Plan your Cebu trip with confidence
Practical, local guides to help you plan: when to go, what the weather is doing, the festivals worth timing your trip around, and how to get from the airport out to the beaches, waterfalls and islands. When you are ready, we will quote your transfers and tours.
Best time to visit Cebu
The best time to visit Cebu is the dry season, roughly December to May, when days are sunny and the sea is calm for island hopping. January to April is the sweet spot, and January adds the huge Sinulog festival. June to November is greener, quieter and better value, with warm rain that usually falls in short bursts.
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Getting around Cebu
Inside Metro Cebu, use Grab, metered taxis or jeepneys. For the airport run, day trips south and the drive to the northern ports, most visitors are far more comfortable in a private car with a driver: one fixed price, met on arrival, door to door. Ceres buses are the cheap option for long hauls, and the islands are reached by ferry.
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Cebu itinerary (3, 5 or 7 days)
Five to seven days is the sweet spot: Cebu City, the big southern day trips (Oslob whale sharks, Kawasan Falls, the Moalboal sardine run) and two nights on Bantayan or Malapascua. Three to four days covers the city plus one or two day trips; ten or more adds Bohol, Dumaguete or Siquijor. The big sights are a two to four hour drive from each other, so pick one or two bases and use a private car and driver for the long days.
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Cost of a private driver in Cebu
A private car and driver in Cebu is priced per trip or per day as one fixed, all-in figure agreed before you travel, not by a meter. What you pay depends mainly on the distance, how long you need the car, the vehicle size, and any ferry, toll or parking costs along the way. The simplest way to know your exact price is to send your route and dates and get a free, no-obligation quote.
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Cebu airport transfers
Mactan-Cebu International Airport (CEB) is on Mactan Island, linked to Cebu City by three bridges. Your options on arrival are a pre-booked private car and driver who meets you in arrivals, a metered taxi, Grab, the MyBus shuttle to the SM malls, or your hotel’s own transfer. The Mactan resorts are about 15 to 30 minutes away and Cebu City about 30 to 45 minutes. Allow about an hour from an international landing to the kerb. For a fixed price with someone waiting at the exit, get a free quote from Cebu.travel.
Read the guidePhilippines eTravel arrival form
Free. Fill it in at etravel.gov.ph within 72 hours before your flight. Save the QR code.
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Where to stay in Cebu
Where to stay in Cebu depends on your trip. For a beach-resort holiday, base yourself on Mactan Island by the airport. For city life, shopping, food and nightlife, stay in Cebu City around Ayala/Cebu Business Park or IT Park. For diving, waterfalls and whale sharks, stay on the south coast at Moalboal, Badian, Oslob or Alcoy. For a quiet island beach, choose Bantayan or Malapascua in the north. Many visitors split their stay between two of these.
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Oslob whale sharks
The whale sharks are at Tan-awan in Oslob, on Cebu’s far south coast, about a three-hour drive from Cebu City. Watching runs only in the morning, from 6am to about noon, and sightings are near-guaranteed because the sharks are hand-fed by licensed fishermen. That daily feeding is exactly why the activity is ethically debated: research shows it changes the animals’ natural behaviour. Rules are strict (no touching, keep four metres back, no sunscreen, 30 minutes in the water), and the honest wild alternative is Donsol in Sorsogon. Arrive by 6-7am for the calmest water and smallest crowd.
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Cebu to Negros ferry: times, fares & crossings
Take the Maayo Shipping RORO from Liloan (Santander) to Sibulan, beside Dumaguete: nine sailings a day each way from 4:30 AM to 10:30 PM, about 25 to 30 minutes across, ₱120 base fare plus a fuel surcharge. Cuadro Alas runs a passengers-only fast craft on the same crossing. Cebu.travel arranges the private drive down to the pier, timed to your boat.
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Cebu to Bohol ferry
Take the OceanJet fast ferry from Cebu City Pier 1 to Tagbilaran: about two hours across, ten departures a day from 7:00 AM to 5:40 PM.
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Is Cebu safe to visit?
