Serial Tripper

Bohol is located in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines, southeast of Cebu. Locally, it’s most known for the Chocolate Hills – conical formations near the center of its main island. It’s mainland attractions beyond the said hills are diverse, however. Old stone churches, white sand beaches and dive spots, endangered creatures called tarsiers, and historical sites are just some of what wonderful Bohol offers.

Bohol can easily be accessed by air via Manila. Cebu Pacific and Philippine Airlines have daily flights to Tagbilaran. There is another airport in Ubay, but it is not currently used by the local major airlines. By boat, access points are in Tagbilaran, Tubigon, Jagna, Ubay, Talibon, and Jetafe, connected to Cebu, Manila, Leyte, Mindanao, Siquijor, and Negros.

Tagbilaran

Tagbilaran is Bohol’s lone city. It’s the primary access point for most people who wish to visit Bohol as it houses the island’s singular commercial airport. That said, there’s not really much to see in Tagbilaran, save for a church and a few restaurants of note. Furthermore, it is geographically located right smack in between the beach resort-rich island of Panglao and the rest of the main island.

• Destinations
• Church of Tagbilaran. Only a couple of blocks away from Payag Restaurant is this church which is home to one of the six parishes Jesuit missionaries founded in Bohol (1595).
• Blood Compact Site. On the outskirts of the city, you might also want to check out this historic site where a treaty of friendship was sealed in blood between Spanish explorers and Bohol’s locals.
• Hotels
• Hotel La Roca (bohollaroca.com). This is the budget hotel where we stayed in when we spent the night in Tagbilaran City. The room was okay for the price and we think it was worth it, although the hotel was pretty gloomy both inside and outside.
• Bohol Tropics Resort (boholtropics.com). Another option in Tagbilaran that also offers conference rooms and halls for wedding receptions, corporate events, and celebrations.
• Restaurants
• Payag Restaurant. Known for their chicken inato, but I think the restaurant’s interiors deserve special notice as well – I’ve never seen a collection of chicken statues, figurines, and carvings as huge as Payag displays. My only regret when I visited it was that I wasn’t able to try the “to-die-for sizzling gambas” that Lonely Planet recommended.
• Garden Cafe. An interesting cowboy-themed restaurant that employs deaf waiters. This tops my list of must-try restaurants on my next Bohol visit.

Panglao Island

Beach lovers and divers head to Bohol for Panglao Island, which is lined with a lot of resorts. I haven’t tried a beach resort, as my lone night there was spent at the Bohol Bee Farm which is located on the rockier side of Panglao. As mentioned above, this island is accessible via a bridge connecting it to Tagbilaran City.

The easy way to get there is to arrange for land transfer from the airport or Tagbilaran City straight to your resort. If this is not an option, you can take a bus from Tagbilaran’s Dao Terminal – just ask around for the buses heading for Panglao town.

• Hotels
• Bohol Bee Farm (boholbeefarm.com). Definitely a must-see. If you’re not staying there, at least check out their restaurant. If you’re neither checking in nor dining there, at least try the farm tour. There’s a lot going on in that bee farm, so much that it’s almost self-sufficient. Most of the dishes served in the restaurants use organic ingredients produced by their farm (they even produce their own ice cream!) – and many products from their very own backyard are packaged and sold at a souvenir shop loaded with Bohol Bee Farm-original goods.
• ChARTs Resort (charts-alona.com). ChARTs is, as the name suggests, a haven for art. It’s a boutique resort that, according to their website, “is created in a Mediterranean-Asian style with a lot of passion for details.”
• Panglao Island Nature Resort & Spa (panglaoisland.com). One of the pricier options around the Panglao Island area, it also delivers one of the best facilities. There is an infinity pool, WiFi access, and a spa bath.

Danao

Danao is located at the northern-central part of Bohol and is home to the Danao Adventure Park which is fast becoming the place to be in Bohol for adventure-seeking tourists. It’s a few hours’ ride away from Tagbilaran City and passes through the Chocolate Hills, so it may be a good idea to plan your itinerary and timings well should you wish to include the adventure park in your visit to Bohol. (That’s speaking from experience – I almost missed the last bus to Danao from Tagbilaran City, which would have been very disastrous!)

