Visayas: Cebu, Mactan & Panglao
The Visayas are the name of the region that encompasses the central islands in the Philippines. We spent most of our time here since the region is much less affected by the monsoon rains (we were traveling during “rainy season”) and there are many places to visit easily. The islands we visited were Cebu, Mactan and Panglao.
Cebu (Cebu City)
Cebu is a large island with many towns and cities on it. You could spend weeks traveling around this island visiting some of its famous spots. Moalboal on the SW side of the island is famous for its sardine swim. The northern part of the island is known for good scuba diving. There are places in the south that have whale shark watching as a major attraction too, but it is done in an extremely unethical way and we absolutely don’t recommend engaging in those practices.
We did not spend much time exploring the island of Cebu, we only stayed in Cebu City for 2 nights as a transit stop and to further stock up on some supplies before heading to Siargao. Cebu City is the second largest city in the Philippines and is a regular ole’ large port city. There was absolutely nothing bad about it (except maybe the traffic) but it is not a picture perfect Philippines destination. We would definitely try exploring more of the island of Cebu in future but Cebu City is not a must see destination.
Mactan (Lapu Lapu)
Mactan is like the Galveston of Cebu. It is actually where the Cebu-Mactan airport is located (where you fly into if you are traveling to Cebu). You can get between Mactan and Cebu by crossing a bridge that connects the islands and the island of Mactan is tiny compared to the island of Cebu (the whole island is smaller than Cebu City). What Mactan has that Cebu City does not is nice beaches. Mactan island is effectively a barrier island that blocks Cebu City from the beachy side of the water (the exact same way Galveston is for Houston).
After returning to Cebu from our week in Siargao, we opted for a more beachy vibe in the region, so we spent a few days in the city of Lapu Lapu on Mactan Island. Our stay here was a recharge stay. Rest, relax, and lay low. We found an awesome apartment airbnb that was in a residential building that sat on the property of a very nice beach resort. Included in our stay was full access to all the neighboring resort amenities (3 huge resort style pools, a swim-up pool bar with happy hours and DJs, multiple restaurants, a beach with plenty of coral and friendly clownfish with beach chairs/towels). Definitely one of our greatest Airbnb finds. The property itself was very isolated from the rest of the island (you had a guard stand to pass just to get in and out of the property) so we mostly just stayed in, cooked and enjoyed our time swimming at the resort, snorkeling in the enclosed beach, and catching up on TV with our very large TV in the apartment. The city and island as a whole was quaint and nice and exactly what we needed, but not likely a big tourist must do, more of a local “staycation”. We were grateful for the “dry run” of sorts with our snorkeling in a pretty tranquil and controlled environment to prepare us for what was next.
Bohol (Panglao)
Hands down our favorite spot in the Philippines was Panglao. This was where we fully felt the absolute magic of the Philippines and absolutely why we will 100% return.
Panglao is a TINY island connected to the island of Bohol. Bohol is pretty well known in the region for its Chocolate Hills, Tarsier sanctuary, and the city of Tagbilaran City (TAG). To get to Panglao we took a ferry from Cebu City to Bohol (TAG), then a taxi from TAG to the neighboring island of Panglao. There is a small airport in the area called the Bohol-TAG airport but it’s actually on the island of Panglao (go figure). We will do a full writeup of Panglao because it was that amazing.