are large rural areas, so a town can cover two places a long drive apart. If you have a map pin or the barangay, even better; if you are being met at the airport or the port, the gateway is enough.

Going to more than one place? Add them in the order you want to visit them — up to 6. Order matters here: the boat trips leave from three different places, so a day that alternates boat and road works where one that clusters them does not.

Your passengers

Your passengers

Your details

Your details

Include your country code, so the driver can reach you on the day.

No payment now. No obligation. We reply by email.

FAQ

Before you send it

How much does a transfer or island trip cost?

It depends on the route, the vehicle or boat, how many of you are travelling, waiting time and any extra stops. That is exactly why we quote per trip rather than publishing a price list — tell us the details and we will send a fixed, all-in price.

What should I put as the pickup and drop-off — is the town name enough?

Send the property name if you have one — your hotel, hostel, villa or homestay — rather than the town on its own. This is the detail that most often makes a quote need revising later, and it is the easiest one to get right. Siargao’s municipalities are large rural areas rather than neighbourhoods: Del Carmen covers roughly 148 square kilometres and Dapa about 84, against General Luna’s 47, so “we are staying in Del Carmen” can describe two places a long drive apart, and it holds the airport, the town proper and the port all under one name. “Pilar” can likewise mean the town or the Magpupungko area some way from it, and they are different drop-offs. A map pin or the barangay is just as good, and a landmark works when a property has no obvious address. If you are being collected at Sayak Airport or Dapa Port, naming the gateway is enough on that side — it is the other end we need pinned down. Our route pages prefill the town to save you typing; replacing it with where you are actually staying takes ten seconds and is the difference between a price that holds and one that has to be sorted out at the roadside. Where to stay in Siargao — and what to send us

How and when do I pay?

There is no payment to request a quote and no obligation to book. Once you are happy with the price we will confirm the payment options with you before you travel.

Is the all-in price really everything — is there anything left to pay on the day?

For the transfer itself, yes: the price we agree in writing is the price for the journey, and there is nothing further to settle with the driver at the end of it. What that price cannot include is money that is not ours to take. Several of the places people visit here charge their own entrance or environmental fee, collected on the spot by the barangay or the municipality — the gate at the Magpupungko rock pools, the sites on an island-hopping day, the lagoon and cove trips — and those are theirs, not ours. We do not collect them, we take no cut of them, and we will not fold them into our figure and present it as a package, because that would make a transfer quote look like a tour price. We also do not print the amounts: they are set locally, the reported figures differ between years and sources, and a number we do not control is not one we will publish. Two practical things follow. Bring some cash for the day, because these are cash desks rather than card terminals. And tell us the stops you have in mind when you request a quote, so the reply can say plainly which legs, which waiting time and which arrangements it covers — then the only thing left on the day is a gate fee you already knew about. The Siargao land tour — what we quote, and what is collected on the day

How far ahead should I book — and is it too late if I am already on the island?

Sooner gives us more room, but do ask late: plenty of the trips we arrange are booked a day or two before travel, and some by people who are already here. The dates with the least slack are the ones when everyone wants a vehicle at once — the wet months, and the run of days around the Philippines Pro at Cloud 9, which is on from 31 October to 10 November 2026 — and so are early-morning departures and late-night arrivals, because those are the hours when Siargao has the least to fall back on: no Grab, no Uber, no metered taxi network, no scheduled bus, and the tricycles and habal-habal thin out late and in heavy rain. What we will not do is publish a cut-off, because whether a trip can be covered depends on the day, the vehicle it needs and where on the island it starts. So send the request with your date and time even if it is tomorrow, and we will tell you straight away whether we can cover it rather than leave you guessing. Getting around Siargao — what runs, what does not, and when

I do not have my dates fixed yet — should I wait until I do before asking?

Ask now with your best guess. The form needs a date in the box because almost everything about a trip is worked out from it, but it is not a commitment and it does not have to be your final answer — write the day you think is likeliest, then say in “Anything else we should know?” what is still moving: the flight you have not booked, the ferry you are waiting on, a week you know only roughly, or a departure hour that could still shift. We will quote what you do know. It is the same with a time you are unsure of: the pickup-time box says to leave it blank if you are not sure, and a return date you have not fixed yet is not a problem either. There is a real reason to ask early rather than wait. Movable dates are worth something here — the Magpupungko pools are only worth visiting around low water and the window drifts later each day, the boat days are weather-gated, and if you tell us which of your days can slide we will tell you which ones give the better window before you commit to one. We would also rather hear from you early and adjust than meet you for the first time on the week you travel: plans change, and telling us as early as you can is what makes them easy to work with. Asking costs nothing and commits you to nothing — it is a request, not a booking, and nothing is reserved until we confirm it in writing. The one thing to know is that a quote is built on the details you gave us, so if the date or the shape of the trip genuinely changes, the price can change with it, and we will say so before anything is confirmed. We publish no cut-off: send what you have, and we will tell you straight away what we can do with it. Siargao itineraries — which days are worth keeping movable

Can I ask for the return trip at the same time, or do I have to book it separately?

Ask for both at once — it is one request, not two bookings. On an airport or point-to-point transfer the form has a box marked “I also need the return trip”: tick it and you can give the return date and pickup time in the same message. A day trip asks instead for a “Back by” time, and a multi-day itinerary for a “Return / end date” and a return pickup time, so on those two the second leg is already part of what the form collects rather than a separate box to find. If the journey you want back does not fit any of those — a different route home, an extra stop, a move between towns part-way through — write it into “Anything else we should know?” and it will be quoted with the rest. It is worth doing now rather than later. Almost every request that reaches us is an arrival, and the trip home is the one journey with a deadline you do not set: a departure is timed backwards from a check-in counter that closes whether you are standing at it or not, and the load going home is often not the load that arrived — a board bought here, a box, a bag that no longer closes. Both are easier to settle while you are still planning than on your last morning. And asking commits you to nothing: there is no obligation attached to a quote, and a return date you have not fixed yet is not a problem — say so, and we will quote what you do know. General Luna to Sayak Airport — planning the way out

All the questions we get asked — including bags, boards and pets, night pickups, delayed flights and child seats.