Yes. Cebu is one of the most popular and welcoming tourist regions in the Philippines, in the Central Visayas, well away from the parts of Mindanao that some governments flag. The things to plan for are everyday ones: petty pickpocketing in crowds, busy roads, typhoon season from around June to November, and sea and sun. A pre-arranged private car with a local driver takes the biggest variable, the roads, off your plate.
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Kawasan canyoneering
Kawasan canyoneering is a guided descent of the Kanlaob River canyon in Alegria that ends at the turquoise pools of Kawasan Falls in Badian, on Cebu’s south-west coast, about a three-to-four-hour (roughly 120km) drive from Cebu City. It runs most of the day, takes around three to four hours in the water, and mixes cliff jumps, natural rock slides and swims through bright-blue water. It is only done with an accredited local guide, who supplies a helmet and life jacket; every jump has a lower ledge or a walk-around, so nervous jumpers and non-jumpers can still do the full route. Go early, in the dry season if you can, and never enter the canyon after heavy rain. Because it is a long way south and the early slot is the best one, most people book a private car and driver for the day.
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Dao Falls, Samboan
Dao Falls is a waterfall in Samboan, on Cebu’s far south-west coast, past Badian and Moalboal, roughly four hours (about 150km) from Cebu City. Unlike Kawasan, there is no canyoneering course, no cliff jumps and no guided descent to book: a short riverside walk of thirty minutes to an hour brings you to the falls and a swimmable pool at the base. It suits travellers who want a real Cebu waterfall and a quiet swim without the crowds, gear or jumps of canyoneering.
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Cebu honeymoon itinerary
A well-loved Cebu honeymoon route links three south-coast highlights over four days with one private car and driver: Moalboal, for the sardine run and a slow beach base; Kawasan or Dao Falls, both with an easy option that skips the canyoneering crowds if you just want a swim; and Oslob, for an early whale-shark morning, before continuing home or on to Bohol by ferry. One driver for the whole loop means no bus timetables, no changing vehicles with your bags, and the freedom to linger wherever you like.
Read the guideSouth Cebu in 2 days
The three headline sights of south Cebu sit in a line down the coast, so a 2-day loop with one private car and driver is the honest way to do them without rushing. Day 1: leave Cebu City before dawn for the Oslob whale sharks, then drive the coast to Kawasan Falls and overnight in Moalboal. Day 2: swim the Moalboal sardine run and turtles in the morning, then drive back to Cebu City. One driver for both days, with no bus changes, is what makes the timings work.
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South Cebu in 3 days
Three days is the sweet spot for south Cebu if you want the headline stops without turning the trip into one long drive. Day 1: leave Cebu City before dawn for the Oslob whale sharks, then add Tumalog Falls and, if you want, the Sumilon sandbar before overnighting on the south-east coast. Day 2: cross the southern tip to Kawasan Falls, then continue a short final stretch to Moalboal for the night. Day 3: snorkel the Moalboal sardine run and turtles, add Pescador Island or White Beach if you like, then drive back to Cebu City or the airport. One private car and driver for the whole loop is what keeps it easy.
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Things to do in Cebu
Cebu packs a lot into one province: swimming with whale sharks in Oslob, the sardine run and sea turtles at Moalboal, canyoneering to the turquoise pools of Kawasan Falls, white-sand island escapes on Bantayan and Malapascua, the jagged ridge of Osmena Peak, and a compact city of heritage churches, temples and famous lechon. Most of the headline sights sit two to four hours south or north of the city, so the trick is grouping them by area and giving yourself five to seven days. It is well worth visiting, and because the best experiences are spread out, a private car and driver for the long days is what turns a scattered map into an easy trip.
Read the guideBantayan Island guide
Bantayan Island sits off the north-west tip of Cebu, and you reach it by road plus one ferry: about 3 to 4 hours from Cebu City or 4 to 4.5 from Mactan-Cebu Airport, up the coast to Hagnaya port in San Remigio, then a car or passenger ferry across to Santa Fe on the island, which takes about an hour to an hour and a half. The timing is the part that catches people out, and the number depends on where you start: from Cebu City be moving by about 1:00 PM, and from Mactan-Cebu Airport land by about 11:00 AM, because that run is an hour longer and you clear arrivals first. Published last departures from Hagnaya disagree - about 4:30 PM and about 5:30 PM both appear - and since March 2026 sailings are paused around high tide, so the last usable boat moves day to day and we confirm it with the line before the car sets out. Santa Fe is where the powder-white beaches, the island-hopping boats and most of the resorts are. It is a flat, slow, beach-first island best given two or three nights rather than day-tripped.