• Destinations
• Danao Adventure Park (E.A.T. Danao). This place gave me the most memorable experience of my first Bohol trip: free-falling from a cliff about 50 meters high and swinging in a pendulum more than a couple hundred meters wide, with only cables and a harness keeping me safe. For that reason alone, I would recommend you to defy gravity yourself and try The Plunge. That stunt aside, you can also engage in less frightening activities there such as root climbing, rappelling, village touring, ziplining, or riding an ATV.
• Dagohoy Marker. Danao is also the hometown of Francisco Dagohoy, the Filipino hero who staged the longest revolt in Philippine history, who is honored with his own historical marker near the adventure park.

Loboc

Loboc’s identity is closely tied with its river, and not surprisingly, its primary attractions are along the body of water, if not the river itself.

• Destinations
• Loboc River. Most tourists visit Loboc for its popular floating restaurants – that is, ferries with lunch buffets and cheap entertainers on-board. I personally tried that for my second ride along the river, but I was more enamored during my first trip (a solo boat ride on my way to Nuts Huts) when I felt nature’s embrace in the middle of the lush, wide greenscape without bothersome crowds and bad music.
• Church of San Pedro Apostol. This church is the second oldest church in Bohol, built in 1602. It would soon be destroyed by fire, but was rebuilt in 1638. Over the years, because of its location near the Loboc River, it would also have to endure many floods. Having passed the tests of time, it would have been a great destination; however, when I visited Loboc, it was unfortunately closed for “detailed engineering studies.”
• Hotels
• Nuts Huts. A highly-recommended tourist and backpacker-friendly place located along Loboc River and surrounded by dense forests. It’s a great location if you value getting in touch with nature and escaping the city life. It’s accessible via any transport on the main road or via boat on the river. The European owners are very friendly and check on their guests often.

Baclayon

There is not a lot to see in Baclayon, save for one of the oldest churches in the country and a relatively new boutique hotel.

• Destinations
• Baclayon Church. One of Bohol’s can’t-miss tourist destinations and one of the Philippines’ oldest churches, this church dates back to sometime between 1717 and 1727 when two Jesuits, Juan de Torres and Gabriel Sanchez, decided to have the townspeople build a church due to lacking of proper venue for celebrating Masses.
• Hotels
• The Peacock Garden Luxury Resort and Spa (thepeacockgarden.com). A luxury boutique hotel located near Tagbilaran in nearby Baclayon.

Other Areas of Travel Interest

The good thing about Bohol is that many different areas in the island have something unique to offer. Here is a list of interesting things to see and do in other parts of Bohol:

• Destinations
• Chocolate Hills. These low, green hills are Bohol’s primary attraction. More than 1,700 conical, karst formations are spread over a fifty square kilometer expanse of sheer natural wonder.
• Tarsiers. Arguably the world’s smallest primate, the tarsier is an endangered species found only in Bohol. It is also a tourist attraction, but great care must be employed when interacting with these tiny, fragile creatures.
• Bilar Man-made Forest. This forest located on the borders of Bilar and Loboc is a preserved area filled with Marcos-era narra and mahogany trees. It is illegal to cut down trees here, and I was told that taking pictures outside the designated area for tourists is not allowed, as well.
• Simply Butterflies Conservation Center. This is one of the few popular butterfly “sanctuaries” in Bohol. They have do have rooms available for guests, a gift shop, and a snack bar, but the main reason you would want to visit it is the tour of the sanctuary which comes with a crash course in how butterflies live, mate, and reproduce.

Sources

Primary sources for information contained in this page are my personal trip to Bohol in February 2011 (refer to linked blog entries) and Lonely Planet Philippines (May 2009). This is not a complete guide to Bohol, Philippines, and you are highly encouraged to do further research before you travel.

Enjoy your visit to Bohol!