Philippines Motorcycle Tours

The Philippines is two riding countries stacked on top of each other, and the trip you get depends entirely on which one you choose. Inland northern Luzon is a genuine mountain destination: the Cordillera Central throws up cool, pine-covered ridgelines, switchbacks that climb for half an hour at a time, and the Halsema Highway running roughly 150 kilometres from Baguio to Bontoc, cresting above 2,200 metres in Atok. Ride it and you pass terraced hillsides, hanging mist, roadside vegetable markets, and long sections where the drop on your right has no barrier. Push further and you reach the rice terraces around Banaue and Sagada, then drop west to the Spanish colonial streets of Vigan and the South China Sea coast.

The other Philippines is island riding, and it works on completely different rules. On Palawan the road out of Puerto Princesa unspools through jungle and limestone before dead-ending at beaches like Nagtabon and Kalaodiong; on Leyte you ride between rice fields, coconut plantations and fishing villages, hopping coastlines rather than crossing ranges. Distances are short, the surfaces range from fresh asphalt to broken concrete, and the real navigation challenge is ferry timetables rather than mountain passes.

Bikes reflect that split. Small-capacity machines dominate everyday Philippine roads, and island tours are usually run on exactly that: a Yamaha NMAX 155 or a Honda XR150-class dual sport is plenty for Palawan or Leyte. Mountain tours in Luzon lean the other way, using full-size adventure bikes such as the Africa Twin, R 1250 GS and Ténéré 700 with a support vehicle behind.

The Moto Mass listings cover both worlds. Ride 2 Discover runs a fifteen-day Northern Luzon trip out of Manila taking in Banaue, Vigan and a mix of paved and unpaved mountain roads. Haven's Rentals offers two shorter island trips — a four-day Palawan run from Puerto Princesa and a four-day Leyte loop from Tacloban.

Timing matters more here than in most destinations. The northeast monsoon, amihan, brings the drier, cooler stretch from roughly November to April, and that is the window most riders want. The southwest monsoon, habagat, dominates May to October, and tropical cyclones are most likely to affect Luzon between June and September. Palawan generally stays drier than Manila.

Two practical realities shape every Philippine ride. First, traffic is dense, unpredictable and full of tricycles, jeepneys and overtaking buses, so speeds stay low and concentration stays high. Second, mountain roads slide: heavy rain in the Cordillera routinely triggers landslides that close a pass for hours or days. Ride early, finish before dark, and build slack into the plan.