Travel Itinerary around the Visayas
In this post I’m going to share the Travel Itinerary in the Philippines’ central area, the Visayas archipelagus, with capital Cebu.
Paradise beaches, stunning green landscapes and a rich and amazing underwater world. Waterfalls, hiking adventures, the friendliest and always welcoming locals. Also the sweetest mangoes in the world (people there are pretty proud about this one!), and so much more: it’s easy to put the Philippines at the top of the list of the places I’ve got the luck to visit.
Even with the best intentions, I quickly discovered it is actually pretty difficult to visit the whole country. It is made of thousands of different islands, with different carachteristics, and even different langauges.
My initial plan was to spread the 25 days I planned to stay there between the Visayas archipelagus, the famous Palawan island, and the “mainland” Luzon, home of the capital Manila, the Pinatubo Mountain and the Batad’s Rice Terraces, to add some hiking and countryside explorations after the beach days.
I really don’t like to rush and jump between tourist attractions, and I finally discovered that 25 days where just enough to visit only the area around Cebu.
When planning the trip always consider two factors:
travelling around can be very time consuming, sometimes even if choosing the more expensive “tourist ways”. Unless you are willing to fly between the islands or take private fast boats
every place is so amazing that you will keep extending your stays everywhere you go! That’s why I always reccommend not to book too much ahead and set a very tigh shedule
Fist of all, some boring (but useful) planning tips:
Visa:
Just remember that you MUST have an outgoing flight already booked before entering the country (it seems like even if you’re willing to extend your visa), and they’ll almost surely ask you for it at the departure airport: I’ve heard about many one-way ticket travellers like me being forced to randomly book a flight before get on the plane.
What I can suggest in this case, is to just book the cheapest flight you can find on Skyscanner, and then decide if take it or just forget about it. With most passports you can easily get a free visa upon arrival for 30 days, which is possible to extend up to 3 months paying a fee, or just flying out and back in for a nearby country like Macao or Taiwan, usually for cheaper price than the visa extension with Air Asia.
Money:
the local currency here is the Peso Philippino, worth about 0,017 euros
Remember that most places are cash only, unless you’re going to stay in fancy hotels, eat in expensive restaurants and so on. Also when it’s about diving and tours, in general the local businesses ask for cash payment, while the biggest companies more easily accept cards.
If possible I’d suggest to bring cash to exchange (one of the best rates seems to be at the counters usually located inside the main shopping malls), as any withdrawal costs 250p plus your card surcharge, and most of the banks only allows you to take up 10.000 p for each operation. Also directly paying by card will usually add a fee around the 5% of the paid amount.
a good way for saving up some cash can be to book your stay and activities trough booking sites that also make you already pay, even if I don’t completely recommend it as that belongs to a lower income for the local owners.
Getting there:
the two main international airports are surely in Manila and Cebu, but there are several other small ones all around the country. it is not unusual to find pretty cheap flights, with air Asia or other companies. Especially if departing from Manila, remember to get there at least 4 hours before you flight.
It’s now time to begin with the itinerary, starting and ending from the visayan capital
1) Cebu City
To get to the city from the Mactan Airport, simply head outside and catch a City Bus for 40 php to the SM City Cebu, a big shopping centre not far from the port. From there you can either find a taxi, moto taxi, or try to find the right Jeepney from the terminal in front of the mall (ask your guest if you already have one).
I choose to trust a moto-taxi driver to my hostel as after 40 hours of travel I just wanted to go straight to the hostel, but in the end we got lost anyways. I stayed in an hostel called “Hey Fellas!”, close to the Ayala Shopping Mall. Nothing fancy, but I loved there! The guys working there are very friendly and helpful, they let me leave some stuff I didn’t need for the whole trip and their driver Francis, and planned for me a trip to the hills.
2) Way to Malapascua
finally time to get the first tropical feeling in the tiny northernmost island of the Visayas, the real diver’s paradise of Malapascua. Be ready, as despite the relatively short distance this journey will take about 5 or 6 hours!
the starting point of the journey is the north bus station (reachable from Ayala taking the O1K jeepney for only 7php!).
