Philippines: Cebu, Bohol and Siquijor

1. Day 1: Arrive in Cebu

   Mactan-Cebu International Airport to your hotel in Cebu City

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Cebu City
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Mactan-Cebu International Airport (CEB), on Mactan Island across a narrow channel from Cebu City. A driver meets you in arrivals for the drive over one of the bridges to your hotel in the centre, about 45 minutes to an hour depending on traffic. Cebu was the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines, founded in 1565, and is now a busy port with the Visayas islands spread around it. If you land early, rest after the flight or walk out for a coffee; the heritage sights wait for tomorrow morning, when the air is cooler. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the week ahead: the ferries, what to pack for snorkelling, and how the days are paced. Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner of Visayan dishes, from grilled fish and kinilaw, the local ceviche, to puso, rice cooked in pouches of woven coconut leaf.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Mactan-Cebu International Airport (CEB)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   Activity: Land by about 4 pm to reach the evening briefing comfortably; the latest arrival time is confirmed with your final itinerary.

   

2. Day 2: Old Cebu on foot, Tops at sunset

   Cebu City heritage quarter, then the Busay hills

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Cebu City
   Day 2 details

   We start at 8:30, before the heat and the midday crowds, at Magellan's Cross, planted by Ferdinand Magellan's expedition in 1521 and now kept in a small open chapel with a painted ceiling. Next door is the Basilica del Santo Niño, home of the Santo Niño de Cebu, the figure of the Christ Child the expedition gave to the island's queen and the oldest Christian relic in the country. A short walk brings us to Fort San Pedro, the small triangular stone fort the Spanish built by the harbour, then into the old Parian quarter for the Yap-San Diego Ancestral House, one of the oldest houses in the city, and Casa Gorordo, a 19th-century home of coral stone below and hardwood above. Lunch is lechon, Cebu's spit-roasted pig with its crackling skin. The afternoon is free to rest. Before sunset we drive up into the Busay hills, past the Taoist Temple, to Tops lookout for the view over the city, the port and Mactan as the lights come on.

   Included

   • Morning heritage walk with your guide: Magellan's Cross, the Basilica del Santo Niño, Fort San Pedro, the Yap-San Diego Ancestral House and Casa Gorordo Museum, with entries
   • Lechon lunch in Cebu City
   • The Taoist Temple and Tops lookout at sunset

   Easier option: Skip Tops and keep the evening free at the hotel.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Cebu City

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot on city pavements, with stops in the shade. Churches ask for covered shoulders and knees.

3. Day 3: Down the coast to Moalboal and the sardines

   Cebu City to Carcar, then across the island to Moalboal

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Moalboal
   Day 3 details

   We leave Cebu City at about 8:30 and drive south along the coast, about 90 km and two and a half to three hours, broken halfway in Carcar, an old town of ancestral houses known for chicharon, crisp pork crackling sold from stalls near the market. From Carcar the road crosses the island to the west coast and runs down to Moalboal, where we stay two nights close to Panagsama Beach. Lunch is a sit-down meal by the water. After a rest through the hottest hours, a local guide leads us into the sea from the shore with masks, fins and life jackets. A short swim out, where the reef drops away, a shoal of sardines so dense it darkens the water turns and folds just below the surface, and green sea turtles graze in the shallows. The shoal has stayed off this coast for years, but it is wild, so nothing is promised. The evening is free: watch the sun go down behind Negros across the Tañon Strait.

   Included

   • Coffee stop in Carcar
   • Sit-down lunch in Moalboal
   • Sardine run snorkel from Panagsama Beach with a local guide, mask, fins and life jacket

   Optional experiences

   • A dive on the sardine shoal with a local dive centre (price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Watch the sardines from the reef edge, close to shore, or stay on the beach.

   More active option: Free-dive down into the shoal with the guide, or dive it with a local dive centre.

   Free time: Evening free in Moalboal

   Activity: Shore entry over rock and coral rubble, so water shoes help. Snorkelling is in a life jacket, a short swim from shore.

   

4. Day 4: Kawasan Falls before the crowds

   Moalboal to Kawasan Falls in Badian and back

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Moalboal
   Day 4 details

   We leave at 8 am for the half-hour drive south to Badian and walk in to Kawasan Falls, about 20 minutes on a path beside the river, ahead of the canyoneering groups who reach the falls from late morning. The Kawasan River runs over limestone, which gives its pools their milky blue colour. The first tier is the largest: a wide plunge pool under a curtain of water, where you can swim or sit on a bamboo raft pulled under the spray. Quieter pools and smaller cascades are a short climb upstream. We swim, rest in the shade and have a sit-down lunch in Badian, then head back to Moalboal by early afternoon. The rest of the day is yours. Snorkel the reef off Panagsama again, take a massage, or hire a boat to Pescador Island, a small rocky islet offshore with a coral wall. For the keen, canyoneering down the river from upstream is an optional half day that ends at the falls, where you join the group for lunch.

