Family Short Travel Guide: Cebu and Bohol, Philippines 2019

by Ulyssa Elaine - Sunday, June 02, 2019

The Philippines is an island country of Southeast Asia. It is well-known for its beautiful white beaches and rich natural resources, attracting thousands of travelers everyday.

For this mini travel guide, I will share you the two of the most visited islands in Visayas region, Cebu and Bohol.

Cebu City, the capital of Cebu province is the oldest city and the first capital of the Philippines before Metro Manila.

Bohol is the one of most picturesque province of the Philippines. Why? It has a rich and colorful geographical features such as mountains, rivers and islands. You can travel by land to see the famous Chocolate Hills, Loboc River and see the world's smallest primates, Philippine tarsiers. You can also travel by sea to get a tan at white sand beaches or see the breathtaking underwater diving spots such as Balicasag Island.

» When To Go? «

Summer season (March - May) is the best season (but peak season) for Cebu and Bohol. Tourists from different side of the world flock to this side of the country to warm up and soak the sun.

Cooler season (November - January) is also the best season to go there if you want to enjoy sunny days and cooler nights. It is also less humid time of the year. Opt to travel by January to witness the colorful Sinulog Festival.

On our case, we choose to travel March 30 to April 2. I considered this as one the best travel month because it's not yet crowded and tourists are just starting to flock.

» How To Get There? «

There are few airlines offering a direct flights from Manila to Cebu / Bohol such as Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and AirAsia.

To travel from Cebu to Bohol or vice versa, you can choose to ride a fast ferry - OceanJet and SuperCat. The trip takes two hours (one way) with several departures daily.

I will share my experience riding on OceanJet on my next blog post.

» How Long To Stay? «

We stayed only a night in Cebu, which was a bit short for me because we failed to explore the whole province. However, we enjoyed Bohol more because we stayed there for 3 days.

If you have a week of spare time, I suggest to stay in Cebu for at least 4 days and to stay in Bohol at least 3 days.

» Where To Stay? «

It took time us time to choose the best hotel for our family trip. On our case, we checked-in at Happy Beach in Cebu. Here's the link of our Happy Beach trip.

For our Bohol trip, we stayed in Panglao area:

Hotel Casa Teofista

Blue Ocean Bohol Beachfront Resort

» Things to Do «

Here are the activities we did on our 4 days / 3 nights trip: