Likes & Dislikes

Opinions

“Cebu cannot be considered one of the most pleasant cities in Southeast Asia. There aren’t a lot of ‘sights’ in the traditional sense, and anyone bothered by the traffic chaos and smells of Bangkok is unlikely to enjoy Cebu City. The main reason for visiting Cebu lies in its geographical location: it’s cheap and easy to fly here from Kuala Lumpur, and more importantly, it’s a perfect departure point for exploring the nearby islands.

The highlight of my visit to the island of Cebu was swimming with whale sharks in Oslob. Oslob is a (bumpy) 3-4 hour bus ride from Cebu City, but it’s worth it for the greatest natural attraction on the island (and perhaps one of the greatest in the world). Here in the bay you can swim just have a meter or so from these enormous (up to five meters long) and beautiful whale sharks. Together with snorkel rental and hiring a personal photographer (!) it costs about $25. IMPORTANT: this activity is only possible in the morning, and it’s worth arriving very early to avoid the crowds and the queueing (which can take several hours) (Andreas, 2017)




Practicals

Transport

Cebu City: streets in downtown areas are narrow, traffic jams most of the day (worst during rush hours). Often it takes almost an hour to travel a distance of just five kilometers.

The public transport in Cebu is not as good as Manila, but not as crowded either. Tourists walk a lot and ride jeepneys.

Cebu - bus station

Background

Destination in brief

Size: 315 km² (121.6 mi²)

Population (in 2020): 982,000

Central city: Cebu City

Languages: Cebuano (Bisaya?) is the local language - Cebuanos have difficulty expressing in Tagalog
 

History

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Cebu - Magellan's Cross - a Christian cross planted by Portuguese and Spanish explorers on order of Ferdinand Magellan upon arriving in Cebu in 1521 - Elter photo

Attractions

Cebu - Sibonga Cebu - Simala Shrine – Monastery of the Holy Eucharist - a.a. photo

Philippines - Cebu - Sacred Heart Church - Elter photo

Cebu - Mactan Island - Magellan Shrine - Elter photo

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