My Cebu Guide

  • Home
  • Hotels
  • Quick Hotel Finder
  • Alba Uno Hotel
    Allure Hotel and Suites
    Alpa City Suites
    Alta Cebu Resort
    Badian Island Wellness Resort
    Bantayan Island Nature Park and Resort
    Be Resorts Mactan
    Beach Placid Resort
    Beverly Boutique Business Hotel
    Blue Corals Beach Resort
    Blue Water Malapascua Beach Resort
    Casa Escano Bed and Breakfast Hotel
    Castle Peak Hotel
    Cebu Grand Hotel
    Cebu Marine Beach Resort
    Cebu Northwinds Hotel
    Cebu Parklane International Hotel
    Cebu R
    Celtis Resort
    Century Plaza Hotel
    Citi Park Hotel
    Cordova Reef Village Resort
    Costabella Tropical Beach Resort
    CouCou Lodge
    Crimson Beach Resort and Spa
    Crown Regency Hotel and Towers
    Crown Regency Residences
    Crown Regency Suites and Residences Mactan
    Crowne Garden Hotel
    Days Hotel Mactan Island
    Dohera Hotel
    Dulcinea Hotel and Suites
    EGI Resort and Hotel
    Evolution Dive and Beach Resort
    Goldberry Suites and Hotel
    Golden Prince Hotel and Suites
    Golden Valley Hotel
    Harolds Hotel
    Hippocampus Beach Resort
    HK Beach Resort
    Holiday Spa Hotel
    Hotel Cesario
    Lancaster Hotel Cebu
    Lingay Beach Resort
    Malapascua Exotic Island Dive and Beach Resort
    Malapascua Legend Water Sports and Resort
    Marco Polo Plaza
    Marcosas Cottages Resort
    Maribago Bluewater Beach Resort
    Marlins Beach Resort
    Montebello Villa Hotel
    Moonlight Resort
    Ocean Bay Beach Resort
    Pacific Pensionne
    Palazzo Pensionne
    Palmbeach Resort & Spa
    Purple Snapper Dive Resort
    Rajah Park Hotel
    Richmond Plaza Hotel
    Saint Bernard Beach Resort
    San Remigio Beach Club
    Sarrosa International Hotel and Residential Suites
    Savedra Beach Bungalows
    Slams Garden Diving Resort
    Sotogrande Hotel and Resort
    Sumilon Bluewater Island Resort
    Sumisid Lodge
    Tepanee Beach Resort
    The Bellavista Hotel
    The Coral Blue Oriental Beach Villas and Suites
    The Golden Peak Hotel and Suites
    The Maxwell Hotel
    The Orchard Cebu Hotel and Suites
    Turtle Bay Dive Resort
    Vacation Hotel Cebu
    Virgin Beach Resort
    Vista Mar Beach Resort and Country Club
    Waterfront Airport Hotel & Casino
    Waterfront Hotel & Casino Cebu City
    White Sand Bungalows
  • Booking Status
  • Blog
  • Contact Us

Archive for September, 2012

Plantation Bay Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines

Thursday, September 27th, 2012

Spoil yourself in one of the best resorts in Cebu. Situated in 11.4 hectares of secluded grounds and yet only 30 minutes from Cebu City, the Plantation Bay Resort and Spa is your best choice for escape and relaxation. Perfect for family or couples, this tropical colonial setting offers tranquility away from the hustle and bustle of the city. You will feel like you are in your own private estate. The property features lush tropical gardens and waterfalls surrounding the salt-water lagoon.

The resort was opened in late 1996 and has been updated since then. It has complete amenities that any traveler needs. The rooms are spacious at 46 square meters and furnished with plantation-style furnishings and equipped with modern facilities, all with breathtaking views. The bathrooms have separate showers and soaking tubs. The fresh-water pool, the salt-water lagoon and the tennis courts are both a walk path away to be enjoyed at any time. A lot of water sports activities are available for the whole family within the resort. Some of the activities for every guest’s access are the island adventure tours, sunset cruises, scuba diving, snorkeling, parasailing and kayaking. Guests can borrow the bicycles and go around the property or get on a “kalesa” (Filipino horse carriage) ride. There is also a target shooting, archery, wall-climbing and fitness center. A strict no tipping policy is enforced. This way, guests will not have influence on how one is treated than the other. The staff is very friendly, always wearing a smile and ready to help.

Plantation Bay Resort and Spa has 4 restaurants and all with unrivaled quality of food and service. All four of the bar and restaurants are designed differently and when you transfer from one to the other makes the guests feel they are bar hopping but within the resort. The food is amazing but the service is superb.