   Included

   • Kawasan Falls with your guide: entry, the main pool and the upper pools
   • Bamboo raft at the main pool
   • Sit-down lunch in Badian

   Optional experiences

   • Badian canyoneering with a licensed local outfit, about 4 hours of swimming, scrambling and optional jumps down the river to Kawasan (price shown at booking)
   • Boat trip to Pescador Island for snorkelling (price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Stay at the main pool, reached on a mostly level path, or keep the whole day free in Moalboal.

   More active option: Canyoneering down the river from upstream with a licensed outfit, starting early and meeting the group at the falls for lunch.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Moalboal

   Activity: The path to the falls is mostly level but wet and slippery in places; wear sandals with grip. Canyoneering jumps are always optional.

5. Day 5: Ferry to Bohol

   Moalboal to the Cebu City pier, fast ferry to Tagbilaran, then Panglao Island

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Panglao
   Day 5 details

   This is the trip's main travel day: about three and a half hours on the road in two legs, with the fast ferry between them. We leave Moalboal at 8 am and drive back across the island and up the coast to the port in Cebu City, about 90 km and two and a half to three hours, broken by a coffee stop halfway. After a sit-down lunch near the pier, your guide handles the tickets and porters take the bags onto the fast ferry to Tagbilaran, the capital of Bohol, a crossing of about two hours. Our Bohol van meets us at the pier for the half-hour drive over the bridge to Panglao Island, where we stay three nights, and we reach the hotel in the late afternoon. Unpack: there is no more packing until day 8. The evening is free. Walk to Alona Beach for the sunset and the seafood grills, where you choose your fish from the ice and it is cooked while you wait, or rest after the road and the sea.

   Included

   • Drive from Moalboal to the Cebu City pier with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Cebu City
   • Fast ferry from Cebu City to Tagbilaran, with porterage
   • Transfer to your hotel on Panglao

   Free time: Evening free on Panglao

   Activity: The day stays under the 4-hour driving cap: two and a half to three hours to the Cebu City pier with a coffee stop, lunch and the two-hour ferry, then half an hour on Bohol. Ferry timetables change by season and sailings are cancelled in rough seas; sailing times are confirmed close to departure, and if a sailing is cancelled we take the next one.

6. Day 6: Chocolate Hills, Loboc and the tarsiers

   Panglao to the Chocolate Hills in Carmen, then Bilar, Loboc and the tarsier sanctuary in Corella

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Panglao
   Day 6 details

   Most Bohol countryside tours see the tarsiers first and reach the Chocolate Hills in the afternoon, so we run the loop the other way. We leave at 8 am and drive about an hour and a half inland to Carmen, where more than 1,200 grassy limestone mounds, most of them 30 to 50 m high, roll away to the horizon. In the dry months the grass turns brown, which gave the hills their name. A stairway of a little over 200 steps climbs to the viewing deck. Heading back, the road runs through the Bilar man-made forest, a stretch of tall planted mahogany that shades the highway. Lunch is on the Loboc River, aboard a floating restaurant that drifts about an hour upriver past nipa palms and villages and back. Mid-afternoon we reach the Philippine Tarsier Foundation's sanctuary in Corella, where tarsiers live free in a fenced patch of forest. Rangers point them out on their daytime perches while we keep voices low and cameras without flash. We are back on Panglao by about 5 pm.

   Included

   • Chocolate Hills Complex in Carmen and the viewing deck
   • The Bilar man-made forest
   • Lunch cruise on the Loboc River
   • The Philippine Tarsier Foundation sanctuary in Corella with a ranger

   Optional experiences

   • Stand-up paddle boarding on the Loboc River with a local outfit (price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Wait at the foot of the Chocolate Hills stairway; the Loboc boat is seated and the tarsier trail is short and level.

   More active option: Paddle board up the Loboc River in place of the lunch cruise, then join the group for a late lunch by the river.

   Free time: Evening free on Panglao

   Activity: About three and a half hours of driving across the day; after the first leg of about an hour and a half, every leg is under an hour. Tarsiers are nocturnal and easily stressed, so the sanctuary asks for silence and no flash.

   

7. Day 7: Balicasag reef and a free afternoon

   Panglao to Balicasag Island by private boat, then back to Alona Beach

   • By boat
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Panglao
   Day 7 details

   At about 8 am our own outrigger boat and crew take the group across to Balicasag, a small, flat island about 6 km off Panglao ringed by a marine sanctuary. Close to the island the reef sits in clear, shallow water; a little further out it drops away as a steep wall, and sea turtles are often seen feeding along the edge. We snorkel at two spots with the crew and a local guide, in life jackets, choosing the quieter side when other boats are moored. Back on Panglao around 1 pm, we sit down to lunch by Alona Beach. The afternoon is free, and it is meant to be: swim and read on the white sand, take a massage, or hire a tricycle to Hinagdanan Cave, a small cave with a freshwater pool lit through holes in its roof, and the old church at Dauis by the bridge. Dinner is your choice, and the seafood grills along Alona are a short walk from the hotel. Divers can swap the snorkel for a dive on the Balicasag wall.

