Ceres bus trips from Bacolod in Negros Occidental to Cebu City in Cebu Province and vice versa pass through different routes among many cities and municipalities so they could pick up passengers along the way.
On peak travel season, passengers from other municipalities station themselves at least an hour earlier before departure time at the Ceres Liner Terminal at the Shopping District in Bacolod and at the South Bus Terminal in Cebu so they can get the best seats.
Bacolod-Escalante and Bacolod-San Carlos bus routes
Map 1: The northern part of the province of Negros Occidental showing the Bacolod-Escalante and Bacolod-San Carlos bus routes
Route 1 starts from Bacolod City and passes through the cities and municipalities of Talisay, Silay, EB Magalona, Victorias, Manapla, Cadiz, Sagay, Escalante, Toboso, Calatrava until the bus reaches the port of San Carlos. Travel time is about 3 1/2 hours.
Route 2 is the shortest route which starts from Bacolod City and passes through Mansilingan, Murcia and the picturesque mountains of the municipality of Don Salvador Benedicto until it reaches the port of San Carlos. Travel time is about an hour.
For Routes 1 and 2, the destination port is San Carlos City situated at the eastern part of the province of Negros Occidental where the Ceres bus is then loaded on an inter-island vessel or barge which travels for about 2 hours until it reaches the port of Toledo, at the western part of Cebu Province.
Route 3 is another alternate bus route starting from Bacolod City and passes through the cities and municipalities of Talisay, Silay, EB Magalona, Victorias, Manapla, Cadiz, Sagay until the bus reaches the port of Escalante.
For Route 3, the bus is loaded on an interisland vessel that travels from Escalante to Tabuelan port in Cebu province.
Escalante-Tabuelan and San Carlos-Toledo inter-island vessel routes
Map 2: The islands of Negros and Cebu showing the inter-island vessel or barge routes for Escalante-Tabuelan and San Carlos-Toledo
Route 1: Escalante port (Negros Occidental) to Tabuelan port (Cebu)
Route 2: San Carlos port (Negros Occidental) to Toledo port (Cebu)
Tabuelan-Cebu City and Toledo-Cebu City bus routes
Map 3: Part of Cebu Province with Tabuelan-Cebu City and Toledo-Cebu City bus routes
The inter-island vessel arrives at two destination ports in Cebu province, the Tabuelan and Toledo ports.
Route 1 is from Tabuelan port crossing through Lugo and passing by cities and municipalities such as Sogod, Catmon, Carmen, Danao City, Compostela, Liloan (home of the famous Titay's Rosquillos), Consolacion, Mandaue City until the bus reaches Cebu City. Travel time is about 2 hours.
Route 2 is from Toledo port passing by Naga, Minglanilla, Talisay, Pardo until Cebu City. Travel time is about 1 1/2 hours. There is also a shortcut route from Toledo passing through the dangerous cliffs of Manipis which is often used by private vehicles and v-hires (vehicles for hire or vans).
For important (must read) information and some travel tips regarding Ceres bus trips via inter-island vessels, please check out this post.
Updates on bus schedule and rates are posted on this tag: Ceres bus updates (http://www.happysteps.net/tag/ceres-bus-updates/)
Note:
Original map images are courtesy of islandsweb.net (for maps 1 and 2) and Google Maps (map 2) which I edited to include the bus and barge routes.
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Photo by Rob Verger
Photo by Rob Verger