First trip to the Philippines: routes, bookings and budget

Choose one island group and count the nights

Seven days means six nights: Cebu City two, Panglao three and Mactan one. That gives one full day in Cebu's old centre, one inland day on Bohol, one beach or dive day on Panglao, and two crossing days on OceanJet's fast craft. If your flights allow it, fly straight into Bohol-Panglao International Airport (TAG) and keep one Panglao room for the week; that version drops both crossings.

Day by day: arrive on day 1 and take a taxi or hotel car to Cebu City, about an hour from the airport by the Department of Tourism's figure, then eat near the hotel; walk the old centre on day 2; take the fast craft to Tagbilaran on day 3 and continue by road to Panglao, around 30 minutes by the Department of Tourism's TravelPH page; spend day 4 inland among the Chocolate Hills, the tarsiers and the Loboc River; keep day 5 for the beach or a Balicasag dive; cross back on day 6 and ride on to Mactan, roughly the same hour by road; fly home on day 7. The two crossing days carry only travel and a relaxed dinner, which keeps a delayed boat from costing a sightseeing day.

Ten days means nine nights on northern Palawan: Puerto Princesa for the Underground River, El Nido for the lagoons and Coron for the lakes, reefs and wrecks. Each base needs its own boat day, and the road north and the ferry between El Nido and Coron take most of a day each. The Palawan 10-day guide sets out the order.

Fourteen days means thirteen nights for Palawan and Bohol together, joined by a flight. With three weeks, add Siargao by air or the rice terraces of northern Luzon by overnight bus from Manila; the 21-day guide covers both.

One beach base is a complete holiday too. Six nights on Boracay give a swim, a long lunch and a sunset walk most days; Panglao offers the same rhythm with the Chocolate Hills inland for one day out.

What the main regions look like

Cebu City is where Christianity in the Philippines began. The provincial government dates Magellan's arrival and the baptism of Rajah Humabon and Queen Juana to 1521; Magellan's Cross marks the site, beside the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño, which the province calls the oldest Catholic church in the country. Fort San Pedro, the oldest Spanish fort in the Philippines, is a short walk away, next to the Aduana, the customs house built in 1910 that now holds the National Museum in Cebu. When checked on 2026-10-13, the Basilica's gates were open 04:00–21:00 every day, and the National Museum's booking portal listed the Cebu museum as open Monday to Sunday, 09:00–18:00.

Bohol is the landscape trip. The Chocolate Hills are cone-shaped limestone hills spread over 14,435 hectares of the interior; UNESCO, which made Bohol the country's first Global Geopark, counts 1,268 of them, and the viewpoint at Carmen shows the pattern running to the horizon. In Corella, the Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary protects the Philippine tarsier. River cruises on the Loboc pass green banks, waterfalls and floating restaurants, and Baclayon's church, founded by Jesuits in 1596, is the second-oldest in the Philippines. The beaches are on Panglao, the small island off Tagbilaran: Alona, Dumaluan, Doljo and Libaong, with the baroque St Augustine Parish Church, a National Cultural Treasure, near the sea beside the Panglao Watchtower.

Palawan is limestone and sea. UNESCO describes the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River as an 8.2 km underground river through karst, inside a park that runs from mountain forest to the coast. El Nido's Big and Small Lagoons are reached by boat on the town's island-hopping tours. Coron's tourism office counts 34 natural attractions in the municipality: 15 are on Coron Island, managed by the Indigenous Tagbanua, and 14 are dive and marine spots, reefs and wrecks among them.

Boracay is one 3.5 km white-sand beach, divided into walkable sections called Stations 1, 2 and 3. Siargao's General Luna is built around the Cloud 9 surf break; Sugba Lagoon on Caob Island, in Del Carmen, is a day of snorkelling, kayaks and paddleboards. In Manila, the walled city of Intramuros holds Fort Santiago, where regular admission was PHP 75 when checked on 2026-10-13. In northern Luzon, UNESCO traces the traditions of the Ifugao rice terraces back 2,000 years.

Where to sleep on the Cebu–Bohol week

Cebu City, nights 1–2. Sleep downtown for the old centre on foot and the fast craft from Pier 1. Southpole Central Hotel, the budget example below, is at 29 Junquera Street, 2 km from the port by its own page. Mactan-Cebu International Airport is on Mactan, a separate island in Lapu-Lapu City, so a room advertised simply as 'Cebu' may be by the airport or on a resort beach rather than in the city.

Panglao, nights 3–5. The island is shared by the municipalities of Panglao and Dauis. Stay at Alona Beach for dive centres and restaurants within walking distance, or at Dumaluan or Libaong for a quieter beach. Bohol Sunside Resort, used in the budget, is in Tawala, Panglao. Tagbilaran is the port and provincial capital, a city rather than a beach base.

