Fly into Panglao
We chose to fly directly from Manila to Bohol for our vacation to Bohol. The Bohol Airport is actually on the island of Panglao, which is on the southern tip of Bohol Island and has a bridge connecting the two islands. The other option is to fly into Cebu and ferry across to Bohol Island.
The reason we chose to fly directly into Bohol was due to our short length of visit. Arriving in Cebu, we would have to travel to the ferry port, cross the channel by ferry, then drive across Bohol to the beach resorts. The extra travel steps to travel by airplane – ferry – bus were not worth our time in comparison to the small extra cost of flying directly from Manila to Bohol-Panglao International Airport.
Beach Stay
We chose to stay at a hostel on the beach close to the Panglao International Airport since we were flying. We chose the Dimateun Beach as it had been recommended as quieter than the more popular Alona Beach, and Dimateun Beach was just a few minutes further down the road from the airport.
One of our favorite activities on Dimateun Beach was snorkeling directly off the beach. Even the seven year old could see fish just a few minutes swimming out into the ocean. Those of us with more stamina could spend an hour swimming around and seeing stunning coral, all colors of fish, multiple kinds of starfish, and a dotting of sea urchins in deeper waters.
The other activity we enjoyed was watching the sunset from the ocean. We heard that Alona Beach was known for it’s beautiful sunsets. Since our beach was around a corner of the island, our view of the sunset was best seen from the ocean looking towards our beach. The view was gorgeous!
Rental car through hostel for 24 hours
In order to enjoy the beach, but also see the sights around the island that Bohol is so well-known for, we decided to rent a car for just 24 hours. We rented from 6 pm to 6 pm, so that we could check out the different restaurant options around Panglao Island both days for dinner.
Visit Smok’d
We started with a trip to a barbeque joint called Smok’d, which had delicious, fall-off-the-bone smoked meat. We shared a platter and a sandwich between our family and the food was wonderful and delicious.
Visit Alona Beach
We then took an evening visit to Alona Beach. It was a busy, lively crowd at night with lots of dining options. However, with our desire for a quiet family beach stay, we were glad to have chosen Dimateun Beach.
Tarsiers
The next morning, we got up and into our rental car to go visit the Tarsier Conservation Center and the Chocolate Hills and then see where the rest of the day would take us!
The Tarsier Conservation Center is on the south side of Bohol Island, about a 45 minute drive from Aloha Beach. We spent about an hour at the center learning about tarsiers, the concerns about their safety, and seeing several in the trees. There is a guide that takes people on a short trail through the woods behind the center’s main building where they point out the tarsiers hiding in the trees. With the guide, it makes it easy for the kids to find them, as they are so well hidden! Our littlest needed to be picked up to see the tarsiers as they can be up quite high and are snug in their hiding spot. The kids were also told to be very quiet as tarsiers are noctornal and easily frightened. The informational center did a really good job of helping my children understand that we were entering the tarsiers’ habitat and it was not our place to be loud and interrupt the tarsiers’ daily lives.
We took a look around the small museum to see the skeletal structure of the tarsier and more about their diet and their habitat. We left with a great understanding all about these enduring creatures.
Chocolate Hills
We continued heading north on the island to the interior. The roads were extremely windy through the east coast hills. Watch out if you get car sickness! But the scenery was beautiful and we soon found ourselves spotting those chocolate hills in the distance! They pop up on the horizon looking very different than a regular hill!
We parked our car at the shuttle service, which took us up one of the hills to get a view of the chocolate hills from up high. From the shuttle, to get to the tippy tippy top of the hill, you still have to walk stairs. But our kids were really excited to get the full 360 degree view, so they walked quickly all the way up! We had a blast taking pictures from the top with lots of poses and trying to count as many of them as we could. Since we visited in April, we were lucky to be there during hot season when the hills are all fully brown like the chocolate in their name.
It was hard to leave as there was so much to see from all directions, but we were all getting hungry!
Tagbilaran City – Jollibee’s
For a late lunch, we wanted to give our kids a classic Filipino experience by eating at Jollibee’s. Jollibee’s is a fast-food chain that is all over the Philippines but can also now be found in countries around the world! Jollibee’s has family meals, so we could try several different dishes and the kids also got kiddie meals with a toy. We were also able to drive through Tagbilaran City and get a view of the town!
Hinagdanan Cave
After a good meal, we made our way to the last stop of the day. It was nearing closing time, but several of my kids were very excited to see an underwater pool inside of a cave, so we swung by Hinagdanan Cave, which is back on Panglao Island. Tickets were 50 pesos, but if you wanted to swim, you had to pay an extra 75 pesos. As it was late (you can only swim until 4:30), we chose not to get into the water. To get to the cave, you walk into a hole in the ground. It is big enough for one person at a time and can get quite damp, so it’s good there are railings to hold onto! Once inside it opens up down a hallway and then into the big cave room with the pool of water. The room has lights, and you can climb around on the edge and look around and watch people swimming. We wished we had chosen to swim once we got down into the cave! How much fun to swim inside a cave! But it had been a long day and the kids were getting tired. There were lots of stalls of souvenirs and fresh fruit shakes as we left the cave area and got back onto the road to our accommodation.
Jojie’s Bakeshop
One other place that we frequented during our time on Panglao and Bohol islands was Jojie’s Bakeshop. The Philippines is known for it’s pandesal, a soft roll-type bread. Jojie’s Bakeshop had delicious pandesal, as well as other baked goods, all for only a few pesos a piece. My kids loved stopping at Jojie’s for a snack. They can be found in locations across the islands.