Northern & Southern Cebu Trip 2023
It wasn’t my plan to go back to Cebu this year as I was already here last year but a friend of mine randomly asked me to accompany her on her Cebu trip this year. We haven’t seen each other for almost two years and I always say to my friends, if we haven’t seen each other for quite some time, I want our reunion to be at the airport. So when she asked me to go with her in Bantayan Island Cebu, I did not hesitate to say yes.
It’s just a month before the trip so I booked my flights that matches her flight.
Finally, we met again after several years.
The line for check-in and bag drop is quite long but we had an assurance that we will be assisted right away just in case that it’s already our last call for boarding.
We are in Terminal 2 and the line is mixed up for local and international flights of PAL. Afterwards, we went to boarding gate. Charging station and free water is available in the area. There are also several shops and stalls wherein you can buy food and drinks.
We arrive in Cebu past 6AM. From the airport, we book grab going to the North Bus Terminal. But if you don’t want to book a grab or taxi, you can always make use of their P2P bus from airport to SM city Cebu.
From North Bus Terminal, there are two options to get to Hagnaya port. Either you take a bus or van. Bus is quite cheaper than the van but of course, the time travel will be longer. So we chose the van. The fare going to Hagnayon port from North Bus Terminal is P300. We aren’t supposed to ride the van that time as we plan to eat our breakfast first but this Kuya told us that they will have a stop over so we can ride now and just eat our breakfast on the stop over. We made a stop over in Carmen, Cebu and had our breakfast there.
After 2 hours and a half of traveling on the road, we finally reached Hagnaya port. From here, we will ride a ferry going to Bantayan Island. The fare is P385 plus the P5 terminal fee. A porter will help you carry your luggage from the terminal to the ferry. The porter charged us P70 for this but I don’t have smaller bills so I just gave the porter a hundred. If you plan to seat on the second floor of the ferry, you will really have to get a porter as it’s hard to bring your luggages to the second floor. So I highly suggest to just take a seat on the first floor. But the view is way better in the second floor.
You may book your ferry ticket via Klook and get a 5% discount by using my unique code: KRISTINEMAEBKLOOK
It’s a one hour ride from Hagnaya port to Bantayan island. Upon arrival at the port, our hotel has a free shuttle for their guests so we after we paid the ecological fee (P30 each) we went straight to our hotel.
It’s still early for our check-in when we arrived so we decided to eat our late lunch first in the hotel restaurant which we have just for our selves.
The food is really cheap and delicious plus you get to have a nice view of the beach front.
Since we’re kind of tired with the travel, we decided to take a rest first then late in the afternoon we went to the beach front to take photos and swim.
There’s a bar near the beach so you can drink as you enjoy the beach.
If you want to stay in La Playa Estrella Beach Resort, you may book a room via KLOOK and get a 5% discount by using my unique code: KRISTINEMAEBKLOOK
For our dinner, we decided to go to MJ square. This place has variety of restaurants, bars and souvenir shops. We ate at Bantayan Burrito Company. My friend told me that this place is trending on tiktok that’s why we ate here. We are the first customer that time then afterwards, customers started to pour in. The one who took our orders is the cook himself, we found out later on, then we figured why he knows the menu really well. (My friend was a bit in doubt if the one on display is the same as the one she’s asking for and then the guy told her it’s the same, it’s just presented in a different way. He knows my friend, he’s the cook :D)
After our dinner, we decided to go back to our hotel accomodation to rest as we will have our land tour the next day. Good thing, the tricycle we rode offers a cheap land tour and has a contact for island hopping. So we decided to get him for our land tour.
For the tricycle ride, according to the receptionist in the resort, the cost is just P25 but based on our experience, it depends on the driver, it ranges from P25-P30. But our ride from the hotel to MJ square only charged us P20 per head.
Before sleeping, we decided to chill at the bar in the beach.
Before going to our land tour, I decided to enjoy the sunrise view of the beach front. But it’s lowtide so I had to walk extra this time.
We started our land tour at 8AM. There are five destinations before we go on island hopping.
First destination: Mangroove
This is where you can find Camp Sawi and Camp Wagi.
So there is an entrance fee and it differs for adult and children.
Second destination: Sandira Paradise Beach
It’s worth it, the place is really beautiful.
Third destination: The Ruins
So this place doesn’t have an entrance fee and famous as a cliff jumping spot.
Don’t forget to try the buko and the grilled banana in front of the ruins.
Fourth destination: Balidbid Lagoon
To reach the Balidbid lagood, you will have to ride a boat (P100/pax) then pay the entrance fee on the lagoon itself (P100). The place is astonishing and picture perfect. But I noticed that the waves in the area are quite strong so if you’re not a swimmer, I don’t think that you should test your fate.
Fifth destination: Kota Beach
The beach is free of charge, no entrance fee required and you can eat in the restaurant bar nearby plus there is a sand bar. Billiards are also available. It’s nice that the place is quite near a secondary school so there are students in the area.
It’s already past lunch hour so we decided to eat our lunch first before we go on island hopping. According to our guide, the last boat available would be around 3PM.
Originally, we plan to go to virgin island and kalanggaman island. However, since it’s already late, we decided to just visit virgin island.
Before riding the boat, my friend decided to buy a shake for a drink as we travel across the ocean. There is an ecological fee of P100/pax then the boat rent is P1,000 good for 15 persons. But since, it’s just me and my friend, we had the whole boat just for the two of us.
The boat ride going to Virgin Island is around 20-30 minutes.
Upon arrival to virgin island, you will have to pay for the entrance fee (P300) then they will give you a wrist stab.
