An Adventurer’s Guide to Exploring Cebu, The Philippines

Cebu is the perfect destination for adventure travellers because the Filipino island has everything from white sand beaches to crashing waterfalls.

It’s the ideal place for first-time travellers to the Philippines too because within just a few hours’ drive you can enjoy everything that this island nation is best known for. You can scuba dive with thresher sharks, snorkel with shoals of sardines, and enjoy pristine coral reefs and perfect coastline. There’s canyoneering, cliff jumping, hiking and much, much more waiting for you in Cebu.

Canyoneering at Kawasan Falls

Cebu is home to one of the most iconic, natural attractions in the Philippines, Kawasan Falls. Found two hours south of Cebu City, Kawasan Falls is made for adventurers.The waterfall is known for its vivid, turquoise water, and the shades of blue and green that you’ll find here are simply astounding. There are multiple levels, as the river runs its course and crashes over one tall precipice, into a plunge below, before crashing into yet another after that.

It’s a labyrinthine of waterfalls and swimming pools and with a local guiding the way, the best way to experience Kawasan Falls is by canyoneering, you just need to be prepared for a few nerve-wracking cliff jumps.

The Moalboal Sardine Run

Not far from Kawasan Falls, you can find yet another epic adventure awaiting you in the sleepy coastal destination of Moalboal. Tourism here is picking up fast in what was once just a fishing village. But now, instead of fishing, the locals are preserving their marine life, because just a few metres off the beach you can find impressive shoals of sardines.

These sardine shoals are so enormous that if you dive down beneath them they’ll blot out the sun. At the same time, these shoals, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, will weave effortlessly around you as you swim through them.

Freediving

Moalboal is also the freediving centre of Cebu, and you can learn the intricacies of this awe-inducing sport amongst the shoals of sardines.There are free diving schools and instructors all along the beach, and you can learn how to take your lungs and body to deeper depths than you ever have before in Moalboal.

Hiking Osmena Peak

Cebu is a relatively flat place to visit, and for most of your journey across the island, you’ll likely be at sea level. But inland, the mountains rise sharply, and for those willing to get away from the beaches, there are awe-inspiring panoramas waiting to be seen. From the Rocky top of Osmena Peak, you have a three hundred and sixty-degree view of Cebu, and on a good day you can even see both coastlines.

Osmena Peak is the tallest mountain in Cebu, and you’ll need to take winding roads into the hills to reach the start point of the hike. The hardiest travellers will drive here in the early hours of the morning, and then make the hike to the summit just in time to watch the sunrise on the horizon.

Thresher Sharks in Malapascua

A short boat ride from the northern tip of Cebu will bring you to the small island of Malapascua, an island which is surrounded by sharks. Luckily though, these sharks are harmless, but due to the rich coral feeding grounds in the water, Malapascua has become a haven for Thresher Sharks. These beautiful creatures can be seen feeding in large numbers around Malapascua, but you’ll need your advanced diving certificate to see them, because they like to hang around deep down.

Sumilon Island

Imagine the quintessential tropical island, and the first thing that always comes to mind is white sand, clear water, swaying palm trees, and perhaps a fresh coconut to enjoy in the sunshine. Head to Sumilon Island, and you’ll find all of these things. In fact, this small island off the southern coast of Cebu makes for the most perfect of postcard photographs and you’ll be amazed at the quality of the sand and just how clear the water is.

It’s a small place, but after a quick boat ride from the town of Oslob, you can spend all day living the tropical Filipino dream in a veritable paradise.

Eat the Street Food

No adventure is ever complete without sampling the local delicacies, and across the island, you’ll find plenty of street food to chow down on. Cebu is where you’ll find some of the best Lechon, or roasted pork in the Philippines, and you’ll likely see entire suckling pigs being slowly turned as they roast over an open fire. But you’ll also find more unusual delicacies; in Cebu, City Eel Soup is big business, while just about everywhere you’ll see Balut being sold as a snack.

Balut isn’t for the faint-hearted, because this Filipino treat sees a semi-fertilised duck egg boiled until the beak and feet are crunchy.

Ride the Jeepneys and Tricycles

The best way to explore Cebu is to ride local style, and to get around using Jeepneys and Tricycles. Jeepneys are colourful, loud trucks that are decked in all kinds of decorations, paints and motifs. Jeepneys developed from leftover US army jeeps at the end of World War II, but these are quite unlike any other kind of Jeep you will have seen before. Riding a Jeepney is a right of passage for travellers in the Philippines, and you’ll need to cram into the back as you bump along the potholed roads.Tricycles are the Filipino answer to Tuk Tuks or Rickshaws, and they are just as much fun as the Jeepneys. Locals will take a motorcycle and whack on a sidecar, and then try to fit as many passengers in as they can.

Manit Hot Springs

After a long day of adventuring around Cebu, you might just have earned the right to a little spot of relaxation. Luckily, there’s plenty of chances to unwind in Cebu, be it with a cocktail in hand while watching the sunset, or enjoying a massage after a day of hiking.

And there are also hot springs to relax in, and close to Kawasan Falls you can find the thermal delights of the Manit Hot Springs. Sit back, relax and enjoy a well-deserved end to your Cebu adventures.