Bohol is the island where your list is longer than your days. Hills, tarsiers, waterfalls, a wall full of turtles and a beach with fire shows, all within scooter distance of each other. You will not fit it all into three days, and you do not have to.
A few things really belong here: the water at Balicasag, one day on the scooter with no plan, and that ten centimetre primate in the forest at Corella. Others are on every board along Alona Beach and are mostly fun if you have half a day left over next to your ride along the jungle roads. And with the tarsiers, where you see them matters: for those animals it makes a real difference.
So where do your days on Bohol go, and what do you save for next time?
Still planning? How many days you need, where to sleep and how to get there are all on our Bohol page.
The interior by scooter: Can-umantad Falls and the rice terraces
Almost every backpacker does the hills and the tarsiers, and almost nobody rides on to the east of the island. That is where Can-umantad Falls comes crashing down, the highest waterfall on Bohol, hidden between rice terraces and jungle hills. No tour buses, no queue for the swimming hole, just you and a few locals.
A scooter costs from about €7 a day and it will keep you busy all day, because the loop through the interior is a long one. Combine the waterfall with the Cadapdapan Rice Terraces nearby, and on the way back ride through the Bilar man made forest. Bring your international driving permit and keep your helmet on, because they really do check here.
Set off early and make sure you are back before dark. On the inland roads there are dogs and water buffalo, and you only see them when you are almost on top of them. If you would rather not ride yourself, the tour to hidden waterfalls and jungle trails is the best way to still reach places like this.
Our verdict: the best day Bohol has to offer
The water at Balicasag: turtles, jacks and dolphins
Balicasag Island is twenty minutes by boat from Panglao, and it is the reason divers come to Bohol. A wall that drops straight into the deep, sea turtles that could not care less about you, and schools of jacks turning around you like a cloud. Even if you only snorkel, you see more here than at most places where other people go in with a tank.
Good to know if you want to dive there: only 150 divers a day are allowed in at Balicasag, and more than a hundred dive shops compete for those spots. Dive slots are booked three to four months ahead, with a copy of your certification, and a spot is never guaranteed. The reef around Panglao itself you can simply dive every day.
The boats leave early. The trips that look for wild dolphins first head out at dawn and do the snorkelling stops afterwards, so you are at sea before breakfast. An island hopping tour that combines dolphin watching with swimming with sea turtles is the easiest way to do it all in one morning.
Keep your hands off the coral and never stand on it to catch your breath. That is the only rule here, and it is exactly the rule that gets broken most often.
Our verdict: absolutely, even if you do not dive
Our own pick
Diving with Seaquest Dive Center
Seaquest has been on Alona Beach since 1990 and rotates between the dive sites around Panglao, full of seahorses, mantis shrimp and other small life. In groups of six at most, with local dive guides who have known these reefs for decades. Even if you have never dived before.
With the code REBELSONTHEROAD you get 2.5% off your PADI course. Give it when you book, because without mentioning it you will not get it.
See Seaquest Dive CenterOur partner on Bohol
The Chocolate Hills
1,268 cone shaped hills, almost all the same size, in the middle of the green interior. No photo explains why this works, because in a picture they look like a few bumps. Only from the viewpoint do you see how far they go on, and why the area is on the candidate list for UNESCO World Heritage.
The hills are a long way from Panglao, so you either go on a tour or ride there yourself. The countryside tour that does the hills, a tarsier sanctuary and the Loboc River in one day costs from about €30 including lunch and takes around eight hours. Transport, entry fees and the river cruise are usually included.
Come in April or May and they are brown, and the name makes sense. Come in the rainy season and they are bright green. Honestly, we think the green version is prettier, but then you have to be willing to take a gamble on your boat trips.
Our verdict: a must, and reckon on a short stop with a huge view
The tarsiers at Corella
A tarsier is about ten centimetres tall, has eyes that do not fit in its head, and spends the day sitting dead still on a branch in the darkest bit of forest it could find. Bohol is one of the few places in the world where you can see one. At the Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary in Corella the animals live free in the forest and guides point them out from a distance.
