Cebu-Siquijor Backpacking: Places to Visit, Where to Stay, Activities, Itinerary and Sample Budget

Cebu, dubbed as the Queen City of the South, has been eyed by both foreign and local tourists due to the vast enthralling scenes and activities that the history books didn’t mention yet will surely quench one’s thirst for some adrenaline rush and give one an infinite capacity to be amazed and thankful for the adventure and experience. It never runs out of something new for people always breaks into another piece of paradise in the province that is yet known to everyone. The same thing goes with its neighboring island, Siquijor. If Cebu is an open book, this off the beaten path province is gradually making its way to the travelers’ destination top notch because of its unspoiled wonders ranging from the most laid back to the most exhilarating enough to get you stoked. Thus, as much as the time, energy and your bank accounts (lol) permit, you should start creating lit memories and cross these out in your bucket lists!

LET’S START WITH OUR CEBU-SIQUIJOR ADVENTURE? Keep reading, then!

We booked a flight from Clark via Traveloka app. Flights are cheaper when coming from Clark than the other airports in Manila (i.e. NAIA terminals 1 and 2). Another thing, if you don’t want to bloody book a flight by staying up all night and waiting on the longest queue in your life during airline seat sales and Travel Expos, you might want to check flights at Traveloka from time to time since it is more convenient and cheap, too. That is actually what we did.

ITINERARY:

DAY 0:

8:00pm – ETD from Trinoma to Clark

10:00pm – ETA Clark Airport

11:00pm – Check in Counter

1:15am – ETD from Clark to Cebu

DAY 1: South Cebu Tour

2:00am – ETA Mactan Airport

2:10am – cab to South Bus Terminal

2:45am – board to bus bound for Oslob

3:00am – ETD Oslob

6:00am – ETA Oslob/ Resort for Whale Shark Watching

6:00am – change clothes

6:15am – orientation

6:30am – whale shark watching proper

7:00am – wash up

8:00am – ETD to inn

8:20am – ETA Gravino Pension Inn/ Check in

8:30am – breakfast

9:30am – ETD Bato-Oslob

10:00am – ETA Bato, transfer to bus bound for Barili

11:30am – ETA Badian/ lunch

12:30nn – start canyoneering

4:00pm – wash up

5:00pm – bus to Bato – Oslob

7:00pm – ETA Bato/ transfer bus

7:30pm – ETA Oslob Public Market for dinner

8:30pm – back to inn/ retire

Whale Shark Watching at Oslob, Cebu

It was my first time to swim with whale sharks. It was indeed one for the books but after that one hour encounter, I told myself that I won’t do it again nor promote such activity. I swam with them close enough to see that most of them were wounded. These gentle beasts are heavily dependent on the local’s feeding when they should be migrating and knowledgeable of hunting on their own.

Instead of Whale Shark watching, I suggest you do something else or visit some place else such as swimming with the sardines at Moalboal, visiting other falls in South Cebu, going to Pescador island or go on a historical walk in the region.

Kawasan Falls, Badian, Cebu

DAY 2: Siquijor Island Tour

3:10am – wake up/ prepare

3:40am – ETD to Liloan Port

4:30am – ETA Liloan Port

4:45am – ferry from Liloan Port, Santander to Sibulan Port (Dumaguete)

5:20am – ETA Sibulan port/ jeep to Dumaguete Port going to Siquijor

5:40am – ETA Dumaguete port to Siquijor

5:45am – ETD to Siquijor

7:30am – ETA Siquijor, Siquijor/ breakfast

8:30am – start tour

8:40am – St. Francis De Asisi Church

9:00am – Paliton Beach

10:30am – Casilay Spring Park

10:45am – Century Old Balete Tree

11:30am – Lazi Church/ Convent

12:00pm – Cambugahay Falls

2:30pm – Salagdoong Beach

4:00pm – wash up

4:30pm – ETD to Larena Port

4:50pm – ETA Port

5:00pm – ETD to Cebu

7:30pm – ETA Cebu/ dinner at Oslob Public Market

8:30pm – back to inn/ retire

SEE: Siquijor Travel Guide: Places to Visit, Sample Itinerary, Budget and Where to Stay

DAY 3: Cebu City Tour

5:30am – wake up/ pack up

6:00am – check out/ ETD to Sibonga

7:30am – ETA Sibonga

7:40am – ETA Simala Shrine (via Habal-Habal)/ breakfast

8:00am – Simala Shrine

9:30am – ETD to South Bus Terminal

11:30am – ETA South Bus Terminal

11:40am – LUNCH

12:30pm – ETA Taoist Temple

1:00pm – Taoist Temple

2:30pm – Sirao Garden

3:00pm – Temple of Leah

3:45pm – TOPS

5:00pm – La Vie Parisienne

5:45pm – Magellan’s Cross

6:00pm – Sto. Nino Church

7:00pm – Dinner at House of Lechon

8:30pm – The Pyramid at IT Park Cebu

10:30pm – Check in/ Express in Mactan

You have quite a lot of choices when doing the Cebu City Tour. You can either rent a cab, go DIY or join a tour. In terms of convenience, you can go for choices A and C, rent a cab or join a tour which both has pros and cons. Choice A may be a little bit expensive but you can actually take your time in the places you can go to or make modifications to the the itinerary. The latter choice is cheaper but the itinerary is preset and you may have limited time on the place you’ll be visiting. Tour B is the cheapest choice you’ll have, at the same time, most exciting but you have to endure a lot of jeepney and habal-habal transfers and waiting which may take your time. This is a little challenging since you have to familiarize the jeepney codes as well. Should you choose this, you may want to follow this:

>From downtown Cebu, ride a jeepney (codes 04 and 17) to Eskina. Once alighted, take a habal habal to Taoist Temple. You can also charter for the habal that you took back to Eskina.