Mactan, night 6. Mactan Grand Golden Hotel, on United Nation Drive in Lapu-Lapu City and the budget example below, describes itself as within a 15-minute drive of the airport, which suits an early flight; a resort on the coast suits a late one, with a pool afternoon after the crossing.

Elsewhere, in Manila, Makati suits an arrival evening with dinner on foot; Clark (CRK) is a separate airport in Pampanga with its own buses and taxis. On Palawan, a town room in El Nido or Coron puts you close to the tour meeting points, while a resort further out suits days spent at the property.

Book entry, flights and the two crossings first

Check your passport's rule before paying for anything non-refundable. On 2026-10-13, the Department of Foreign Affairs' visa-free list gave an initial 30-day stay to nationals of listed countries, including Germany, France and the United Kingdom, with a passport valid at least six months beyond the stay and a return or onward ticket out of the country. Register on the free eTravel site, etravel.gov.ph, within the 72 hours before arrival and save the QR code offline. The only exemptions are foreign diplomats and their dependants, foreign dignitaries and their delegations, 9(e) visa holders, and diplomatic and official or service passport holders, so an ordinary tourist needs the record. The entry requirements guide covers other passports, visas and customs.

Book the international flights next, into and out of Mactan-Cebu (CEB), so the week needs no domestic flight; for a Bohol-only week, Bohol-Panglao International Airport (TAG) is the alternative gateway. Compare fares with the bag you will actually carry.

OceanJet, the trading name of Ocean Fast Ferries, runs the fast craft between Pier 1 in Cebu City and Tagbilaran Port on Bohol. Its schedule post dated 2 February 2026 listed 14 departures each way, 05:10–18:40 from Cebu and 06:00–18:30 from Tagbilaran, with fares in either direction of PHP 800 in Open Air or Tourist Class and PHP 1,200 in Business Class. The Department of Tourism gives the crossing to Tagbilaran Port as two hours. Of the other operators, 2GO's sailing schedule, updated 15 January 2026, lists Cebu to Tagbilaran on Wednesdays and Fridays and no sailing back to Cebu, and SuperCat lists the route but showed no trips in either direction on 2026-10-13. Book the sailing offered for your date on OceanJet's website or at a ticket office. No terminal fee is published with the fare; carry pesos at the port.

Check in at least 30 minutes before sailing; Cebu boats leave from Pier 1, not OceanJet's main office at Pier 4. Under OceanJet's notice effective 15 March 2024, Tourist and Open Air tickets include 10 kg of baggage and Business 20 kg, and a Tourist or Open Air trolley bag over 130 cm in total dimensions goes in the hold. Strong wind cancels sailings, so cross back to Cebu on day 6, not on the morning of the flight home. The German Foreign Office advises avoiding ferries where other options exist; on this week, that option is flying into TAG and staying on Bohol.

Two activities on these routes have limited places. Balicasag Island, a marine sanctuary, takes 150 certified divers a day; Sierra Madre Divers on Alona Beach books places up to three months ahead and asks for full, non-refundable payment and a certification copy at least 48 hours before the dive. On Palawan, the Underground River needs a permit, which the Puerto Princesa guide explains.

A priced Cebu–Bohol week for two

This is the recommended week priced for two adults sharing a room, from the businesses' own pages checked on 2026-10-13. All figures are Philippine pesos.

Southwest Tours' shared countryside tour meets at McDonald's Panglao at 08:00 or Tagbilaran's Plaza Rizal at 09:00 and returns about 17:00. It stops at the Blood Compact site, Baclayon Church, the tarsier sanctuary, a Loboc or Loay river cruise with buffet lunch, the Bilar man-made forest and the Chocolate Hills, and includes entrance fees, bottled water and a driver-guide. Baclayon Church is closed on Tuesdays, so take the tour on another day if the church matters to you.

The meal allowance uses Gerry's Philippine menu; the chain has branches at IT Park and Ayala Terraces in Cebu City and on Panglao. Dinner for two is sinigang na baboy (PHP 505), inihaw na liempo (PHP 465) and two plain rice (PHP 104): PHP 1,074. Lunch is two Junior chicken inasal (PHP 440) with two rice: PHP 544. Five dinners and four lunches there make PHP 7,546. The Mactan dinner is at Rico's Lechon's Airport Road branch: on its Cebu price list, effective 17 December 2025, kinilaw na tanigue (PHP 360) and tinola fish tanigue (PHP 430) make PHP 790. The tour covers day 4's lunch and the three hotels cover all six breakfasts.