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Malapascua thresher sharks
Malapascua is a small island off the northern tip of Cebu, and it is the one place in the world where you can reliably dive with pelagic thresher sharks almost every morning, at a cleaning station on a sunken shoal. Since 2022 that has been Kimud Shoal, about an hour by boat, rather than the famous Monad Shoal. Getting there is a road-plus-boat trip: a roughly four to four-and-a-half hour drive north from Cebu City (a little longer from the airport) to New Maya port in Daanbantayan, then a short outrigger-boat crossing of about thirty to forty minutes to the island. The thresher dive is a morning scuba dive for certified divers only, so you need to be on the island the night before, which makes Malapascua an overnight trip rather than a day out. Because the last boat leaves Maya at 5:00 PM and the drive is long, the easy way to do it is a private car and driver timed to reach Maya in good time for a boat - counting back, that means leaving Cebu City by about 1:00 PM, or clearing arrivals at Mactan by about midday, to make the island the same day.
Read the guideMoalboal sardine run & turtles
Moalboal is a small town on Cebu’s south-west coast, about 90 kilometres from Cebu City, and it is home to one of the most reliable snorkelling spectacles in the Philippines: a permanent “sardine run”, a swirling wall of millions of fish that sits just off Panagsama Beach, close enough that you swim straight out to it from shore with no boat and no guided tour. Green sea turtles graze the same shallows most days. Moalboal charges a small municipal environmental user fee for snorkelling in its waters, collected in cash at a booth on the beach or at the tourism office - carry pesos, and note that published amounts disagree and collection is inconsistent. The drive from Cebu City is roughly two-and-a-half to three hours by private car (a little longer and about 100 kilometres from Mactan-Cebu Airport, including the bridge off Mactan), or three to four hours by public Ceres bus. Because it is snorkel-from-the-shore rather than a scheduled boat, Moalboal works beautifully as a day trip, and it pairs naturally with a Pescador Island boat or Kawasan Falls an hour further south.
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Cebu to Bohol day trip
Yes, you can day-trip to Bohol from Cebu, but it is a long day and most people are happier staying a night. Bohol is a separate island reached by a fast ferry from Cebu City Pier 1 to Tagbilaran, a crossing of about two hours each way, so a day trip means roughly four hours at sea plus a countryside tour squeezed in between an early sailing out and a late one back. In a single day you can realistically see the Chocolate Hills, the tarsiers and a Loboc River lunch cruise on a condensed “countryside loop”; adding Panglao’s beaches or an island-hopping boat to Balicasag really needs an overnight. Cebu.travel arranges the private transfer from your hotel or the airport to Pier 1, timed to your sailing, so the Cebu-side logistics run to the clock. The ferry fare and any Bohol land tour are separate legs.
Read the guideCebu + Dumaguete itinerary
Yes, and it is one of the easiest island pairings in the Philippines. A short fast-craft crossing links Liloan at the southern tip of Cebu with Sibulan, right beside Dumaguete on Negros, in roughly 20 to 30 minutes, so you can enjoy the headline south Cebu days (Oslob whale sharks, Kawasan canyoneering, the Moalboal sardine run) and then hop across to Dumaguete for Apo Island, the Valencia waterfalls and Siquijor. Give it 6 to 8 days, fly into Cebu and out of Dumaguete (or the reverse) so you never backtrack, and let one driver on each island handle the road legs and the pier timing.
