My Cebu Guide

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.