Day Trip in Cebu: A Quick Guide
Do you want to spend a single day in Cebu but don’t know how and where to go? This post is for you. I first got this idea from a conversation I overheard while waiting for a flight from Cagayan de Oro to Cebu. This balikbayan guy, after a night of partying in Manila, decided to proceed to the airport and booked a round trip flight from Manila to Cagayan de Oro. In Cagayan, he simply hired a taxi for 4 hours before proceeding back to the airport for the flight back in Manila.
Since there are more flights between Manila and Cebu, one can really cover more places when visiting Cebu. For those wanting to go on a day trip in Cebu, this is a very quick guide.
Mactan Shrine
From Manila to Cebu, take the 6am flight of either one of the two domestic airlines. When you arrive, take a Fast Transit rent-a-car for 10 hour Cebu City tour, the cost is P3,000 ($65) for the first 10 hours. If you are with a group, arrange for a Van at P4,000 ($90) for the first 10 hours. They can be contacted at 340-0982 or 340-2983. An alternative is to take a taxi and negotiate for a lower price. But I highly recommend the former.
Here’s a sample itinerary, although you can actually make your own:
8AM – Arrival at Cebu Airport
9AM – Breakfast at Sutukil, Mactan or the nearby Shangrila Mactan Hotel. A few meters away are the Hilton and the Microtel Inn and Suites, both with very scenic views of the sea and the nearby islands.
10AM – 12NN – Roam around Mactan Island. Visit the Lapulapu Shrine. See for yourself the famous Mactan beaches like Maribago Bluewaters and Plantation Bay Resort. You may also want to take a dip. Visit the popular guitar makers. Have lunch at Plantation Bay or some seafood restaurants along the way to Cebu City.
1PM – 3PM – Visit Historical places in Cebu City. Here are some of those: 1) Magellan’s Cross, 2) Basilica del Sto. Niño, 3) Fort San Pedro, 4) Fuente Osmeña, 5) University of San Carlos Main (oldest school in the Philippines) and its Museum, 6) Colon Street (Oldest Street in the Philippines. You may also take a peek at Taboan Fish Market, famous for “danggit” (dried fish). But you’ll never like your own smell if you take more time in the place.
3PM – 5PM – Mall shopping. There is Ayala and SM. You can cover both in a two-hour span. If you’d like to skip the shopping, and continue the city tour, go visit the Taoist Temple at Beverly Hills, Lahug.
5PM to 6:30PM – Go to Tops, a popular scenic place in Busay Hills. You can view the entire city at twilight.
7PM – Dinner at Casa Verde in The Walk, IT Park or in any other restaurants near it. You may also want to take your dessert at La Marea, just beside Casa Verde.
After the dinner, you can either proceed to the airport and take the 9pm last flight back to Manila, or experience the night life in Cebu just around the IT Park in Lahug. To catch up with the last flight, leave Cebu City and head to the airport by 7:30pm. The first trip back to Manila is 430 am. You can be sleepless in Cebu. Then you can arrange with the driver to pick you up at some place or you can just ride any taxi going to the airport. The latter is much cheaper at P150-P180.
Total cost for this day trip if you travel alone is estimated to be around P10,000 ($220), broken down as follows:
Airfare, P3,500 (Cebu Pacific – even cheaper using Go! Lite, but can even go as high as P6k for a round trip)
Car Rental, P3,600 for 12 hours
Food, P1,500 (or less)
Pasalubong, souvenirs and entrance fee for some sites, P1,400.
If you bring along a friend, some costs can be shared. So, why wait for summer when you can come to Cebu any time, any day and all season.
Beach Front of Microtel Inn and Suites
p.s. The establishments mentioned here are personally chosen by this bloggger, and he is not compensated in anyway.
If a single day is not enough, you might want to extended your stay. Here is a list of Cebu affordable hotels, inns and pension houses. They’re located right at the heart of the city.