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Simala Shrine guide
Simala Shrine - formally the Monastery of the Holy Eucharist, also known as the Our Lady of Lindogon Shrine and commonly searched for as Simala Church - is a striking castle-like Catholic church in Barangay Lindogon, Sibonga, about 55 km south of Cebu City, roughly a 1.5 to 2 hour drive. It is one of the province’s most-visited pilgrimage sites, known for its turreted, cathedral-like architecture, quiet gardens and the many handwritten thank-you letters visitors leave behind. Entry is free (donations welcome), the dress code is enforced at the gate rather than merely encouraged - shoulders and knees covered, or you are refused entry - and weekday mornings are calmest, since weekends and the 13th of every month bring much heavier pilgrim traffic on the southern highway. Most visitors pair it with Carcar’s heritage streets and lechon on the way back.
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Cebu highlands guide
The Busay highlands above Cebu City hold three sights close together: Temple of Leah, a grand colonnaded monument with sweeping views; Sirao Flower Garden, bright terraced flower fields nicknamed “Little Amsterdam”; and Tops, a ridge-top lookout over the city and Mactan that is especially good at sunset. They sit roughly 8-15 km and 30-45 minutes up from the city centre on steep, winding roads with no direct public transport linking them, so most visitors do all three as one private half-day loop, timed for a late-afternoon finish at Tops for sunset.
Read the guideOsmeña Peak hike guide
Osmeña Peak, near Mantalongon in Dalaguete, is Cebu’s highest point and its most photogenic hike: a ridge of jagged, grassy "shark-tooth" hills with sea views on both sides, about 100 km south of Cebu City, roughly a 2.5 to 3 hour drive by private car. Despite the dramatic scenery the walk is short - roughly 700 m and 20-30 minutes each way from the Mantalongon jump-off, usually done with a local guide - but it is a genuine climb over grass and exposed limestone rather than a viewpoint you drive to. Most visitors arrive before dawn for the classic sunrise over the peaks, and the dry season (roughly February to May) gives the clearest views. It pairs naturally with Kawasan Falls or Oslob for a full south-Cebu day, and since there is no public transport link to the trailhead itself, most visitors go by private car or a Ceres bus plus habal-habal.
Read the guideSumilon Island guide
Sumilon is a small private island off Oslob, on Cebu’s south-east coast, known for a white sandbar that shifts with the tide and a protected marine sanctuary. It is about 3 to 3.5 hours by private car from Cebu City (3.5 to 4 from the airport) to the Bangcogon jetty, then 15 minutes on the resort’s own boat. There is no public banca: reserve a day-use pass first. Most people pair it with the Oslob whale sharks, since the drive is the same.
Read the guideCebu vs Bohol, Boracay & Palawan
Cebu is the strongest all-round base for a Philippines trip: whale sharks, canyoneering, hiking, food, a real city and its own international airport, all in one province. Bohol is a two-hour ferry away, no flight needed, and is the easiest add-on, best known for the Chocolate Hills and tarsiers. Boracay and Palawan (El Nido and Coron) are beach-and-lagoon specialists reached by a direct flight from Cebu, best treated as a dedicated leg of a longer trip rather than your base. If your time is limited, start in Cebu and add Bohol by ferry; if you have more than a week, fly on to Boracay or Palawan afterwards.
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Cebu vs Siargao
Cebu and Siargao are built for different trips. Cebu is the all-round base: whale sharks, canyoneering, diving, hiking and a real city, all reachable by road from one international airport. Siargao is the Philippines' surfing capital, a smaller, slower island built around Cloud 9 and lagoon-hopping, reached by a roughly 50-minute direct flight from Cebu. If you want variety and easier logistics, choose Cebu; if you specifically want to surf or want a laid-back island week, add Siargao as its own leg.
Read the guideCebu vs Manila
It depends on which part of the Philippines your trip is actually built around. Manila (NAIA) is the country's primary international gateway, with the widest range of long-haul and international routes, but it sits at the northern end of the country, a further flight or a long drive from the whale sharks, waterfalls and islands most Cebu-bound visitors come for. Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) is the Philippines' second-busiest airport and sits right in the middle of the Visayas, so if your trip is Cebu, Bohol, Negros, Siargao or the central islands, flying directly into Cebu skips a domestic connection entirely. If Manila-specific sights or your only affordable international routing point you there, fly in and take the domestic hop down to Cebu, a scheduled 1 hour 20 to 1 hour 40 minutes nonstop.
