Bais City is one of the cleanest and safest cities of the Philippines in Negros Oriental province. The main tourist draw is whale and dolphin watching in the Tañon Strait between Bais and the neighbouring island of Cebu.
The whole municipal area has a population of more than 80,000 and the major economic activity is sugar cane growing with a few wealthy families dominating both the local politics and economy. The central market has just been re-built as a large two-storey building of unusual design but pedicabs still ply the streets as a legacy of a Dutch NGO’s project to alleviate rural poverty.
. . . Bais City . . .
The most common route to Bais is by bus from Dumaguete, though it is also possible to reach it directly from either Cebu City or Bacolod.
Into Dumaguete from Metro Manila, Cebu, Tagbilaran, Dapitan or Cagayan de Oro and then by Ceres Bus every half hour to Bais.
Bais is on the main long distance bus route between Bacolod, Kabankalan City and Dumaguete. One can also take a Ceres Bus from Cebu that travels directly to Bais via a 35 min roll-on, roll-off (Ro-Ro} ferry between the Southern tip of Cebu island at Bato and Amlan just south of Tanjay. Other Ceres buses set passengers down at Lilo-An so they can take the faster passenger-only boat and shorter 15 min crossing to Sibulan just north of Dumaguete.
Moto-tricycles are rather confusingly termed pedicabs in Negros Oriental, and are usually underpowered by 200cc motorcycles considering that they often carry in excess of 8 persons and sometimes up to 15! The cycle rickshaws are certainly quieter on Bais’s flat streets and the commercial centre is very compact.
. . . Bais City . . .