Cebu Bohol Itinerary With Cost – From 5 days to 7 days
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This is the Cebu Bohol itinerary for those who are planning to travel there for 5 to 7 days with cost. To be specific, if your main focus is Bohol with some time in Cebu City as a transit point, this is the blog post you should read.
I have been to Cebu & Bohol twice in the past. My first trip was to these two provinces to obtain my AOW scuba diving license in Bohol. And because of the amazing scenery in Bohol and the convenience of major sightseeing points in Cebu, I chose to visit again recently with my family.
How many days do I need for the Cebu Bohol itinerary?
The main attractions in Cebu province are in the city center (near the Magellan’s Cross area). For Bohol province, most of them start from Panglao Island near Alona Beach. Considering the transportation time from Cebu to Bohol (~2 hours ferry), you should budget at least 5 days in total, so that you have at least 3 full days in Bohol. I did 7 days in total during my last visit, and that’s the ideal for all major activities in Bohol, while not missing the most famous icons in Cebu City.
In Bohol, you would start getting bored after day 6. So if you are staying more than 7 days, you could budget the rest of the extra days for Cebu City. However, I wouldn’t go beyond 10 days in total for both, as there isn’t much worth visiting in Cebu, given that you’ve already done most of the water activities in Bohol.
Feel free to adjust the itinerary below to fit yours accordingly.
Day 1: Arrival in Cebu and Exploring the City Center
Your Cebu Bohol journey begins upon landing at Mactan-Cebu International Airport. The custom is not as busy as the ones in Bangkok or Ho Chi Minh City. And if you register for the ETA (available 3 days before arrival time), you shall be the first in line to clear immigration.
After the immigration, hop into a Grab ride— the ride-hailing app is reliable and affordable here—for a 30-45 minute transfer to the city center, costing around 300-500 PHP (about 5-9 USD). For a mid-budget traveler, I would recommend you to stay at One Central Hotel. This hotel costs less than 20 USD per night with a rooftop pool and gym. The location is also the best, with a local mall (“Elizabeth Mall) nearby for food, a supermarket, and a currency exchange. It is also located within 15 15-minute distance to most of the main attractions.
Assuming you have most of the afternoon after hotel check-in on day 1, you could cover most of the main attractions in the city center. That includes Magellan’s Cross, Basilica del Sto. Nino, Fort San Pedro, and multiple museums. Don’t forget to also have your dinner at some local restaurants.
I have put the time required and opening time info in my other blog post about 1 day in Cebu.
🛏️ Book Your Stay In Cebu Here ✅
Best Place To Stay In Cebu
I stayed in “One Central Hotel” and would recommend that you do so. It is a budget hotel with an infinity pool and a gym, with the best location just near Elizabeth Mall (which has a large supermarket, food court, and shops for currency exchange).
Day 2: Depart from Cebu to Bohol
Day 2, we will be departing for Bohol, the main dish of our itinerary. Cebu and Bohol are well connected with a ferry service that runs daily as early as 5:10 am (last ride around 6:40 pm). The boat ride is around 2 hours and costs ( ~ 14 USD). Upon arrival, you will need to grab a tuk-tuk to Alona Beach for around 800 PHP (~ 14 USD ); the ride from Tagbilaran port to Alona Beach is around 40 minutes.
So departing in the morning, say taking the 9:20 am ferry to Bohol, is highly recommended. There are a lot of great restaurants at the terminal, thus there is no need to worry about breakfast. To skip the crowd, you should book your ticket via Klook online in advance.
For a detailed ferry guide, you may refer to my other blog post here.
🛥️ Book Your Cebu Bohol Ferry Ticket Here:
Klook: Most Recommended ✅ because it offers instant confirmation, same-day booking, and all 13 timeslots of Oceanjet
Agoda: At the time of writing, it is the cheapest option, but needs to be booked 3 days in advance for Oceanjet
12Go: It has booking options for both Oceanjet and SuperCat
KKday: It also requires 3 days in advance booking for Oceanjet, so use it as a backup option for price checking
The Best Way To Have Both Experiences In Cebu & Bohol
The ferry journey between Cebu and Bohol is around 2 hours. It has over 20 time slots per day. If you are planning an itinerary that covers both Cebu and Bohol, this is a must route that you will take.
Upon arrival at Alona Beach and checking into your accommodation, you could go for your first excursion – Napaling Sardine Run Snorkeling there. The whole snorkeling, including transport, would take around 3 hours. The last entry of the snorkeling site is at 4 pm. To avoid the hassle, you could book the tour in advance on Klook first.