Entry is about €2 and the sanctuary is open daily from 9.00 to 16.00. Corella is on the route of most countryside tours, and on a scooter it is easy to combine with the Chocolate Hills on the same day.
Turn your flash off, keep your voice down and never touch one. These animals are so sensitive to stress that they can die from it in captivity, and half an hour of flashes is no small thing for them. Reckon on twenty minutes in the forest, not a whole morning.
Our verdict: absolutely, but only at Corella
The Loboc River
The Loboc winds through the greenest part of the interior, with jungle hanging down to the water on both sides. It is quiet, it is warm and it is the opposite of the bustle on Panglao. For a lot of travellers this is the calmest hour of their whole island hopping route.
The classic way is the river cruise: about €12 including a lunch buffet and around an hour on a floating restaurant. If you are on a countryside tour, that cruise is usually already included. Want to do it differently? Rent a kayak or a paddleboard: quieter, cheaper, and you hear the jungle instead of the music.
Choose which of the two you do on purpose. Take the kayak after a morning in a van full of people and you get a completely different afternoon out of it.
Our verdict: come for the river, and the buffet is a nice bonus
Alona Beach at sunset
Alona is the best known beach on Bohol and also the tourist heart of the island: dive schools, tour offices and beach bars in a row. During the day it is busy and hot, but around sunset the light slides low across the water and it instantly gets a lot more pleasant. Later in the evening there are fire shows on the beach.
The beach costs you nothing, and a sunbed is about €2. You are probably sleeping just round the corner anyway, so there is nothing to plan. A beer is about €1.20, so hanging around for an evening is never the problem.
Just do not eat on the beach itself. More on that below.
Our verdict: one evening is plenty, and ideally your last
Got time to spare on Bohol?
Seeing the tarsiers in the right place
Go to the sanctuary at Corella, where the animals sit loose in the forest and you watch them from the path. That is not only the most beautiful way to see them, it is also the only way that is good for the animals themselves. Tarsiers are so sensitive to stress that captivity can kill them, so if you are offered the chance somewhere else to hold or stroke one, say a friendly no and ride on to Corella.
Eating at a karinderia
Alona Beach is a lovely place to sit, so have your sunset beer there. For your meal, ride ten minutes inland to a karinderia: lechon, adobo or fresh fish off the grill for around €2.50. It is not just cheaper, it is also where the food is best.
Doing the countryside yourself on a scooter
The countryside tour costs about €30 and takes eight hours, from hills to tarsiers to river cruise. If you can ride and are happy to, you do almost the same loop for €7 in scooter rental plus a few euros in entry fees, and stop wherever you like. If you would rather not ride yourself, the tour is a great way to see it all in one day.
A day with no plan
It is tempting to lock in the countryside tour, the dolphin trip and the waterfall tour all three. Book two and keep one day free with a scooter and a map. That is almost always the day you remember.
Our top five on Bohol
Only got a few days? These are the five we would do no matter what:
- A day on the scooter through the interior, to Can-umantad Falls and the Cadapdapan Rice Terraces
- Balicasag Island, snorkelling or diving, with the dawn dolphin boat first
- The Chocolate Hills from the viewpoint
- The tarsiers at the sanctuary in Corella, where they live free in the forest
- The Loboc River by kayak instead of a cruise boat
Still got time after that? Head to Alona Beach at sunset for the fire shows, or ride on to the Anda side in the east. Hardly any tourists go there, but reckon on a long ride out and a long ride back.
So what do you really have to do on Bohol?
Nothing on this list is compulsory. Bohol is an island you discover on a scooter, and the interior starts as soon as you leave Alona behind. Anyone who drops a tour here and spends a day riding around aimlessly instead rarely goes home feeling they missed something. So treat this as a menu, not a schedule.
If we had to pick just one thing: take that scooter. Ride into the interior until you stop passing tour buses, pull up at the first karinderia you see, eat there for €2.50 and keep riding until you hear a waterfall. That costs you €7 and a day, and it is the bit of Bohol you will still be telling people about a year from now.
And do the tarsiers properly. Five minutes of silence in the forest at Corella, flash off, hands to yourself, while a guide points at a branch where you would never have spotted anything on your own. It is one of the few moments on your trip where the place you choose really matters.
