Backpacking Moalboal
Moalboal has the single best value natural spectacle in the Philippines, and it is free. Walk into the water at Panagsama Beach, swim about five metres, and the seabed drops away into a wall made entirely of sardines: millions of them, moving as one shape, close enough to touch and thick enough to blot out the light.
There is no boat, no ticket and no season. The shoal is there all year, a two minute swim from the hostels, and green turtles graze the seagrass alongside it.
The other reason to come is inland: canyoneering at Kawasan, which is three hours of jumping off rocks into turquoise water, sliding down chutes and swimming through a gorge to a waterfall. Three days, €20 a day, and three hours from Cebu City by bus.
Why Moalboal is popular with backpackers
- The Sardine Run, five metres from the beach, free, and there all year
- Green turtles grazing the seagrass along the same stretch
- Kawasan canyoneering: jumps, slides and swims down to the falls
- A drop off you can snorkel from shore, and dive for about €45
- Pescador Island, a wall dive fifteen minutes offshore
- Cheap: €20 a day, and a bed for €6
- Three hours from Cebu City, so it is easy to slot into a route
Best time to visit Moalboal
The west coast of Cebu, which shelters it from the worst of the monsoon. The sardines are the constant here, and the weather mostly decides the visibility.
The Sardine Run is here every day of the year, which is the unusual part: this is a resident shoal rather than a migration. You swim to it from the beach, so there is no boat to book and no season to catch.
Backpacker budget: around €20 a day
- €6hostel bed
- €2.50local meal
- €1.20beer
- €7scooter for the day
Guide prices from our own days in Moalboal. Add a tour or a night out and it climbs fast.
Best area for backpackers
Panagsama Beach
The whole scene is along one strip of coast road at Panagsama: hostels, dive shops, restaurants and tour desks, with the sea directly on the other side of it.
The reason to be exactly here is that the sardines are directly offshore. From most hostels it is a two minute walk and a five metre swim, which means you can go and look at them before breakfast if you want to.
Good to know about this area
- The Sardine Run is straight off this beach, no boat needed
- Dive shops all along the coast road, for about €45 for two dives
- Panagsama is rock and coral rather than sand: White Beach is the sandy one
- Scooters from about €7 a day, and a tricycle to town for about €1
- Moalboal town is a few kilometres inland, where the cheap food is
- Sunset along the whole coast road, at about quarter to six
Best hostels in Moalboal
All on or just off the Panagsama coast road, and all a short walk from the water.
Chief Mau Moalboal Cebu
The most popular backpacker place here, and the most social. Twelve hundred reviews and a 9.6, with an easy crowd of people heading to the same canyon tomorrow.
If you arrived alone, this is where you stop being alone.
Pig Dive Hostel Moalboal
Built around diving and popular with divers, right by Panagsama Beach. Sociable, well run and about as close to the sardines as you can sleep.
Garden Village Resort
Quieter and more comfortable than the hostels, in a tropical garden set back from the road. A good recovery option after a day of canyoneering.
Best things to do in Moalboal
One free swim, one canyon, and as much diving as your budget allows.
Kawasan canyoneering
The best day out in Cebu and one of the best in the country. You are dropped upstream, and then you work your way down a limestone gorge: jumping off rock ledges into turquoise pools, sliding down natural chutes, swimming stretches of river, and coming out at the bottom under Kawasan Falls.
The jumps go up to about ten metres and every single one of them is optional, with a walk around. Nearly a thousand reviews and a 4.9.
The Sardine Run
The thing this place is famous for. Panagsama Beach has a drop off about five metres from shore, and on the edge of it lives a resident shoal of sardines so large that the individual fish stop registering and it becomes one moving object.
Free. Hire a mask for about €3 and swim out. Mornings are clearest, and it is there all year.
Turtles from the beach
Along the same stretch, on the seagrass beds, green turtles feed almost every day. You do not need a boat or a guide: you swim out and look down.
Keep your distance and never touch. They surface to breathe, so a person hovering above one is a genuine problem for it.
Diving Moalboal
One of the best value dive spots in the country. The wall starts shallow and runs the length of the coast, so an open water diver gets the sardines, the turtles and the coral on the same dive.
Two dives from about €45, which given what is down there is remarkable.
Pescador Island
A small island fifteen minutes offshore with a wall running all the way round it, and schools of jacks and sardines hanging off the edge of it. The best known dive site in this part of Cebu, and snorkellable too.
Oslob, Tumalog Falls and the sardines in one day
A long day across to the other side of Cebu that combines whale sharks at Oslob, the waterfall at Tumalog and the Sardine Run back here.
One thing to know before you book it: the whale sharks at Oslob are fed from boats to keep them in the bay, which is what makes a sighting reliable and is also why a lot of travellers avoid it. Puerto Princesa on Palawan is the wild version. Decide which of those you want, and then book accordingly.
White Beach
Panagsama is rock and coral, which is perfect for snorkelling and no good for lying on. White Beach, fifteen minutes north by scooter, is the sand.