Total: PHP 28,011 for the pair, about PHP 4,000 a day over the seven days, or PHP 28,311 at Panglao's December–February rate. Business Class for the four one-way tickets (two people, two crossings) costs PHP 4,800 instead of PHP 3,200. The Cebu taxi rides have no published fixed fare: budget separately for four of them (airport to Cebu City, hotel to Pier 1, Pier 1 to Mactan, Mactan hotel to the airport) and for the ride back to Tagbilaran Port. Not included: flights, those rides, terminal charges, online booking charges, drinks, rice at Rico's and any service charge, SIM cards, insurance and diving. Sierra Madre Divers' two-dive Balicasag trip adds PHP 4,000 per diver with your own equipment or PHP 4,500 with rental.

Carry pesos and a card, with a second card kept separately. Bohol's tourism office advises small notes, because drivers may not have change. On arrival or departure, declare the whole amount if you carry more than USD 10,000 or the equivalent in foreign currency; more than PHP 50,000 in pesos needs prior written approval from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, which is given only for currency testing, collecting or awareness purposes.

• Cebu City, 2 nights at Southpole Central Hotel's website deal of PHP 1,388 per room-night with breakfast for two: PHP 2,776
• OceanJet Cebu–Tagbilaran and back, Tourist or Open Air, four one-way fares at PHP 800: PHP 3,200
• Tagbilaran Port to Panglao, Bohol Sunside Resort's seaport pickup: PHP 500
• Panglao, 3 nights in Bohol Sunside Resort's Deluxe Double Room with breakfast at PHP 2,200 (PHP 2,300 from 1 December to 28 February): PHP 6,600
• Mactan, 1 night in Mactan Grand Golden Hotel's Studio Room, listed from PHP 1,999 with breakfast for two: PHP 1,999
• Bohol countryside day, Southwest Tours' shared tour at PHP 2,300 per person: PHP 4,600
• Five dinners and four lunches at Gerry's menu prices (PHP 7,546) and the Mactan dinner at Rico's Lechon (PHP 790): PHP 8,336

Data, insurance and the advisory lines

On 2026-10-13, Globe's Traveler SIM page listed a physical 30 GB, 15-day SIM at PHP 750, with PHP 99 more for the eSIM version. Registration needs your passport and its current visa stamp, a Philippine address (your hotel) and a return or onward ticket, and Globe deactivates tourist SIMs after 30 days. Check that your phone is unlocked before you buy.

The UK Foreign Office (FCDO) advises against all travel to western and central Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago, and against all but essential travel to the rest of Mindanao except Camiguin, Dinagat and Siargao. None of the routes in this guide goes there, and Siargao is reached by air. Other governments draw their own lines, so read your own government's advice and your insurer's terms.

Insure medical care, evacuation and any diving. The FCDO notes that care varies, especially in remote areas, and that private treatment and transport can be expensive. It describes mosquito-borne disease as a year-round risk, with higher dengue risk from June to October. The emergency number is 911.

Use an established transfer or a reputable taxi and keep valuables out of sight. The FCDO highlights road accidents and advises against driving at night or in bad weather where possible; for Bohol's inland day, the shared tour or a car with a driver is easier than a rented scooter.

Pack light clothes, a cover-up for churches, a rain layer and shoes with grip for wet steps and boat landings. Keep medicines in labelled packaging, with first-night essentials in the cabin bag.

Local food on the route

The five dishes below follow the route from Cebu City to Bohol and back to Mactan. On the inland Bohol day, Bohol's planning office lists carabao, or kabaw, dishes in Loboc and alupe, a sweet steamed in banana leaf, in Bilar. Sinigang, a sour soup with pork, milkfish or prawns, is a dependable lunch on travel days; Gerry's has three versions on its menu.

For vegetarian or vegan meals, explain by ingredient: no meat, fish, shrimp paste, fish sauce or animal stock, because a vegetable dish can still be cooked in meat broth. Tell the kitchen about any allergy when you order.

Travelling with children or limited mobility

Fewer moves help children: this week has three rooms and two crossings, and the Panglao room stays put for three nights. Southwest Tours' Bohol tour is free for children aged 0–2; from 3 they pay the adult rate. A family with cases and a pushchair may find Business Class, with its larger baggage allowance, easier on the fast craft.

Southwest publishes the walking at each stop: about 25 metres of flat concrete to the Loboc river raft, a flat concrete path at the Chocolate Hills with an optional 213-step climb to the viewing promenade, and about 100 metres on 20-degree slopes at the tarsier sanctuary. Its private version collects you from your hotel anywhere in Panglao and Tagbilaran.

For a wheelchair user, the fast craft is the hardest leg. Flying into Bohol-Panglao International Airport, on Panglao itself, removes both crossings and the Tagbilaran road transfer. Arrange assistance, and acceptance of a powered chair's battery, with the airline when you book.

In Cebu City, Magellan's Cross, the Basilica and Fort San Pedro are close together in the old centre, so a short morning by car with lunch in between covers the main sights without long walks. On Panglao, a beach hotel with its restaurant on site saves an evening ride.