Cebu & Bohol
Philippines
Whale sharks, waterfalls, and the country’s oldest city
Photos by Brian Kairuz, Brian Kairuz, Olga ga and Brian Kairuz on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Philippines
December to May (dry season)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 185mm in Oct
Where it is
10.32°N, 123.89°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Swim in the sardine run at Moalboal, straight off the beach
- Canyoneer to Kawasan Falls with an accredited guide
- See the Chocolate Hills and the tarsier sanctuary on Bohol
- Dive or snorkel at Balicasag
- Walk old Cebu around Magellan’s Cross and Fort San Pedro
Cebu & Bohol travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Philippines
Very cheapCebu City has proper money changers with competitive rates, better than the airport or the island resorts. Keep small notes for tricycles and market stalls.
ATMs & cards
BPI, BDO and Metrobank in Cebu City and the larger towns. Moalboal, Oslob and the Bohol resorts have few machines and they empty quickly. Withdraw in the city before heading south.
Avoid these
- machines in Moalboal and Oslob, which are few and often empty
Use these instead
- BPI
- BDO
- Metrobank
- Security Bank
Cebu City has proper money changers with better rates than the airport. Withdraw before heading south or to Bohol.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Philippines
SafeCebu and Bohol are comfortable and used to visitors. The hazards are water and roads: canyoneering at Kawasan has killed people who went with unlicensed guides, motorcycle accidents are the most common tourist injury, and boat operators sometimes sail in poor weather. Check that any canyoneering or diving operator is properly accredited. Typhoons run June to November.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- Colon Street — the downtown area after dark
- Canyoneering at Kawasan without a licensed guide, which has killed people
- Habal-habal motorbike taxis on the mountain roads
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Philippines visa rules
No visa neededup to 30 days
Extendable inside the country to a total of 36 months. Onward or return travel within 30 days is required and is checked at the departure gate. Everyone must file the eTravel form within 72 hours before arrival.
Other passports
Visa required in advance
How to get it: Nothing in advance beyond the free eTravel registration at etravel.gov.ph. Sites charging for it are not official.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Before you fly: the arrival card
eTravelRequired
In the 72 hours before you arrive.
Have these in front of you before you start:
- passport
- flight number
- the full address of your first night
Use the official link above. Sites that charge a "service fee" to submit one of these for you are not the government, and they want the same passport details the real form does.
Health & emergencies all of Philippines
Good but costlyRequired to enter
- Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
- Rabies — the Philippines has a significant rabies problem
- Japanese encephalitis for long rural stays
Getting treated
Manila and Cebu have genuinely good private hospitals. Standards drop sharply on the smaller islands, where a clinic may be a nurse and a room — Palawan in particular means a flight to Manila for anything serious. There is a recompression chamber in Cebu and one in Coron for diving injuries.
Dengue is common and there is no prophylaxis. Do not drink tap water. Any animal bite means a clinic the same day. Divers should confirm their insurance covers the chamber and an evacuation flight.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodCebu lechon is genuinely the best in the country and worth planning a meal around. Try it at a carinderia rather than a hotel. Dried mangoes are the thing everyone takes home.
Nightlife
A real city night in Cebu and a very different island evening on Bohol, forty minutes apart by ferry.
- Mango Square — the club strip in the city
- IT Park, Cebu — bars and food trucks, open very late
- Alona Beach — on Bohol, the beach-bar version
Closing: 03:00 in the city, midnight on Alona.
A beer in a bar: ₱70–140
Getting around
Workable- GrabWorks here
- JoyrideWorks here
- AngkasWorks here
- UberNot here
- BoltNot here
Angkas motorbikes, Manila and Cebu
- From the airport
- NAIA to Makati ₱400–700, and an hour in traffic either way
- Against a taxi
- Dearer than a metered taxi at quiet times and worth every peso at rush hour.
Grab surges hard in Manila rain. A motorbike is the only thing that moves then.
Time zone and your working day
Asia/Manila — 12 hours ahead of you
0 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — — your time, — theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 21:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 21:00–05:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Philippines
Why these are Philippines's numbers and not Cebu & Bohol's
Home broadband — Good. Comfortable for two people working, streaming in the evening, large downloads. Broadband here runs at about the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fair. Maps, calls and streaming; tethering a laptop works for an hour, not a day. Mobile runs at 61% of the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Cebu & Bohol, so these are medians for all of Philippines. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Philippines, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Filipino
- HelloKumustaku-MUS-ta
- PleasePakiusappa-ki-U-sap
- Thank youSalamat posa-LA-mat po
- Yes / NoOo / HindiO-o / hin-DEE
4 more phrases
- Excuse meExcuse poeks-KYUS po
- How much is it?Magkano?mag-KA-no
- DeliciousMasarapma-sa-RAP
- GoodbyePaalampa-A-lam
English is official and universal, so nothing here is necessary — but po, added to any sentence, marks respect and changes how you are treated immediately.
Religion
Catholic
Around 79% Catholic, the largest Christian-majority country in Asia, with a Muslim population concentrated in Mindanao. Religion is genuinely central to daily life — expect Mass to be full and Holy Week to stop the country.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Use po and opo when speaking to anyone older — it is the mark of respect and costs nothing
- Accept food when offered; refusing outright is a slight
- Do the mano, touching an elder’s hand to your forehead, if it is offered to you
- Smile and stay light in tone — confrontation is genuinely uncomfortable here
Don't
- Do not raise your voice or criticise someone in front of others; losing face matters enormously
- Do not expect a direct no — "maybe" and "we will see" often mean it
- Do not use the finger to beckon; use the whole hand, palm down
- Do not joke about religion in a country where it is central to daily life
Where to stay in Cebu & Bohol
No Holistay rentals in Cebu & Bohol yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Cebu & Bohol on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Mactan–Cebu CEB
30 minfrom the airport· 10 km as the crow flies
30 min to the city; Bohol is two hours on by fast ferry.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
