Cebu & Bohol, The Phillipines

Clearly, it would be very difficult to experience them all and even 5 would probably take a couple of weeks.

The islands are spread out and some are easier to get to than others.

Because I was on a bit of a working holiday and wanted to base myself somewhere with decent W-Fi I wanted to keep it nice and simple.

I started with a couple of nights in Manila, where I met up with our Destination Management Company called Blue Horizons and experienced a few of the cultural highlights which you can read about in my Manila Blog.

Many visitors opt to avoid Manila by flying into one of the alternative entry points and there are several to choose from, particularly if connecting through another Asia Hub airport.

After Manila I took a domestic flight with Air Asia to Cebu. Air Asia have quite a large network in the Philippines and another option is Cebu Pacific Air.

Domestic flights in the Philippines are notorious for delays, so it is advisable to allow a bit of extra time if you have onward connections!

On arrival in Cebu, I headed to my hotel, the Savoy Mactan Newtown which is a 4-star property.

The hotel does have exclusive access to a beach, but it is a 10-minute stroll from the hotel. I wouldn’t say it is in any way idyllic, but the option is there.

Mactan Newtown is a developing area in Cebu – I did notice advertising saying Gordon Ramsay’s British Fish and Chips was coming soon! – but there does seem to be a lot of educational facilities there, mostly catering for Asian students needing to learn English, or more precisely, American English.

There seem to be a lot of Koreans there and consequently quite a few Korean restaurants.

Whilst in Cebu, I did also visit our Destination Management Company Blue Horizons in their local office there.

Cebu is quite a large island and popular due to its many beaches and waterfalls and is also very popular with divers.

There are also quite a lot of landmarks remaining from the Spanish colonial past including Fort San Pedro.

Lapu Lapu is regarded as the first hero of the Filipinos following the 1521 Battle of Mactan where he fought the Spanish and there is a memorial to him just a short stroll from where I was staying in Mactan Newtown.

Being a big island, day trips in Cebu do tend to take all day, so you would normally leave early and arrive back late, so it is worth considering this when deciding how long to stay in Cebu and how much you want to see.

Whilst in Cebu I did do quite a lot of walking around, including in the business district and also took several public buses. It is advisable to keep your wits about you, but I never really felt at risk.

For taxis, which I also took quite a lot, it is recommended to download the Grab App and book your taxis that way. This offers security and guarantees an agreed price. Other taxis may not be so reliable.

After 1 week in Cebu, I took the Oceanjet Ferry from Cebu Pier1 to Tagbilaran Port in Bohol.

There are a lot of ferries here to a number of destinations, with the Bohol route running every hour, and it is quite a large terminal.

The Oceanjet takes 2 hours and there is Standard and Business Class, with Business Class being a smaller cabin upstairs with more comfortable seating, but Standard Class is also perfectly adequate.

We had a bit of drama at sea, shortly after leaving Cebu, when we encountered another smally vessel that was slowly sinking with boxes of cargo scattered and floating away in all directions.

Our crew gave assistance until other help arrived, and we then continued on our way.

On arrival at Tagbilaran Port, I ordered another Grab Taxi for the 30-minute drive to Alona Beach in Panglao.

Alona Beach is a beautiful, white-sand beach with a couple of streets of bars, restaurants and shops, though I certainly wouldn’t call it lively.

There are a few hotels at Alona Beach, some big and largely constructed of concrete, but I stayed at a beautiful, low-rise property called Oasis Beach.

I wrote another Blog devoted to Oasis Beach and the name is justified, because it is indeed a very, very green and peaceful little Oasis, where the trees and shrubs muffle any noise from the road 100m away at one end and the beach at the other end of the resort.

The accommodations are very nice and there is a fabulous cocktail bar and restaurant literally on the beach.

A lot of people go to Bohol for Diving and Snorkelling, but not being the greatest swimmer, I tend to stick to boats or dry land.

I booked a Countryside Tour with a local agent which was a full day.

It started with a drive for a couple of hours to the Chocolate Hills.

The Chocolate Hills are a wonder of nature, as each year they turn from green to brown and then back to green.

They are spread over an area of 20 square miles and are all a similar size and shape and there are at least 1260 of them, with some estimates saying there could be up to 1776.

From there we headed to the Loboc River for a buffet lunch on a river boat. This was nice and scenic and a leisurely way to spend a couple of hours.

There was a dancing display by youngsters dressed in local costumes along one of the riverbanks with some of the tourists encouraged to join in.

The highlight of the day was probably the visit to the Tarsier Conservation Centre.

Tarsiers are cute little nocturnal primates, with eyes bigger than their brain. Tarsiers cling to small branches and are no bigger than a large leaf.

They are very shy and nervous and can’t be touched because the stress causes it to hit it’s head against a tree and they die because of their thin skulls.

Tarsiers can only be found in a few places outside of the Philippines such as Borneo and Indonesia.

After 4 nights I flew out of Panglao International Airport, which is only 2kms away from Alona Beach and went back to Manila for 1 night before flying home.

I really enjoyed my time in Bohol and my stay at Oasis Resort and with hindsight, I wish I had more time there and less time in Cebu.

I hope to go back to the Philippines again one day, as I have only really scratched the surface and there are so many beautiful places I have yet to see.