Alternatively, you could also chill on Panglao Island for those non-water activities, including massage, fire dance, or have a great meal at a local Korean restaurant.
🤿 ✅ Book Your Sardine Run Experience Here!
A Great Unique Experience For Family
Napaling Sardine Run snorkeling/diving site is only ~ 20 minutes from the Panglao island prime area. The whole experience is short, safe, and fulfilling. It is suitable for couples, friends, and even family with kids and the elderly alike.
Day 3: Island Hopping Tour in Bohol
Day 3 is the first full day on Panglao Island. We shall start our first full day with the signature island hopping in Bohol. In general, the tour would include a boat trip to Balicasag Island and Virgin Island (currently temporarily closed). During the island hopping, there will be at least 2 sessions of snorkeling with a beverage and great food on board.
Balicasag is one of the famous snorkeling sites in Bohol and is renowned as a sea turtle sanctuary. I have been to the island twice and was amazed every time being under the water. For more photos and tour details, you may check out my Bohol island review.
The tour departs around 6 am and gets you back to Alona Beach around 2 pm. The tour cost ranges from 1,000 PHP to 1,500 PHP (18 -27 USD), including transport, boat, guide, food, and beverage. Pre-booking of the tour via an online travel agency is possible, or you could also purchase from the local vendors.
After the tour, you should take a good rest. If you are still looking for more, you can consider joining the famous Bohol firefly tour, which departs around 6 pm daily. It is a short and sweet tour, taking you to the Loboc River for firefly watching under the starry night.
⛰️ Standalone Firefly Watching Tour Is Available Here ✅
Bohol Firefly Watching Is Great For Family Trip
The Bohol firefly watching standalone tour is the best for every itinerary, especially if you are going to Panglao with your family. It is the best way to create a unique memory for your family’s travel.
Day 4: Scuba Diving in Bohol
Bohol is one of the best diving sites in the world. It has the clearest water I have ever seen compared to diving in Vietnam, Madagascar, Jordan, and Cyprus. The island’s reefs, part of the feature walls, caves, sardines, different kinds of coral fishes, and, if lucky enough, you could even encounter whale sharks. The diving cost for a 3-dive package a day is around 5,500 PHP (97 USD), including gear and boat fees.
I recommend Valm Divers, a professional boutique dive center on Alona Beach with experienced instructors and small groups. Their trips emphasize safety and sustainability, exploring sites like Doljo, Napaling, or Balicasag. Dives start early, wrapping by afternoon for decompression and rest. Alternatively, there are a lot of other diving shops near Alona Beach for selection.
The diving usually ends around 2 pm. Feel free to have a drink and food at the bars nearby. If you are not a licensed diver, there are also discovery diving options available on the island.
Diving in Bohol Video
Diving in Bohol at night video
Day 5: Bohol Countryside Tour
On day 5, we will be taking a break from the water and taking a Bohol Countryside tour. It is a signature full-day tour offered by most of the online travel agencies and also local vendors. Typically, the itinerary would include a visit to the tarsier (an endangered little monkey) conservation, the Chocolate Hills, Baclayon Church, Blood Compact Shrine, Bilar man-made forest, and lunch at the Loboc River. It is a full-day tour starting at 8 am and ending at around 5 pm.
Noting that most of the tours, like the one on Klook, do not include the lunch and entrance fee (which in total is around 1,300 PHP ( ~ 25 USD)). There are other all-inclusive options, but they are usually more expensive.
After a full day tour, you may want to watch the fire dance show at the central Alona beach plaza starting at 6 pm and dinner afterward.
⛰️ Book Your Bohol Countryside Tour Here ✅
The Full Day Culture Tour
Bohol Countryside tour is a full day tour that includes most of icons in Bohol with cultural significance including Chocolate Hills, Tarsier Conservation, Man-made Forest, Baclayon Church and Blood Compact Shrine.
Day 6: Head to Oslob for Whale Shark Watching
On Day 6, we will be heading to another province, Oslob, for whale shark watching. It is one of the most memorable tours in my life and also taking off whale shark encountering from my bucket list. The tour usually departs at 6 am from Momo Beach, Panglao, and is completed at around 2 pm. The tour is around 63 USD by local vendors near Alona beach and around 53 USD by KKday. Unfortunately, I have checked online and only KKday offers the Bohol-Oslob whale shark watching tour at the moment. I have created another blog post for the Bohol-Oslob whale shark review for detailed information.
Although the snorkeling time is only around 30 minutes compared to the ~ 5 hours transportation time in total, I consider it is worth going. Because that 30-minute encounter would surely impress you. Also, each day, there are endless tourists around the world going there just for the encounter.