From the terminal you can chose to get a bus (the most common is probably the yellow Cere’s), or a Van, for about 250 php, to Maya Port. The van is the most unpredictable choice in terms of time: it is faster than the bus (some of them really drive like crazy!), but it will probably stop at any person the driver will see walk or just stay at the side of the road until completely full.
From Maya, you can jump on a traditional ferry for 100 php, and eventually, depending on the tide, on a small 20 php rowing boat after that. On the island you’ll be able to walk pretty much everywhere, but there’s also plenty of bikers always ready to give you a ride.
I spent 5 amazing days on this little corner of paradise, where you’ll fine plenty to do!
Head back to Cebu from the same way. Just remind to leave the island in the morning if possible, as it’s easier to find a boat and the bus/van after that.
If you have a bit of spare time, another tropical paradise you’ll pass by on the way to Malapascua is Bantayan, reachable by taking the ferry from Hagnaya Port, about half an hour before Maya. Unfortunately I didn’t have the time to accept the invitation of a nice couple I’ve shared the van ride with to go visit their home there, but iI’ve heard it is a really beautiful island.
3) Bohol Island
Amazing Nature and lots of fun. In two Words: BOHOL ISLAND! The best way to explore this big green island is driving around by motorbike.
You can find my full Bohol Travel Itinerary in this post
from Ayala (again) take the Jeepney 14D to the 138 Mall, from where you can either walk directly to the Pier 1 or take another Jeepney. Once in the Port try to avoid the many “tousit deals” and walk all the way to the Ocen Jet’s counter, selling the route for 450 php + 25 php fee and eventually 50 php more for the big baggage. There are also other different companies with slightly different prices and time shedules. I took the one I choose just as example, but my suggestion is simply to check the one that fits more with your plans.
4) the Mysterious Siquijor
it is possible to reach this mysterious island directly from Bohol, without firstly go to Cebu or Dumaguete, and for a pretty cheap price, if you manage to do it on the right day: the Light Ship coming from Cebu sails the way between Tagbilaran and Larena (Siquijo’s main city) every monday, thursday and saturday at 7 pm, for only 330 php. Just be aware you’ll get there pretty late, as the sail takes about 3 hours.
Luckily, especially for solo and not-so
planned travelers like me, Larena’s port is not as crazy as Tagbilaran’s or Cebu’s, and you can easily make your way to town or the nearby rental place and start riding around like I did here.
5) Oslob and Moalboal
Heading to Moalboal as following and last stop of the trip, the initial only possible ways to get there seemed to be sail firstly to Dumaguete or back to Cebu.
Asking people around, I finally found out of a direct ferry from Larena to Santander, Cebu Island’s southernmost port: the 5 pm Mayo Shipping for 200 php, definitely cheaper and faster than both the alternative ways.
There’s just one problem, for those willing to reach Moalboal like me, and I realized only when in Santander: there are no busses going north along the west coast after 5 pm.
The only options then are to stay there for the night, hire a private driver, or take a bus to the nearby Oslob, on the east coast, famous for the Whale Shark Swimming.
Since I was already there, I have to confess I left the hostel’s owner to convince me to end up in this tourist trap, according to many locals I met before an open water aquarium.
This was my Whale-sharks experience:
Waking up at 5am and pay 1100php to jump on a small boat and then stay in the water for like 10 minutes, surrounded by more people than sharks. I’m not saying underwater giants are not amazing, but surely is difficult to enjoy them in that situation, and most important is definitely not good for them.
When the fist bus leaves, It is finally time to head to Moalboal, precisely to the actual place where all the accomodations are: Panagsama Beach.
Between running sardines, diving trips and waterfalls adventures, there’s soo plenty to do for even a week! And as often in the Philippines, SOO MUCH FUN!
To reach it from Oslob, firstly take a bus back south to Bato for about 1 hour. And from there another one for 2 hours to Moalboal, from where the only way to cover the last about 4 kilometres is by motorbike.
This was just a summary of my amazing adventure around the Visayas in March 2019, with all the links to more detailed posts about each place.
As always, fell free to add something, or to ask if you have any question for me!
Thank you for taking the time to read this post!
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