Most people don’t think of Bohol when the Philippines is mentioned – Boracay, Palawan, Cebu – these are the staples, but I’m hoping my blog today can convince you that this tiny gem of an island is worth going to as well!

Table of contents

• When to check out Bohol
• Transportation to and within Bohol
• Where to stay in Bohol
• What to do in Bohol

When to check out Bohol

To be honest, I think Bohol is a place you can visit any time. But if you want to avoid the heat, then the best time to go would be December till late March – which is when the Philippines is relatively cool (relative being the operative word here). Nevertheless, keep in mind that this also coincides with the peak season, which means exorbitant rates and places crowded with hundreds of tourists at any point in time

If that doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, then you may want to consider the other months instead – just keep in mind that April to July is typically VERY hot (hello Summer!) but would be the best time for you to see the Chocolate Hills in its full chocolate-y glory, while August to November is the wet season so prepare for rain

In my case, I went end October and while it did rain while I was there, I didn’t particularly mind as most (~60%) of our trip was spent on the beach, and who really cared if we got wet?

Transportation to and within Bohol

How to get to Bohol

If you’re coming from Manila, several airlines (Cebu Pacific, Philippine Airlines and Air Asia) service the route from Manila to Tagbilaran City (Bohol’s capital). Total travel time is roughly ~1.5 hours; with ~8 flights per day

On the other hand, if you’re coming from Cebu, then you can reach Tagbilaran via fast ferry which has a regular schedule (although this can change suddenly). See link for fairly accurate view of the ferry schedule

How to get around Bohol

As we were a fairly large group (~8 people), we opted to arrange for a van which we felt would be the most cost-optimal option. Note that we only hired a van for our first and last day – for a total cost of ~PHP 4,200 (roughly PHP 525 per person)

For our first day, we hired a van (that could fit 12) for ~8 hours at ~PHP 2,500 – this included the airport pick-up, city tour (up to us where we wanted to go), and the hotel drop-off (Henann Resort Bohol)

For our last day, again, we hired a van (that could fit 12) for ~4 hours at ~PHP 1,700 – this included the hotel pick-up, additional tourist spots on Panglao Island (based on our request), and the airport drop-off.

If you’re interested in the same, I suggest you arrange transport beforehand – our contact is Macky Domasin at +63 910 2773 169 / +63 916 287 1287 796. We also used the same contact for our island hopping tour, and overall, we were very happy with the service (I’ll get into more details here later in the blog)

Where to stay in Bohol

I highly recommend Henann Resort Bohol located by Alona Beach in Panglao Island. Touted to be the largest luxury resort in Bohol (at 6.5 hectares, I believe this claim), Henann is pricey but well worth it (I’d highly recommend for folks who plan to spend a day just lounging around the hotel). Cheapest room starts at ~PHP 10,752 – but they allow a 3rd person to stay for free, you just need to pay for their breakfast buffet if you want to avail of it (at PHP 549++, which I thought was super worth it!)

If you plan to spend every day outside – either on city tour or island hopping – then a cheaper hotel would suffice!

Anyway, on to the merits of Henann:

• What I really really liked about Henann was their pools – all three of them, each with their own bar! Standard depth is ~4 feet, although there’s one area that goes down to ~10 feet. The pools are beautiful and are perfect both for folks who want to swim some laps and also for those who just want to lounge around and appreciate the view. The buy 1 take 1 Happy Hour promo in the afternoon certainly doesn’t hurt either

• Aside from that, Henann has the longest beachfront along the famed Alona Beach (~120 meters long). Alas, I wouldn’t recommend swimming here as it’s full of seaweed (although this might’ve been a consequence of the season, and may not be true all year round). Still, it’s nice to walk along the beach at night – although to be fair, you don’t need to stay at Henann to enjoy this privilege
• Lastly, their breakfast buffet is AMAZING. I’ve stayed in multiple hotels throughout the world, but Henann has one of the best breakfast buffets I’ve ever seen – both in terms of variety and quality (pls don’t expect fancy food though – I’m talking normal breakfast dishes here). Having said that, their bakery sucks – so just steer clear of the breads, and you’ll be fine. If you had to choose between the two breakfast buffet locations, go with Coral Café – the ambiance is so much better, and you can enjoy your breakfast while overlooking the crystal blue pools
• BTW, we also really enjoyed the live nighttime entertainment by Sea Breeze (where you can enjoy a dinner buffet at a 10% discount, if you’re a hotel guest). Nighttime entertainment was good, the dinner buffet not so much!