>Once back at Eskina, wait for a 04H jeepney bound for Plaza Housing. Only the jeepneys with this code goes up to Lahug. Take one and alight at Plaza Housing. From there, take a habal habal that you can charter and take you to Temple of Leah, TOPS and Sirao Farm.

>take the same route backwards when going back to the City

>La Vie Parisienne, the Pyramid and House of Lechon are quite accessible when you are at the City proper. You can take any of the 04 and 17 coded jeepneys as it will pass by these places.

#NoFilter photos! Snaps with GoPro Hero 6! That cam is lit!

Simala Shrine in Sibonga, Cebu

Sirao Garden – Little Amsterdam

Taoist Temple – Beverly Hills

I have seen Cebu inside out and now I don’t want to leave ? . . . . . Super loving this summer ready ootd from @cuffph ?

A post shared by The Queen’s Escape ? (@annegumiran) on May 9, 2018 at 7:30am PDT

TOPS, Busay Hills, Lahug, Cebu

Temple of Leah

Circa 1900 – Ancestral House turned into a Restaurant

La Vie Parisienne

Magellan’s Cross, Downtown Cebu

Sto. Nino Church

The Pyramid Restaurant at IT Park Cebu

DAY 4: 10,000 Roses Tour / Home Bound

7:00am – wake up/prepare

8:00am – breakfast

9:00am – pack up/ check out

9:30am – ETA to Cordova

10:00am – 10,000 roses

11:30am – ETD to Mactan Airport

1:00pm – lunch

2:00pm – buy pasalubong

3:00pm – check in counter

4:00pm – board/ BYE CEBU HUHU

SAMPLE BUDGET

DAY 0:

P2P Bus Fare (Trinoma to Clark) – 250php

Dinner – 100php

Clark Airport Terminal Fee – 150php

TOTAL: 500php

DAY 1:

Taxi from Airport to South bus Terminal – 260php/2

Bus fare (Cebu City to Oslob) – 192php/head

Whale Shark Watching Fee – 600php/head

Breakfast – 60php

Bus Fare (Resort for Whale Shark Watching to Gravino) 25php

Bus Fare (Oslob to Bato) 40php

Bus Fare (Bato to Badian) 65php

*Canyoneering – 1500php

*Non-canyoneering – 45php

life vest – 50php

snacks – 65php

Bus Fare (Badian to Bato) – 65php

Bus Fare (Bato to Oslob) – 40php

Dinner – 178php

TOTAL:

*with canyoneering – 2,871php

*without canyoneering – 1,466php

DAY 2:

Bus Fare (Oslob to Liloan Port, regular bus) – 25php

Fast craft fare – 40php

Terminal Fee (Liloan Port) – 15php

Ferry fare (Dumaguete to Siquijor-GL Shipping) – 160php

Terminal Fee (Dumaguete Port) 15php

Breakfast – 70php

Motorbike rent – 400php/day/2

Gasoline – 110php/2

Century Old Balete Tree Entrance – 10php

Cambugahay Falls – 20php/ unli tarzan jump

100php – lunch

Salagdoong Beach Entrance Fee – 25php

Ferry (Larena Port to Liloan Port) – 200php

Terminal Fee – 17php

Bus fare (Liloan Port to Gravino Pension House) – 40php

Dinner – 80php

TOTAL – 1,047php

DAY 3:

Bus fare (Oslob to Sibonga) – 92php

Habal habal – 50php

Breakfast – 90php

Bus fare (Sibonga to South Bus Terminal) – 85php

Temple of Leah – 50php

Sirao Garden – 50php

Lunch – 100php

Tops Cebu – 100php

*La Vie Parisienne, Taoist Temple, Simala Shrine and The Pyramid don’t have entrance fees

Dinner – 200php

Taxi Rental – 3,000php/2

TOTAL: 2,317php

Ten Thousand Roses Cafe in Cordova, Mactan Island, Cebu

DAY 4:

Breakfast – 100php

Grab (Express in to 10,000 roses) – 160php

Entrance Fee – 100php

Grab (Express in Mactan Airport) 240php

Lunch – 120php

P2P Bus from Clark International Airport to NAIA T3 – 400php/ head

Grab (NAIA T3 to home) – 600php

TOTAL: 1,220php

HOTELS:

Gravino Pension House (Oslob, 3 days 2 nights) – 1,797.94

Express Inn (Mactan Islans, Cebu overnight) – 912.41

TOTAL: 2,709.82

Gravino Pension House, Oslob Cebu – Book here!

Express Inn Mactan – Book here!

GRAND TOTAL:

7,904.91php – without canyoneering

8,809.91php – with canyoneering

*take note that souvenirs are not yet included in the budget

We flew with Cebu Pacific Air but our plane tickets were booked via Traveloka. It cost us 2,700php each. Sample itinerary may still vary depending on your preference and the time you’ll spend in each place. The same thing goes with the budget. It always depend on how much you eat and the souvernirs you’ll purchase. I think we spent around 2,000php to 3,000php on souvenirs.

Backpacking is among the most-fulfilling thing I’ve done in my life. I get to explore the streets of the cities and provinces I’ve never been, take different vehicles I’ve never rode before, talk to the locals most especially people and being delighted by the variation of their langauges and dialects and experience local food I’ve never tasted before. It also taught me a lot of things that I carried with me on my next adventure. I learned to respect everyone and everything, the interesting culture of different people and most of all, protect and take care of the wonders I have encountered. We can start doing simple things until we have become accustomed to it such as taking reusable drinking bottles, put our trash into our bags or pockets until we find a bin to transfer it into and not picking and taking anything from the place. Let’s all unite and do these and we’ll see if it makes the world a better place.