One of the best things that Plantation Bay Resort and Spa offers is their full-service spa which is the Mogambo Springs. The setting of the spa resembles an 18th Century Tokugawa Japanese Village that has its own thundering falls, creek and fog-like mist. You can float away your cares while getting the pores of your skin open up in a soothing hot spring or rejuvenate your body with a mineral bath. Enjoy the vigorous hydro-massage in the main waterfall basin. Then move on to the dry-heat sauna to sweat out the toxins. The Mogambo Springs is built with the same elegance theme as the whole resort with the full attention to detail. There are also facial and body treatments. They offer a variety of massages like the Thai massage and Hilot (traditional Filipino) massage. They also have the ultimate Mogambo Springs experience that is a packaged complete spa pampering treatment, like the pool massage, body scrub, foot therapy, facial treatment of your choice, aromatherapy with oil massage, nail care and paraffin treatment in their private room.

Plantation Bay Resort and Spa is a quiet and relaxing experience like being transported into a different place, a stark contrast with the city of Cebu. Come and book now or locate the resort in the Quick Hotel Finder button.

Tags: Cebu, Cebu Activities, Cebu Landmarks, Cebu Tourist Spots, Plantation Bay, Spa Resort, Things to do in Cebu
Posted in Cebu | No Comments »

How to make the most of your vacation in Cebu, Philippines

Friday, September 14th, 2012

A little advance planning definitely helps you make the most of your time and money in Cebu, Philippines. Research about the places you want to see and activities you want to do. Do read reviews, but do not dwell in them too much as your expectations might be set too high. Our website has a lot of good suggestions and is well worth it to check out. Do not overdo your itinerary and just leave yourself just rummaging through a crowded traffic of tourists or your basic inability to relax leaving you only with 5 hours of sleep each night. Make a back-up itinerary in case the one you have is not working out for you. Most importantly, learn how to say no to extra load from work while you are away. It is your vacation and you must enjoy it without having to be stressed out for the same reason you are on holidays to un-stress yourself.

It is also best to spend more time exploring fewer destinations, thereby creating a more intimate travel experience. The good thing is that despite all of its variety, Cebu is not so big a place and it’s relatively easy to explore within a day or less. You can easily enjoy all of Cebu’s main fields of interest: beach, jungle or land activities and hopping to other islands in a week.

Hire a guide. The idea that hiring a guide is for amateur tourists is really a misconception. Hiring a guide could be the best move you make. Especially it’s a good idea if you are going to be in a place for a short period of time. Be always polite, an aggravation due to an ugly exchange brought about by a little misunderstanding will totally fall under how to ruin your vacation.

Only over the Christmas-New Year’s, Chinese New Year’s and Easter holiday periods might you face any difficulties in finding a room, but it still pays to book ahead for any particular places you’re keen to stay in, and make inquiries about the necessity of booking for any activities, such as diving and dive courses. Cebu is budget travelers’ paradise and there are accommodations for every range.

The best months to visit Cebu are the drier ones: November through June, the Amihan season. The rainy season, which is the Habagat Season (July to October) isn’t so wet that you can’t do anything fun. However, there would be sporadic days in a week in the Habagat Season that it just rains heavily. The biggest tourist influx is in the couple of weeks each side of Christmas and Easter.

Many accommodations, especially the more expensive ones have high and low-season prices. Please check the season specified on each Cebu hotel’s Rooms and Prices page when you book. There is also an ‘extra’ season referred to as Super Peak which is covering the Christmas, New Year’s, Chinese New Year’s and Easter periods, when prices go above normal high-season rates. If you’re using top-end or some mid-range accommodations, you’ll certainly save money by avoiding these seasons. See our hotel quick finder to see more about range in accommodations.

Though a poor country, Philippines is at least as expensive as any other South East Asian countries. High taxes, many imports and the fact that much of its tourism industry is geared to Europeans on fairly short vacations help keep the prices a bit high. For US $70 to US $150 will buy you a solidly comfortable midrange double all throughout the island. For anything above the ordinary you’re often looking at a minimum of US $200, and the top end of the market goes above US $350.

A good two- or three-course meal with a couple of drinks in a pleasant restaurant will average US $75 to US $150 (more if you eat lobster!). Furthermore, there are a lot of local cuisines that are worth the adventure at a considerable price. Budget travelers can make their money last longer by hanging out in local places. Travelling by jeepney is cheap, but car hire, taxis, boats and hotel transfers are not. Tours and excursions mostly run from $70 to $150 per person for a day (more for diving trips).