Read the guideCebu waterfalls guide
Cebu’s waterfalls sit almost in a line down the south-west coast, and they get wilder the further you go. Kawasan Falls in Badian is the famous one, with canyoneering and a big turquoise swim basin. Past it, Cambais Falls in Alegria is a climbable stack of turquoise pools, Inambakan Falls in Ginatilan is the tall one at about 100 feet, and Samboan alone has three: Dao Falls (quiet and swimmable), the five-tier Aguinid Falls, and Binalayan Hidden Falls. Tumalog Falls sits on the other coast near Oslob and is the natural add-on to a whale-shark morning, though its last stretch is too steep for a car and is covered by habal-habal or on foot. Kawasan and Tumalog work as day trips from Cebu City; the deep-south three sit 145 to 150km out and are really an overnight.
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Christmas & New Year in Cebu
Yes. Mid-December to the Sinulog weekend in January is Cebu’s busiest stretch of the year: dry-season visitors plus Filipinos flying home for the holidays. This season the holidays fall as two long weekends, Thursday 24 to Sunday 27 December and Wednesday 30 December into the weekend of 2 and 3 January. Flights, ferries, resorts and drivers fill at once, so send your dates as soon as your flights are confirmed. You still get one fixed, all-in price agreed before you travel.
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Camotes Islands guide
Drive north to Danao City port (1 to 1.5 hours from Cebu City, 45 minutes to 1.5 hours from Mactan airport), then take the Danao to Consuelo ferry to Poro Island, about 2 to 2.5 hours. Boats leave each way at 5:30 AM, 8:30 AM, 2:30 PM and 5:30 PM, with nothing between the morning and afternoon sailings. That gap is why Camotes rewards at least one night, and why a private car timed to your sailing takes the guesswork out of the road leg.
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Siquijor island guide
There are four ways from Cebu and they are nothing like each other in length. Fastest is the direct flight: Sunlight Air has flown Mactan-Cebu to Siquijor non-stop since 15 December 2025, about 55 minutes, a few days a week. Next is OceanJet's daily passenger fastcraft, which leaves Cebu, calls at Tagbilaran in Bohol and carries on to Siquijor town port in roughly 4 to 4.5 hours on one ticket - no vehicles. Third is the overnight RORO: Lite Ferries from Cebu Pier 3 to Larena, 1:00 PM on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, docking about 11:00 PM, and this is the one that carries a car. Fourth is the classic overland route via Dumaguete - drive down Cebu's east coast to Liloan port at Santander (about 150 km and 3.5 to 4.5 hours from Cebu City, or 165 km and 4 to 5 hours from Mactan airport), the 20 to 30 minute fast craft to Sibulan, then a Dumaguete-to-Siquijor fast ferry of 45 minutes to an hour - which is still the best one if you want Oslob or Moalboal on the way. Most visitors stay at least one night regardless, because the island is best seen on a slow loop of its coastal road: Cambugahay Falls, the old Balete Tree, Salagdoong and Paliton beaches, and the coral-stone church at Lazi.
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Lapu-Lapu Day & Mactan Shrine
Yes. The Mactan Shrine (also called the Liberty Shrine) sits in Punta Engano on Mactan Island, a few minutes from the airport, and is open to visit any day of the year, no special date needed. It marks the site of the 1521 Battle of Mactan, where the Filipino chieftain Lapu-Lapu defeated Ferdinand Magellan’s Spanish forces, and holds both a Lapu-Lapu monument and a Magellan marker. Every 27 April, the anniversary itself, Lapu-Lapu City marks Lapu-Lapu Day with the Kadaugan sa Mactan festival, a re-enactment of the battle at the shrine grounds.
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Sinulog 2027
Sinulog 2027 falls on Sunday 17 January 2027, the third Sunday of January, when the Grand Parade dances its way through Cebu City. The Sinulog Foundation and the Cebu City government have announced the opening salvo for Thursday 7 January 2027, with the Cebu City Sports Center again the main venue, and the rest of the calendar still being coordinated between the city and the organisers, so the religious and cultural dates between those two are not fixed yet. For a visitor the practical part is simple: the Grand Parade closes sections of the city-centre route for the day, city-centre hotels fill for the weekend, and the airport, the south-coast day trips and the ferries all run as normal.