   Included

   • Morning on a private boat for the group to the Balicasag Island marine sanctuary
   • Sanctuary fees, snorkel gear and life jackets
   • Sit-down lunch by Alona Beach

   Optional experiences

   • Scuba dive on the Balicasag wall with a local dive centre (price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Stay on the boat or swim only in the shallows, or skip the boat and keep the whole day on the beach.

   More active option: A guided scuba dive on the Balicasag wall in place of the snorkel.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free on Panglao

   Activity: Snorkelling from the boat in a life jacket; you climb back aboard by a ladder with the crew's help.

   

8. Day 8: Fast ferry to Siquijor and the island loop

   Panglao to the Tagbilaran pier, fast ferry to Siquijor, then the coast road to Lazi, Cambugahay Falls and Paliton Beach

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Siquijor
   Day 8 details

   A short drive takes us to the Tagbilaran pier for the fast ferry south to Siquijor, about two hours across the Bohol Sea; sailing times vary by season and are confirmed close to departure. Siquijor is small, with a coast road of roughly 70 to 75 km, quieter than Bohol, and known across the Philippines for its folk healers, a reputation islanders treat with good humour. We land in Siquijor town, where the coral-stone church of St Francis of Assisi stands a few steps from the pier, and sit down to lunch. Then our local van takes the coast road: the old balete tree in Lazi, its roots over a spring-fed pool where small fish nibble your feet; the church and great wooden convent at Lazi, built by the Augustinian Recollects in the 1800s; and Cambugahay Falls, three tiers of turquoise pools down a forest stairway, for a late-afternoon swim. We finish at Paliton Beach for sunset, then share a farewell dinner. If the ferry runs late, we change the order of the loop and keep the swim and the sunset.

   Included

   • Fast ferry from Tagbilaran to Siquijor, with porterage
   • St Francis of Assisi Church in Siquijor town
   • Sit-down lunch in Siquijor
   • The island loop by van with your guide: the old balete tree, Lazi church and convent, and Cambugahay Falls
   • Sunset at Paliton Beach
   • Farewell dinner

   Easier option: Look down on Cambugahay Falls from the top of the stairway instead of climbing down, or go to the hotel after lunch.

   More active option: Swing from the rope into the lower pool at Cambugahay.

   Activity: The Cambugahay stairway is steep and can be wet. The pools are cool, with shallow edges. This is a full day on one night; a second night on Siquijor can be added when you book.

   

9. Day 9: Back to Cebu

   Siquijor to Cebu City by fast ferry via Tagbilaran, then Mactan-Cebu International Airport

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 9 details

   A slow morning: swim off the beach before breakfast while the water is flat and the light is low, or take a last coffee looking out to sea. After breakfast we drive to the pier in Siquijor town for the fast ferry back to Cebu City, which calls at Tagbilaran on Bohol on the way: about four to five hours on the water in air-conditioned seats, with your guide handling the tickets and porters the bags. From the Cebu City pier our van takes you to Mactan-Cebu International Airport (CEB), about 45 minutes to an hour in traffic, arriving in the afternoon. Your guide sees you to the terminal and checks your onward flight before saying goodbye. Book your flight home from Cebu to leave after about 8 pm, or stay a night longer in Cebu; we can add a hotel night if you ask. The sailing time is confirmed with your final itinerary, and if a scheduled flight from Dumaguete to Cebu suits your date better, we tell you before you travel. For more beach time, ask us to add a second night on Siquijor or extra nights on Panglao.

   Included

   • Fast ferry from Siquijor to Cebu City via Tagbilaran, with porterage
   • Transfer from the Cebu City pier to Mactan-Cebu International Airport (CEB)

   Free time: Morning free on Siquijor

   Activity: Book your flight home from Cebu after about 8 pm; the ferry time is confirmed with your final itinerary. If the sailing is cancelled in rough seas, we take the next one and add a night in Cebu City if needed.

   

Wildlife and weather: January to May is the dry season in the central Visayas. January and February are a little cooler, with occasional showers and winds that can roughen the sea; March to May is hot and calm, and the Chocolate Hills turn brown. From June to December rain and typhoons can cancel ferries and boat days, so we do not run then. The Moalboal sardines and turtles are wild and usually present all year, but sightings are never promised.

• Cebu City2 nights
• Moalboal2 nights
• Panglao3 nights
• Siquijor1 night