The island is privately owned, there are cottages available and a famous place for cliff diving (up to 35 feet). We went around the island to check out the whole place. There is a notice that non-swimmers should wear life vests. I noticed that the waves in the area is quite strong.
Afterwards, we decided to go back to our hotel and bought some dried goods as we wait for our tour guide.
For our dinner, we decided to try the restaurant bar that caught our attention last night. However, we were informed that the waiting time is one hour. Since, we are quite hungry this time we decided to look for another place and we found Igbaw (it means top in Bisaya). So it’s a rooftop restobar and I can say that this place serves good meal with awesome entertainers. It’s like they are already performing abroad, they are really good.
It’s our last night in Bantayan so we decided to have a drink at D’Sip in MJ square. There are only few ATM machines (near Prince) in the island and most of the establishments here only accepts cash. You can rarely see establishments that accepts GCash and Credit/Debit cards. So make sure that you have enough cash on hand when you visit this place.
Last day in Bantayan before we head back to the city.
Time to go back in the city as we’re running out of cash here.
We informed the front desk that we’ll be needing the shuttle to go to the port.
This time the roro fee is just P300 plus the two terminal fees which costs P5 each.
After one hour, we arrived in Hagnaya port. There are a lot of guys who will offer you bus/tax ride going to the city. But what we are looking for is van going to the city. Fortunately, we found one. The fare is still P300 from Hagnaya port to SM City Cebu. Last time, we only had 2 hours and a half of time travel including the stop over. But this time, since it’s saturday, the traffic is quite heavy plus we had a stop over in a hospital for around 40 minutes (there’s a passenger who had to get a result in the hospital and the driver willingly waited for this passenger) so the total time travel going back to Cebu city is 3 hours and a half.
Since it’s already past 2 in the afternoon, we are very hungry so we decided to eat our late lunch here in SM City Cebu before heading to Naga City.
Was able to score a good deal at Surplus so I couldn’t let this pass and bought it right away.
We are supposed to ride a bus going to Naga city from SM City Cebu, however, none of the buses on the terminal is heading to Naga. So we figured to book a grab car going to Naga but there is no grab car available going to our destination. We ended up hailing a taxi but the driver gave us a price of P800 to take us to Naga City. We were able to ask for a lower price of P700. We already took it as we wanted to have a rest.
It took us 2 hours before we reached our destination, there is only light traffic during our travel. It’s just that Naga is quite a distance from Cebu city.
After we settled our things to my friend’s ancestral house we went straight to boardwalk. We just saw this on tiktok and fortunately the place is walking distance from the place that we’re staying. So it’s from tiktok to reality.
Afterwards, we had some drink at Osting’s. The place is very cozy with a sea view and a live band.
Originally, our plan was to go to Simala upon arrival in Naga City. However, since our schedule was pushed back because of the delay caused during our transit from Hagnaya to the city, we decided to visit Simala on the next day.
From Naga City, we plan to ride a bus going to Simala but since we got offered by the relative of my friend to take the car with us, we grabbed the chance. Since it will be much faster for us to reach Simala by private car. It took us 2 hours from Naga City to Simala, Sibonga.
Since it’s palm sunday, it’s expected to have a volume of crowd. We had a hard time on finding a parking space since the place is quite full.
We lighted a candle and bought some religious items.
So while we’re waiting for the car, we bought some souviner items outside the church. Some of the stores here accepts GCash as a mode of payment. Then the cousin of my friend gave me this delicacy and I really like it, so I bought a pack of it. But I wasn’t able to ask what it is, even the cousin of my friend doesn’t know the name of this delicacy.
Since Carcar is on the way, we decided to stop by the area to buy a pasalubong. As soon as we alight from the car, a lot of vendors offered us different snacks.
The price differs per store so I highly suggest that you check out each store first before buying. For the street vendors, the price is almost the same but some of them gives you an extra pack depending on the number of items that you buy from them.
I only know this one powerful word “pila?” which means “magkano? / how much?”
I’m trying to blend with the locals.
Since it’s almost past 12, we decided to go to the market where we can buy lechon. I was told that there is a distinguishing difference between the lechon made in Carcar and Cebu city.
We decided to have our lunch in Acacia Grill and Restaurant in Carcar.
The place is quite instagrammable and very relaxing. It’s an open-air affordable restaurant.
Since it’s getting late, it’s time to go back to the city. We stayed in Apple Banawa Heights Cebu City.
For our dinner, we went to La Vie Parisienne. I just saw this place in instagram, so I decided to check out this place since I’m in Cebu.
The ambience is very instagrammable. However, it’s not a restaurant type wherein waiters will take your order from your assigned table. Here, you will go to the counter to take your order.
They serve pasta, gelato, wine, beers and more.
The water is quite pricey for P80/bottle. The water in the aiport is much cheaper (only P60). It was my bad that I did not check the google reviews of this place before heading to this place.
Chilling at the unit before my flight.
Fortunately, I was able to book a grab from the unit to the airport.
I was quite early for my check-in so I had time to relax for a bit then after check-in I still have time to have a last minute shopping before boarding.
Island Souvenir is my savior as I wasn’t able to buy any shirts during my trip for the last 4 days. Then I passed by Nomads and I saw that they have a promo for dried mango balls so I took the chance and they also sell chorizo. So everything that I wasn’t able to buy during my trip was bought in the airport. To be honest, it’s quite expensive here compare to the stores in the places I’ve been but since I wasn’t able to buy ahead of time, this is my only choice.
So far, I love their dried mango balls and it comes with different flavors.
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