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Holy Week in Cebu
Holy Week, Semana Santa in Filipino, falls in March or April and is one of the most solemn weeks on the Philippine calendar. Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are national holidays: many offices, malls and businesses close or run shortened hours, churches hold processions and Bisita Iglesia visits, and roads and ferries get busier with domestic holiday travel. Cebu itself is where Christianity first reached the Philippines in 1521, so the Basilica del Santo Nino and Magellan’s Cross in the city centre are at the heart of the week. Day tours, resorts and private transfers all keep running, so it is a genuine option to visit, it just rewards booking ahead like any other peak week.
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Getting back to the airport
Work backwards from your flight, not forwards from your hotel, and the answer is already a number. Be inside the terminal about 3 hours before a domestic departure or about 4 before an international one, then add the road planned at its slow end. That gives the rule we use on every corridor: leave Cebu City about 4 to 4.5 hours ahead, the Busay highlands 4.5, Moalboal or Osmeña Peak 7, Oslob, Kawasan or New Maya port 8, Malapascua or the Camotes 9, and a Santa Fe hotel on Bantayan 10, each about an hour more for an international flight. The full table is below, corridor by corridor. From an island that usually means the last boat, not the last hour, is your real deadline, and it is the single most common way travellers misjudge Cebu.
Read the guideArriving by ferry: pier to anywhere
Cebu City's passenger piers all sit together in the North Reclamation Area on the city's eastern waterfront, part of the Port of Cebu run by the Cebu Port Authority, and your ticket names which pier your sailing uses. From there you are already in Cebu City, so the onward journey is the same road leg as any Cebu City transfer: about 11 to 15 km and 30 to 60 minutes to Mactan-Cebu Airport, roughly 40 km and 1 to 1.5 hours to Carcar, about 90 km and 2.5 to 3 hours to Moalboal, and around 117 km and 3 to 3.5 hours to Oslob. The hour you dock at matters as much as the distance: the islands and the whale sharks run to fixed deadlines, so an overnight arrival opens almost everything while a late-afternoon one usually means a night in the city first. Cebu.travel meets your ferry at the pier with a named driver and a fixed price agreed before you sail, so you walk off the boat and straight into the car with your luggage.
Read the guideWhat size van do you need?
Size the vehicle by whichever number is bigger, your headcount or your luggage pile. Cebu.travel books three models: a Toyota Vios sedan (1 to 3 seats, 2 to 3 bags) for solo travellers and couples, a Toyota HiAce Super Grandia (7 to 9 seats, 6 to 8 bags) for comfort on longer island days, and a Toyota HiAce Commuter (up to 12 seats, 10 to 12 bags) for bigger groups and airport runs carrying a lot of luggage. Above twelve passengers a group travels in two vehicles that keep together on one quote. Tell us your headcount, your bags and your route and we confirm the vehicle and one fixed price before you travel.
Read the guideVisayas dive circuit itinerary
Do it as a one-way loop out of Cebu, in this order: Mactan airport to Moalboal, Moalboal to Bohol, Bohol to Malapascua, then Malapascua back to Cebu City for your flight home. The order is not a matter of taste. Every stop on this circuit is easy to reach except Malapascua, which is reached by an outrigger boat from New Maya port whose last departure is 5:00 PM, and that single cut-off is the only hard deadline on the whole trip. Running the loop this way puts the deadline on an internal leg you control, rather than on an inbound flight you do not. Budget around four days for the movement alone: the moves run roughly 3-3.5 hours, 6-7 hours, a full 9-11 hour travel day, and another 4-4.5 hours plus a boat.
Read the guideCebu with kids
Cebu is an easy place to travel with children: English is spoken everywhere and the distances are manageable if you plan around them. Sort the car seat before you land. Philippine law (RA 11229) keeps a child in a restraint until they are 150 cm tall, and no child of twelve or under rides in front below that height. Send ages, heights and weights with your quote and the seats are fitted before pickup.
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