To be fully objective, here are the things I dislike or don’t really care about Henann:

• The rooms are nice and tasteful – nothing fancy – but perfectly sufficient if you just want to lounge around. Anyway, their rooms are good but not WOW. What sucks though is the horrid WiFi signal – when we complained, they said it was because the bathroom (which is right beside the bed) was blocking the signal, therefore we should stand by the door if we wanted to use the internet. Simply awful – having said that, the results was I slept earlier at night because I had no Facebook to keep me company… which was probably a good thing in my case

• Service isn’t that great either. My sister was wounded while island hopping so we asked for Band-Aid from the reception. It took them ~3 hours to get back to us, only to tell us they had run out of Band-Aid at their first aid station! But, when we said we were willing to pay for it, they magically managed to go to the convenience store to buy Band-Aid for us…

What to do in Bohol

Before I go into more detail, let me first state that I think ~3 days is more than sufficient for Bohol. That’s 1 day spent island hopping, another 1 day spent for city, and another day spent lounging around at Henann – enjoying the pools and its amenities

Island Hopping (dolphin watching, Balicasag Islang, and Virgin Island)

Island hopping is an absolute must when you go to Bohol – if you don’t want to go island hopping, why even bother going to Bohol? For dolphin watching, you should aim to leave by 6am so you can spend more time trying to catch a glimpse of these elusive dolphins. Note that dolphin sightings are not guaranteed, but when you do see them – boy, what a treat!! It’s also pretty fun because you have all these boats loosely floating, then suddenly everyone whips into action when they sight the dolphins! Sorry folks, I have no dolphin photos because I was too busy waving excitedly at the dolphins as opposed to taking photos of them

After the intense early morning hunt for dolphin sightings, head on over to Balicasag Island where you can enjoy swimming and getting up close and personal with pawikans (tortoise) and fishes (including Nemo and Dory look-alikes!). Before you go off to swim though, make sure to place your lunch orders so they can get cooking.

Afterwards, head on over to Virgin Island where there’s really nothing to see… but since it’s a typical pitstop, why not? You can also have abalone and sea urchins cooked while here – both of which were absolutely delicious.

All in all, we paid PHP 9,670 – roughly ~PHP 1,300 per person

Tourist spots within the city and Panglao Island

Blood Compact

I’m suggesting less because it’s a tourist site, and more because there are a couple of souvenir shops in this area, which sell calamay and peanut kisses at really decent prices. Of course, since you’re already in the area, take a photo with the Blood Compact monument as well

Lomboc River (cruise and lunch)

While this is a main staple, I personally think the River Cruise and lunch was a waste of time, and I’d highly recommend you skip this. If you do end up doing this, expect to shell out ~PHP 550 per person (inclusive of lunch)

Manmade Mahogany Forest

Again, nothing to write home about, but you’ll need to pass through the forest to get to the Tarsier Conservatory (which is a MUST), therefore, why the heck not? Also, cute backstory, this forest was planted by Boy Scouts (no idea if true, but it’s a nice reminder that we can all do our part in saving the planet)

Tarsier Conservatory

This place is an absolute must! When I first went to Bohol (around a decade ago), you could hold and pet tarsiers by the roadside, which made for absolutely cute souvenir photos but were apparently extremely harmful to the suicidal creatures. Since then, a tarsier sanctuary was created where tarsiers could live in their natural habitat – in a ~10 hectares wood lot. I personally found the place highly educational (they place posters on the wall and there’s a mini-spiel at the beginning to provide some background information on tarsiers) and immersive (as you really get to see the tarsiers as they would normally act). Having said that, don’t expect beautiful photos from this encounter as most tarsiers are asleep during the day, and you can’t really get up close and personal with them. In my case, this was my one good photo – achieved using iPhone zoom!

Chocolate Hills

What Bohol is best known for – presenting THE sprawling Chocolate Hills. In my mind, they look like women’s breasts or poop – but to each his own! In total, there are ~1300 hills, mostly between 30 to 50 meters in height. During the dry season (April to July), the hills are chocolate brown (which is how its name was derived). For all other months though, the hills are covered in grass and therefore green – so maybe we should call it Green Hills instead

There’s a ~220 steps stairway to the viewing platform, but if you’d prefer an up close and personal view, you can also choose to take an ATV. In our case, we stuck with the viewing platform as the rain made the roads quite muddy and disgusting to pass

Hanging Bamboo Bridge

The bamboo bridge is the perfect place to end your city tour, providing you not only a pretty backdrop for nice photos but also a great place to go souvenir shopping (buy Bohol souvenir t-shirts here – cheapest place!!)

Hinagdangan Cave

Nothing super special about this place, it’s really just a cave – but the volunteer guides are hilarious!

Bohol Bee Farm (including Buzz Café)

Consistently recommended by folks, check out Bohol Bee Farm if you want an in-depth tour of how a bee farm works. In our case, we went here for the FOOD and some more souvenir shopping (LOL what’s new. Do check out their bread spreads though – my personal faves are the malunggay, mango and honey spread!). In my opinion, the following are their best dishes: Cassava lasagna (really interesting way to cook lasagna), spicy honey pizza (absolutely scrumptious!), fresh herbs pasta, and of course the ice cream (salted caramel, pandan, peanut kisses). The honey glazed chicken was also pretty good – but not particularly unique to Buzz Café.

For a full breakdown of the entrance fees, see below. Don’t forget to bring your student ID or senior citizen ID if you belong to those two categories, as you’ll also be able to obtain additional discounts for certain attractions!

Hope my blog was informative, and I sincerely wish you a grand vacation in Bohol!