Fifty cents to get on it, and a completely different kind of day.
Sunset on the coast road
The whole coast faces west, so the sunset happens along the entire strip and the beach bars are pointed at it. Quarter to six, near enough all year.
How to plan your days in Moalboal
Three days: the sardines, the canyon and a dive. Pick how long you have.
The Sardine Run. Walk into the water at Panagsama Beach, swim five metres, and you are hanging over a wall of millions of sardines. Further along, turtles graze on the seagrass.
Tonight: dinner along the coast road, facing the sunset.
Kawasan canyoneering. Jumping, sliding and swimming down a gorge of turquoise water, ending at Kawasan Falls. The jumps go up to about ten metres, and you can skip any of them.
Tonight: early night. Canyoneering is harder work than it sounds.
Pescador Island or Oslob. Pescador is the best dive site nearby, an island with a wall all the way round. Oslob and its whale sharks are on the far side of Cebu, and those animals are fed.
Tonight: bus to Cebu City, or onward to Bohol.
Food and drink in Moalboal
This is a dive town, so the coast road is full of international restaurants that exist for exactly that crowd. They are fine and they are not cheap.
The value is a few kilometres inland in Moalboal town, where a karinderia gives you a full plate for a euro or so: you point at what is in the pots and it comes with rice. Cebu is also the island Filipinos credit with the best lechon in the country, so eat some.
A lot of Filipinos will tell you Cebu makes the best lechon in the country. If you are on Cebu and you do not try it, you have missed something.
Getting there and onward
Moalboal is three hours southwest of Cebu City, which makes it one of the easiest stops to slot into a route through the Visayas.
Getting there. The bus from the South Bus Terminal in Cebu City takes three hours and costs a couple of euros. It drops you on the main road, and it is a tricycle from there down to the beach.
Around here. Panagsama Beach and White Beach are a few kilometres apart. A scooter is about €7 a day and a tricycle about a euro a ride.
Onward. Ferries via Liloan take you on to Negros and Siquijor. Malapascua is north, which is a long day back through Cebu City.
- BusCebu City 3 hrs from the South Bus Terminal
- FerryVia Liloan to Negros and Siquijor
- ScooterFrom about €7 a day
- Dive boatPescador Island, 15 minutes out
- TricycleDown to the beach, about €1
Staying safe in Moalboal
Safe as a place. The two things that need respect here are the canyon and the current along the drop off.
- Wear the helmet and the life jacket for canyoneering, every jump
- Check the current before swimming out to the drop off. It runs along the wall
- Skip any jump you are not happy with. There is a walk around every one
- Use sunscreen without oxybenzone. You are floating over living coral
- Jump into a pool you have not seen someone else jump into first
- Stand on coral at the drop off, not even to adjust your mask
- Touch or chase the turtles, or hover above one that needs to surface
- Go canyoneering after heavy rain without asking whether the river is up
Rebels on the Road tip
Do the Sardine Run twice: once in the middle of the day like everybody else, and once at about seven in the morning. Early on there is nobody else in the water, the light comes in at an angle through the shoal instead of straight down, and the fish are packed tighter before the day’s boats and swimmers have unsettled them. It costs nothing, it takes half an hour, and it is the difference between having seen the sardines and remembering them.
Frequently asked questions
How many days do you need in Moalboal?
Three. One for the sardines and the turtles, one for Kawasan canyoneering, and one for diving or Pescador. Two works if you skip the diving.
Is the Sardine Run free?
Yes. It sits about five metres off Panagsama Beach, so you walk in and swim to it. Hiring a mask and snorkel costs about €3 if you do not have your own. There is no season: the shoal lives here.
Is Kawasan canyoneering dangerous?
It is an adventure activity and it is run properly: helmets, life jackets and guides. Every jump has a walk around, so you never have to do one you do not want to. After heavy rain the river can be too high and trips are cancelled, which is the right call.
Should I go to Oslob for the whale sharks?
Only with your eyes open. The animals at Oslob are fed from boats to keep them in the bay, which is why sightings there are reliable and why many travellers choose not to go. Puerto Princesa on Palawan has wild ones with no feeding and no guarantee.
Is there a beach in Moalboal?
Panagsama, where everyone stays, is rock and coral rather than sand, which is exactly why the snorkelling is so good. For a sand day, White Beach is fifteen minutes north by scooter.
Is Moalboal good for diving?
Very. The wall runs along the coast and starts shallow, so open water is enough to see the sardines, the turtles and the coral on one dive. Two dives cost about €45, which is cheap for what is down there.
How do I get to Moalboal?
Bus from the South Bus Terminal in Cebu City, three hours, a couple of euros. It leaves you on the main road, and a tricycle takes you the last bit down to Panagsama.
When is the best time to visit?
January to March for the clearest water. April and May are hot and calm. June to December is the rainy season across the Visayas, and canyoneering can be closed when the river is high.