Overall, a comfortable midrange budget per person is US $350 to US $450 per day.  Staying in some of the better accommodations, enjoying plenty of tours and activities, and traveling by rented car or hotel can easily add up to US $600 a day could be more. Budget travelers might get away with US $75 a day if they’re particularly frugal, but you need to spend more like US $150 to US $250 to enjoy yourself. The simplest way to cut costs is to share rooms, transport and tours with other people.

Philippine currency is the Peso (Php), which was hovered at or around a rate of Php 43 = US $1 for several years, prices in our website is converted with the current exchange each day. The accommodation prices on our website do not have any other additional rates, what you see is what you get. However, you might find in restaurants will have additional service charges, so do watch out for signs or ask accordingly.

Tags: Cebu, Cebu Activities, Cebu Seasons, Cebu. Cebu Hotels, Things to do in Cebu
Posted in Cebu | No Comments »

Diving in Badian Island, Cebu Philippines

Monday, September 10th, 2012

Badian Island is located at the south-western tip of Cebu mainland, slightly south of Moalboal. Home to some 35,000 residents and has 29 Barangays (town or districts). It boasts breathtaking white sandy beaches. Beside the fantastic Kawasan Falls in Matutinao area, the island is also home to excellent diving and snorkeling areas that are famous in Cebu, Philippines. It is frequented by many locals and international visitors alike. Badian Island has a luxury hotel in the area and available to provide Scuba lessons with certified PADI instructors for interested guests. They have first class dive equipment. Badian Island Resort and Spa offers comfortable accommodation and a relaxing spa well designed for guests who want to escape the hustle and bustle of the city. It would be a perfect combination to conclude your diving adventure with some world-class in-house massage.

Directly on the island there are 5 dive sites. Visibility of all the dive spots is relatively 15 to 25 meters. Coral Gardens is one, and it is a primary snorkeling area. There is a small sandy basin on the shelf at 3 meters and basically used more for Open Water Training Dives. Another one is Garden Eels, you go down a drop of 30 meters and you will encounter a large sandy spot that is covered with garden eels poking their heads out of the sand. It is recommended to go down current and as still as possible so as not to disturb the eels otherwise they will go and hide back in their holes.

Another two areas are the Badian Wall and the Fisherman’s Cave, they are both about 10 to 15 minutes by boat toward north and northwest side of the island. The current is a bit strong in these two areas and thus, more fish activity. They both have a shelf that begins at 3 to 4 meters then drops off to 30 to 40 meters. You can see many fan and large green corals. A school of Yellowtail Barracudas can be often seen around this area as well. Some turtles are seen around here, too. Both of these dive spots are perfect for night diving.

Lastly is the Sawang dive spot, about 5 minutes by boat. It is a shallow dive and often used as an Open Water Training Dive site for large groups of beginners. It starts at 3 meters with sandy spots for skills and patches of corals. From there, it gradually slopes. This is prefect for safe training dives. Also this dive spot is sometimes being used for Advanced Open Water Navigation Dive. Moalboal and Pescador Island are both nearby Badian. Refer to our Diving Areas page to know more about these two dive spots.

There are other activities that can be arranged with the hotel like d­­olphin watching, hiking and a half-day trip to Kawasan Falls. Book with us and pick Badian Island Resort and Spa for your next diving trip.

Tags: Badian Island, Cebu, Cebu Activities, Cebu Tourist Spots, Diving Spots
Posted in Cebu | No Comments »

  • General Information
    • General Info
    • Geography
    • Weather
    • Tourist Season
    • Getting There
    • Getting In
    • Getting Around
    • Money
    • Communication
    • Dos and Don'ts
  • Hotels
    • Cebu Hotel Locations
    • Cebu City
    • Mactan Island
    • Malapascua Island
    • Bantayan Island
    • Moalboal
    • Other Cebu Areas
  • Transportation
  • Historical Sights
  • Activities
  • Diving Areas
  • Archives

    • September 2012
    • August 2012
    • July 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
  • Recent Articles

    • Plantation Bay Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines
    • How to make the most of your vacation in Cebu, Philippines
    • Diving in Badian Island, Cebu Philippines
    • Su-Tu-Kil, a dining experience in Cebu, Philippines
    • A Visitor’s Guide to Cebu City, Philippines
    • Tops in Busay, Cebu City, Philippines
    • Skydiving in Cebu, Philippines
    • Shopping and Dining: The Terraces at Ayala Center, Cebu City, Philippines
    • Skywalk Extreme and Edge Coaster at Crown Regency Hotel and Towers in Cebu City, Philippines
    • Basilica Minore Del Santo Niño


Click here for XML Feeds

Add This Site To Your Favorites

©2023 MyCebuGuide Cebu Hotels - Cebu Resorts - Contact Us - Terms and Conditions - Legal - Philippines Charities