Cagayan de Oro City to Surigao City bus guide

Cagayan de Oro City to Surigao City runs 320 kilometers along the Misamis Oriental coast, through Butuan City, and up the Agusan corridor to Surigao. Bachelor Express is the only operator, in air-conditioned regular service, with twelve departures a day in each direction.

Route overview and terminal information

Buses leave the Agora Terminal in Cagayan de Oro and finish at the Surigao City Bus Terminal. Agora handles the eastbound and southbound services; Bulua, on the other side of the city, is the westbound terminal. Getting this wrong costs the better part of an hour.

• Fares: P770.00 for the air-conditioned ticket.
• Departures: Twelve a day, from 12:00 AM to 5:15 PM out of Cagayan de Oro, and from 12:00 AM to 4:00 PM out of Surigao.
• Average travel time: 10 to 12 hours. The corridor is built from two legs - roughly 170 kilometers to Butuan and 150 kilometers onward to Surigao - and works twenty-five stops between them.

Where the bus stops

Twenty-five intermediate stops, which is what a through service across two regions looks like, and what accounts for the hours. It falls into three stretches:

• 1. The Misamis Oriental coast: Tagoloan, Jasaan, Balingasag, Lagonglong, Salay, Binuangan, Sugbongcogon, Kinoguitan, Balingoan, Talisayan, Medina, and Gingoog City.
• Balingoan: The port for Camiguin. Passengers for the island get off here for the ferry rather than staying on to Butuan.
• 2. Into Agusan del Norte: Magsaysay, Carmen, Nasipit, and Buenavista before the Butuan City Terminal, the largest stop on the route and where a good share of the bus changes over.
• 3. The Surigao road: Remedios T. Romualdez, Cabadbaran City, Santiago, Jabonga, Kitcharao, Alegria, and Mainit before Surigao City.

Practical travel tips

• Agora, not Bulua: The eastbound terminal. This is the most common mistake made on Cagayan de Oro departures.
• Consider breaking the trip at Butuan: Butuan is the midpoint and has frequent onward service to Surigao. If the through departure does not suit, two tickets will get you there.
• For Camiguin, get off at Balingoan: The island ferry leaves from the port there, roughly a third of the way along the route.
• Allow more time than the distance suggests: 320 kilometers over 10 to 12 hours works out slower than 30 km/h. Twenty-five stops are why. Treat it as a full day.