After the tour, enjoy your last day on Panglao Island. Feel free to shop for souvenirs around the island if you have not done so in previous days.
*Noting that alternatively, you can also choose to depart from Oslob to Cebu City after the whale shark watching. However, you would need to negotiate with the local vendor for that, and you will need to carry your luggage around. The drive from Oslob to Cebu City is around 3.5 hours.
🐋 Book Your Once-In-A-Lifetime Whale Shark Experience Here!
Oslob Whale Shark Watching Tour From Bohol Island
After my extensive research, pre-booking of the Bohol to Oslob whale shark watching tour is only available on KKday. If you are looking for a vacation on the island, this is the best choice you can have. The price is cheaper with more accountability than local vendors.
Day 7: Back to Bohol
Wrap up your 7-day adventure by heading back to Bohol via the early OceanJet boat from Cebu. If your flight is scheduled at night, you could visit SM City Cebu (a modern shopping mall near the seaside) and the Cebu Ocean Park nearby. You could even do a sea trek there, which is one of the most affordable in Asia, but just be aware that you can only do that 12 hours before your flight (so only do it if you have an extra day).
Or else you can also grab the remaining time to visit the icons you missed on day 1.
🏄 A Small But Worthy Ocean Park ✅ Book Your Visit Here!
A Park That Wouldn’t Make You Feel FOMO
Despite being a small park, Cebu Ocean Park has multiple ethical attractions that are the best icons for a a family visit. I had a wonderful time there with my family, highly recommend that for you as well.
Cost Overview for Cebu Bohol Itinerary
Accommodation, food, and transportation are cheap in both Cebu and Bohol. While the excursion price varies, it is not expensive either. For example, it costs less than 100 USD for 3 scuba diving sessions.
So with 80-100 USD or even less, you could have a very luxurious experience for your trip already. If you are doing budget travel, which may not be a good use of time for annual leaves, the budget could even be lower than 50 USD daily.
Accommodation
It averages 20 USD per night for comfortable mid-range options like beachfront guesthouses in Bohol or city hotels in Cebu.
Food
Around 5 – 10 USD for a decent local meal (street food, eateries); 20-30 USD for luxury like seaside dinners with fresh seafood.
Transportation
Grab or Tuktuk is cheap at around 5 USD most of the time, except for the ride from Tagbilaran Bohol pier to Alona beach, which is around 15 USD. The Cebu-Bohol ferry is around 15 USD one way.
Tour / Excursions
The excursion price varies from as low as ~ 15 USD for firefly watching to ~ 100 USD for 3 scuba dives. You can find the table of estimated prices for the tours I mentioned.
| Napaling Sardine Run Snorkeling | ~ 32 USD |
| Island Hopping Tour | ~ 27 USD |
| Bohol Firefly Watching Tour | ~ 15 USD |
| Scuba Diving (3 dives) | ~ 97 USD |
| Bohol Countryside Tour | ~ 35 USD (including entrance fee & lunch) |
| Bohol-Oslob Whale Shark Tour | ~ 53 USD |
A Unique and Worthy Experience – Cebu Bohol Itinerary
Bohol is one of the best places on earth for water activities. It offers the taste of being on a leisure island, while having all the infrastructures you need like restaurants, massage, souvenir shops and etc. Cebu, despite in our itinerary being mainly a place for transiting, offers a good taste of Filipino culture, and you can achieve a lot even in a day. Compared to other itineraries, other Asian itineraries like Thailand, Vietnam, and the Maldives have the best balance for urbanisation and island experience.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Cebu Bohol Itinerary
How many days are sufficient for both cities?
7 days are the most optimal to cover all main activities. If you want to explore Cebu more, you can add a couple of more days. 5 days would be minimal, given that you will need to transit from Cebu to Bohol.
How do I get back from Bohol to Cebu by ferry?
The Bohol to Cebu ferry via OceanJet takes 2 hours, with fares around 15 USD, departing multiple times daily from Tagbilaran to Cebu Pier. The same way you did on day 2.
Is there a direct flight to Bohol?
Not many. Unless you fly from Korea or other cities in the Philippines. Or else using a ferry would be preferred.
Planning the Cebu and Bohol itinerary seems complex?
Not at all. In fact, it is easier than most other itineraries. Basically, you need to leave a minimum of 2 days for Cebu, then decide how to spend the rest days on Panglao Island.
Are Cebu and Bohol safe?
Bohol is very safe, given that Alona Beach has lots of tourists there. For Cebu, it is safe as well; there is no hustling I have experienced during my stay there. Of course, general precautions are always recommended.