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Related posts which you would also like to read:
- Budget Travel: Manila-Cebu and Vice Versa
- The Cebu Pacific Experience
- Vacation Destination – Cebu
- Cebu Pacific Flight Promos and Discounted Fares
- Free Cebu Pacific Airlines Tickets and Travel Vouchers
Tags: Cebu, Cebu Hotels, Cebu Tourist Destination, Cebu Travel, Cebu Vacation, Travel Posted in
Ceblogger is a CPA trapped in his cubicle while his mind wanders outside watching the world, and exploring possibilities his mind conceived.
October 8th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
microtel inn looks good!
haaay … let’s go to bohol na!
October 10th, 2008 at 8:07 am
hi bro….longtime!
i really wish to visit cebu someday..soon!
txs for the info.
October 10th, 2008 at 8:38 am
sunjun, microtel is very new. it has very nice rooms.
AJ, sige bisita ka na sa Cebu!
October 14th, 2008 at 6:06 am
Cebu is one of my fave places in the Philippines. It’s like Manila in many ways, people can speak better English than Tagalog. I like Cebu’s lechon too, no need for the sweet sarsa’s of the tagalog. The puso and the chicken bbq is also great.
Hope to visit Cebu again soon.
November 20th, 2008 at 8:01 am
The best talaga ang lechon cebu. Nothing beats the taste of their lechon. Hindi kagaya ng lechon sa manila na kailangan mo pang lagyan ng sauce or mang tomas para may malasahan ka. Sa cebu no need na kasi tasty and juicy na ang lechon.
November 20th, 2008 at 9:12 am
sonnie and julia, cebu’s lechon is the best. The more famous lechons are that of CNT, Alejo’s, Ben’s and Cang’s.
November 20th, 2008 at 9:14 am
[...] ceblogger: sonnie and julia, cebu’s lechon is the best. The more famous lechons are that of CNT, Alejo’s,… [...]
January 1st, 2009 at 1:05 pm
[...] am thankful for the Citibank credit card that I could use in purchasing my plane tickets. Traveling to Cebu is now at my own [...]
June 9th, 2009 at 4:48 am
hi i find this article very helpful but most likely we will be stsying in cebu for three whole days, can u provide me a sample breakdown of the places to see, thanks!
June 9th, 2009 at 5:33 am
nixie, three days?
Okay, Day 1 – Mactan beaches (shangrila, plantation bay, hilton or the maribago blue waters)
Day 2 – City tour and cap it with a visit at the Busay Hills at night. You can also have a nice view of the city at La Tegola in Busay.
Day 2 (alternative) – Side trip to Bohol
Day 3 – Shopping, malling, etc…
June 9th, 2009 at 6:24 am
tnx for ur response ceblogger. do you think our budget for 30k will be good for 3 days? we’re 6 pax.
June 9th, 2009 at 8:00 am
at 5k each, excluding airfare, here’s my estimate for your 3 days 2 night stay if you stay in a deluxe hotel.
lodging – P1,000
meals (regular bfast(3) and lunch (3)) – P900
meals (2 dinner including nights out) P1,200
various transpo within City excluding airport transfers – P600
for plantation bay, i think they have a rate for day use.
well, you can still have extra for shopping.
December 4th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
[...] guide about spending a single day in Cebu is quite useful and informative, too. From expense estimates, approximate itinerary timeline to the [...]
January 14th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
Hi,
we will be going to cebu by jan 23 and we’re planning to have a cebu city tour. you know any contact nos. for the van rental together with the driver that would take us around cebu for around 10-12 hours. thanks
April 15th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
I luv Cebu! Talisay Lechon, Sinulog, and all that yummy stuff…
Stop by a CnT Lechon shop and buy a half kilo of Cebu City’s finest Lechon!!
April 19th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
i miss the lechon!
March 4th, 2011 at 11:08 am
Cebu City isn’t Metro Manila, but that doesn’t make it a place I’d want to be spending out my holiday – with exception to the Sinulog festival of course.
June 11th, 2011 at 8:47 am
One of the best place you can visit!
Many other good places that you can go and visit. The good thing in Cebu is that people are courteous…