Tours in Cebu Island
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Cebu Island |Iloilo
General
Cebu Island, located in the center of the Philippine islands, attracts crowds of tourists—around two million a year! The main attractions of this island are its white sand beaches and spectacular dive sites in the north of the island in Malapascua and in the southwest of the island in Moalboal.
Along the center of the island is a mountain range, and on its eastern side, in the center, is located Cebu City, which is the third most populous city in the Philippines with the second largest international airport in the country. It is a vibrant city with restaurants, bars, and shops.
Cebu City is both a travel destination and a starting point for trips across Cebu Island and the nearby island of Bohol.
It is recommended to stay in this city for 2-4 nights. You can stay either in hotels in the city center near shopping centers and restaurants or stay on the adjacent island of Mactan, which features charming resorts with great private beaches. The airport is also located on Mactan Island.
Recommended Hotels in Cebu
Hotels on Mactan Island adjacent to the city:
A luxury 5-star resort on Mactan Island with two swimming pools, a beach, 4 restaurants, a huge spa, a gym, and a tennis court. Free parking.
♦ Crimson Resort and Spa - Mactan Island, Cebu
A luxury 5-star resort on Mactan Island featuring a private beach, infinity pool, spa, 5 restaurants, and free parking.
♦ The Reef Island Resort Mactan, Cebu
A 4.5-star hotel, also located on Mactan Island, featuring a private beach, pool, 3 restaurants, spa, and free parking.
Hotels in Cebu City:
A 5-star hotel in the city center right next to a large mall. Features an outdoor pool, spa, gym, 3 restaurants, free internet, and free parking.
A 4-star hotel in a central location near a shopping center and plenty of restaurants. The hotel offers a rooftop pool overlooking the city view, 3 restaurants, spa, gym, and free parking.
Ways to Get to Cebu
You can reach Cebu Island either by flight or by ferry to Cebu City, which is the third-largest city in the Philippines and has an international airport. You can reach it by flight from outside the Philippines as well as on domestic flights from various destinations within the Philippines. Those who need to leave the Philippines after visiting Cebu do not need to return to crowded Manila and its huge airport; instead, they can fly from Cebu to various worldwide destinations, including a very convenient flight to Bangkok, for example.
By ferry, you can reach Cebu City from nearby islands, especially from Tagbilaran City on Bohol Island (about a 2-hour sail).
Tours on Cebu Island and in Cebu City
Book Tours in Cebu (from Viator):
Guided Tour in Cebu City
We embarked on a diverse, private guided day tour of the attractions in the city and its suburbs. We started at photogenic, Instagrammable Dutch gardens called
Sirao Garden, private gardens owned by a flower-loving woman who was influenced by the Netherlands, so they are rich in windmills, bicycles, canals, and other Dutch features.
The gardens are located on the mountain near the city, a short distance from a large observation deck overlooking the city called TOPS.
The viewpoint offers a selection of cafes and restaurants.
From there, we continued with a short drive to an impressive building that looks like a temple, called Temple of Leah, which is a temple built in honor of a wealthy woman named Leah who loved traveling and shopping and bought housewares, statues, vases, and furniture from around the world.
Her loving husband built her a temple (inspired by the Taj Mahal) with a large golden statue of her and rooms filled with the treasures she purchased globally.
Near the impressive structure, you can see the ordinary shacks that fill all of the Philippines, without any environmental development surrounding them.
Another short drive brought us to a large Chinese temple named: Philippine Taoist Temple, featuring many structures and pagodas located down the mountain slope.
The last part of the tour was an authentic food tour in the city center featuring dish specialties of the region in places where locals eat—from fish soup to grilled chicken to an authentic historical meat and fish restaurant in a style called: Pungko-pungko.
We connected to it less... so we made up for it at a Dim Sum restaurant in the adjacent shopping center.
Snorkeling with Huge Shoals of Sardines
One of the amazing experiences in the Philippines is snorkeling among huge shoals of sardines. The phenomenon is called Sardine Run.
The main and most famous place to experience this phenomenon is in the south of Cebu Island:
The Moalboal Sardine Run at Panagsama Beach in the small town of Moalboal Cebu, which is located a 3 to 3.5 hour drive from the island's main city: Cebu City.
You go out on a tour with a guide who enters the water with you, and within just a few minutes of swimming or wading (depending on the tide state), you reach the reef with huge shoals of sardines swimming in circles, grouping and dispersing like clouds, while large sea turtles swim peacefully among them.
You can snorkel or dive for about 45 minutes among the fish and turtles, and you can't stop marveling at the intensity of the experience. Everything is very accessible and convenient (once you manage to reach this remote spot...).
A much more convenient place to experience this phenomenon (usually without sea turtles, but at a steep, impressive coral reef with plenty of clownfish (Nemo) alongside huge tuna fish and, of course, the sardine shoals) is on Bohol Island. A 15-20 minute drive from the major hotels leads to the successful snorkeling site. Although we didn't see turtles and the quantity of sardines (and tourists) was smaller, the experience was no less powerful and didn't require long drives.
Swimming with Sharks in Oslob
Along the beaches of Oslob town, there is a unique attraction of swimming next to giant whale sharks.
You can reach Oslob from Cebu City (approx. 3:45 hours, 120 km) or sail to it by ferry from Bohol.
10,000 White Roses
Romantics and lovers of special pictures for Instagram will enjoy this site where a cafe owner initiated a project named 10000 Roses Cafe & More on the shore of an island called Cordova near Cebu. He planted 10,000 artificial white roses in a field next to his cafe to attract tourists, and indeed they arrive in droves. Each rose is equipped with lighting, and after the beautiful sunset there, the sight of the roses becomes even more beautiful.
