
When to go to Siargao — seasons, storms and surf
Siargao has no dry season, and the months sold as the Philippines’ “dry season” are its wettest. Here is what the climate records actually say, and how to time a trip around them.
There is no dry season here
This is the fact that most trip planning gets wrong. Siargao sits in Surigao del Norte, and the province is classified under climate type II — defined by no pronounced dry season at all, but with a very pronounced maximum rainfall period from November to January, sometimes stretching into February. That is the provincial government’s own description of its geography, and it matches the national picture: PAGASA notes that eastern Surigao is among the wettest parts of the entire country. So there is no month you can point at and call reliably dry. What changes through the year is how much rain, and how likely it is to arrive with wind behind it.
Why general Philippines advice gets Siargao backwards
Most “best time to visit the Philippines” advice is written for Manila, Boracay and Palawan, all on the western side of the archipelago. It tells you to travel between November and April and avoid the June-to-September rains. On Siargao that advice is close to inverted. PAGASA describes the northeast monsoon — the amihan — as cold winds from the northeast that bring rains over the eastern side of the country, while the southwest monsoon — the habagat — brings rain to the western portion from May to September. Siargao is on the eastern side. The amihan months that are the dry season for the west are precisely the pronounced-maximum-rainfall months here, and the habagat months that soak Boracay are comparatively the drier half of Siargao’s year. If you plan this island off a generic Philippines calendar, you will book into the wet.
Typhoon season, stated plainly
The Philippines sits in the most active tropical cyclone basin on earth. PAGASA puts the long-run average at about 20 tropical cyclones entering the region each year, of which roughly eight or nine cross the country, and it identifies July through October as the peak, when close to 70 per cent of typhoons develop. Siargao’s exposure is not theoretical: on 16 December 2021 Typhoon Odette — internationally named Rai — made its first Philippine landfall on the Siargao Islands. That is outside the statistical peak, which is the honest lesson. A cyclone can arrive outside the busy months, and the sensible response is not to avoid a season but to travel with flexible flights and travel insurance, and to keep an eye on PAGASA’s bulletins rather than on a seasonal average. Ferries and island-hopping boats are suspended when the coast guard suspends them, and no operator, ourselves included, can promise otherwise.
The surf calendar just changed
Cloud 9, on the General Luna coast, is the reason many visitors come. Its competitive calendar is now a genuinely useful planning signal. The Siargao International Surfing Cup was first staged in 1996 and is the longest-running international surfing event in the Philippines, on the World Surf League Qualifying Series since 2014. On 1 July 2026 the WSL announced that it had been upgraded to a full Championship Tour stop — the Philippines Pro — running at Cloud 9 from 31 October to 10 November 2026, with the elevation covering the 2026 and 2027 seasons. Read that as the organisers’ own judgement about when the wave performs. It also means the island will be busier in that window than it has ever been, with a professional tour, its entourage and its spectators arriving at a small island airport at the same time.
So when should you actually go?
There is no single right answer, and anyone who gives you one is selling something. If you are coming for the surf, the competitive calendar points at the late-year window, and you should accept rain as part of the deal. If you want the calmer, drier half of the island’s year and do not need big waves, the middle months — the habagat half that soaks the western resorts — are the ones worth looking at. If you are travelling in the November-to-January maximum, come expecting real rain, build slack into your itinerary, and treat tide-dependent trips like Magpupungko and boat trips to Sugba Lagoon or Sohoton Cove as plans that may need to move by a day — with one exception, below, that moving the day does not solve. What you should not do is assume the island is dry because a Philippines-wide guide said December was.
Get a quote: General Luna → MagpupungkoOne 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.
What the season changes about your transfer
Weather changes road and sea conditions, and it changes how far ahead you should arrange things. In the wet months a pre-arranged vehicle is the difference between a covered ride to your accommodation and standing at the airport with wet bags. In the Philippines Pro window, arrival demand on the island will be concentrated into a few days, so send your flight or sailing as soon as you have it — and if you are only sorting the transfer now, send it anyway and we will tell you straight away whether we can cover it. Send us your flight number and date, or your ferry sailing, plus your accommodation name, group size and luggage including any boards, and we will send a fixed, all-in price by email with no deposit to ask. If the weather moves your plans, tell us and we will move the booking with them.
Get a quote: Sayak Airport → General LunaGet a quote: Dapa Port → General LunaNo 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.
The route guides behind this plan
Each of these is one of the journeys named above, with what the leg actually involves and a quote form already set to it — so a plan on this page turns into a request without starting over.
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.
What happens to your request
- 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
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
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.
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.
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.




