Destination: Bohol

Philippine destination Bohol province has something for almost all visitors, which is why Bohol is popular with sun lovers, nightlife enthusiasts, divers and nature lovers. Bohol Island is part of the Philippines Central Visayas Islands and sits nestled between Cebu Island to the east, and Leyte Island to the northwest. Famous as the home of the ‘Chocolate Hills,’ Bohol is a place of tranquil and lonely beauty in some areas, with pristine beaches and great dive sites, especially around Pangalao’s Alona Beach providing for thriving holiday resorts in others. Its many land and marine wonders make Bohol and  Pangalao firm favorites with many tourists both foreign and local.

Getting to Bohol is quite simple and trouble free. From Manila you can fly direct to Tagbilaran in an hour and 15 minutes, or take a lazy sea cruise of about 25-hours. A more popular (and often cheaper) route is to fly to Cebu, and then either take a short hop flight, or enjoy a fast boat ferry or the standard 4-hour ferry ride to Tagbilaran on Bohol Island, taking in the rather strange views of stilt villages in the middle of the empty sea on the way there.

Once on Bohol island, most roads are good, to very good, with the Bohol Circumferential Road being one of the best I’ve ever traveled. Outside of Bohol’s major tourist destinations, traffic flows quite freely, but parking can be problematic in some of the tourist hot spots - especially on the ever popular Pangalao Island.

Bohol has two attractions that almost all visitors want to see, the Chocolate Hills, and the tiny Tarsier, a delightfully cute little primate with huge nocturnal eyes.

Bohol's Chocolate Hills

Around Carmen, Bohol’s Chocolate Hills are actually a series of limestone formations formed from fossilized, ice age, coral reefs. To see the Chocolate Hills at their best, try and visit during the dry season, generally November to April. At this time, the lack of moisture in the thin layer of soil over the limestone causes the overlaying grass and vegetation to dry out, making the brown ‘Chocolate Hills’ stand out in startling contrast from the lush greenery of the surrounding flatlands – especially in the early morning and late afternoon sun.

Not far south of the Chocolate Hills, Bohol’s wide and winding Loboc River is famous for its river cruises. Starting at Loay Bridge or at Loboc itself, boats of all sizes, from small bancas to large floating restaurants, move back and forth up the Loboc River while visitors enjoy the splendid vista of mainly un-spoilt lush tropical vegetation. The large floating restaurants on Loboc River tend to serve traditional tasty Filipino fare accompanied by music from the boat’s band. Most trips travel all the way up the Loboc River to the famous, but if the river is low, not particularly awe inspiring 14-foot Busay Falls. It is a nice way to spend a few hours, helped by the plentiful supply of food and liquid refreshment on the pleasure boats.

Tarsier

If you want to see a Tarsier, please do so by visiting the Bohol’s Philippine Tarsier Foundation. Here you can enjoy these delightful little creatures in their natural habitat, not caged and abused at tourist shops along the Loboc River. When caged, Tarsiers, designed by nature for nocturnal living, suffer wretchedly from camera flashes in their face as they are passed about for photos in a way sickly reminiscent of the defanged and beaten photographer’s monkeys that used to be so common on Mediterranean beaches.

Although Bohol is famous for its fine white sand beaches – of such quality that the sand is even exported to other beaches around the world – many of Bohol’s beaches remain almost deserted. The notable exception, and probably the finest beach of Bohol, is Alona Beach on the holiday isle of Panglao.

Reachable by causeway, Pangalao Island is quite literally a holidaymaker’s paradise – even though Pangalao’s Alona beach is fronted by resorts, hotels and restaurants of every type. This area around Pangalao is famous for its diving – with many dive shops and dive guides available. Apart from its fame for diving, this island is also popular for swimming with wild dolphins, providing a very rare chance for people to meet these fascinating animals up close and personal in the wild. Just around the southern horn of Pangalao island and up the opposite coast there are a number of up-market resorts, known for providing exotic backdrops for many a romantic holiday.

While I can't make any guarantees about romance, I can say that while on Bohol and Pangalao I enjoyed some of the best tourist accommodation, and traveled along some of the nicest roads I've ever encountered in my travels around the islands of the Philippines. It’s a place I enjoyed and plan to visit again.