.

Why the Philippines?

Not too far from Taiwan, just a couple of hours' flight to ferries and sunshine galore ! 🚴🚴🌞🌞

Also: having worked with so many Filipino colleagues in the NHS, Molly was curious about their homeland.

Our Route 

We toured in the Visayas region (shown in red on the map of the Philippines, below).

Think of it as the Midlands of the Philippines !

Starting from Cebu City, we pedalled 6 island loops in the Central and Western Visayas: Cebu, Negros, Panay, Boracay, Guimaras and Bohol (below).

Total Filipino miles pedalled: approx.1500.

The Journey

Cebu City is the second-largest in the Philippines. Its busy roads were packed with trucks, noisy mopeds, "tricycle" motorcycle taxis and their fumes.

Heading south out of town on the Cebu S Road was a long urban stint, stretching beyond Carcar City over 50km away.

The traffic finally got less busy around Argao.

Above: A quieter stretch of road in Cebu City. Filipino drivers do share the road well, with no aggression.

We overnighted in Oslob, but dodged swimming with the whale sharks: preferring to watch the mass tourism from a sane distance.

The poorly-maintained roads in the south of Cebu Island were a bumpy ride (above).

The widespread poverty was pretty shocking. 

We were also surprised by the lack of accessible beaches.

Above: Many waterfronts were taken up by shanty housing, or private "resorts".

We starting to think that bike touring the Philippines had been a bad call ...

... so it was a relief to hit the smooth tarmac of Negros Island, after jumping onto the westbound Liloan-Dumaguete ferry.

Above: This ferry was a "RORO" (Roll-On, Roll-Off) so we could just walk the bikes up the vehicle ramp, no unloading or carrying. So easy !

Sugar cane is a major crop in Negros. 

Workers still cut it by hand with machetes, then use bamboo ladders to pile it high onto trucks.

Above: Hard graft in the sugar cane fields of Negros Island

We also shared many roads with sheets of rice husks, being dried out in the sun before milling (below).

Locals later warned us to stay out of the mountains, not due to volcanoes but to ongoing clashes between Communist rebels (New People's Army) and government forces.

So we stuck to coastal roads for the rest of the trip. These were largely flat or rolling, densely populated, and not particularly scenic.

The northern city of Silay, aka "The Paris of Negros", is a nice stopover.

It was home to wealthy sugar barons in bygone days. Some of their old mansions have been preserved (below).

Next: another RORO, heading west from Bacolod (Negros Island) to Iloilo on Panay Island.

Panay had more good roads, which got quieter outside of the cities (below).

We were unsure whether to visit the tiny island of Boracay, a notorious tourist hotspot just north of Panay.

The ferry port at Caticlan was crazy-busy, but well-organised. We were ushered onto a small boat before we could change our minds !

Above: Our bikes travelled unsecured on the roof of the tiny boat to Boracay. Luckily it was a smooth crossing !

Like Alice stepping through the looking-glass: just off the busy, built-up road from Boracay port, a long and very narrow alleyway opened onto the beautiful (if busy) tropical sands of White Beach.

This was the first "proper" public-access beach we had found in the Philippines, after no less than 630 miles of pedalling !

We made a lucky decision to stay in a suspiciously cheap hotel in North Boracay. 

It turned out to be comfortable and peaceful, with a secluded beach just down the road: so nice, we stayed an extra day.

Above: We were amazed to find Boracay's quiet side.

Back on Panay: having completed our island loop, it was a short ferry ride from Iloilo City to the small island of Guimaras, famous for its succulent mangoes. 

The Guimaras loop was a great couple of days' peaceful pedalling.

Above: Smooth, quiet roads and rural scenery in Guimaras.

"Videoke" (karaoke to us) is massive in the Philippines.

With a few differences: it's a sober activity, enjoyed throughout the day, often at home by families. Delivery is beautifully unselfconscious, with total acceptance of even the poorest voices.

So we went for it, paying for an hour's videoke access at our out-of-the-way (it needed to be!) beach resort in Guimaras.

Fortunately there's no audio of this one-off special 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♀️

From Guimaras: we returned to Panay for the ferry back to Negros. 

Sipalay in east Negros made a good stopover, with its swim-friendly public beach, beachfront food court and live music.

Above: The lovely public beach in Sipalay, Negros

Cock fighting is a big part of everyday life in the Philippines.

We didn't seek it out, but stumbled upon a buzzing local cockpit one afternoon in Zamboanguita, Negros.

Locals were making frantic bets and shouting encouragement, while both owners stayed inside the ring along with the agile referee.

Above: This cockfight was over very quickly. One was enough for us, but the show runs for several hours.

With our Negros Island loop complete, we headed east from Dumaguete back to Cebu Island. 

Moalboal, the backpackers' magnet on Cebu's east coast, was a mixed bag.

Never mind swimming with the shoals of sardines ! The main tourist drag was so congested, we felt like human sardines and didn't even make it to Panagsama beach.

Above: The quieter side of Moalboal

Escaping the madness, we found a perfect Airbnb at a much quieter spot just out of town.

A tiny "secret" beach with epic sunsets and glassy ocean was just a short stroll away. We stayed for several days, swimming with the turtles.

Above: "Secret beach" sunset, Tongo,Moalboal. No filters.

Super Typhoon Odette hit the Central Visayas in 2021, causing massive destruction.

Gerald and Janice, our hosts in Moalboal, described how the roof of their house was torn away as they sheltered under the bed.

Many communities were left without power and supplies for weeks, and had to cope on their own.

Every community (barangay) we saw had its own evacuation centre, often serving as a community hall and basketball court too. 

Basketball is hugely popular: the vests are de rigeur for all, and local skills were often on display.

Above: Charlie shooting hoops with the local kids.

Continuing up to the northern tip of Cebu Island: the road quality improved, with some nice peaceful sections.

This didn't last as we approached Cebu City, completing another island loop.

Above: This guy was sharpening a machete on his pedal-powered grinding stone, on the outskirts of Cebu City.

With a few more days in hand, we took the ferry to Bohol: our sixth and final touring island, known for its "Chocolate Hills". 

This unusual landscape was formed from coral (later becoming limestone), and rainwater. Apparently they do look more chocolatey in the dry season !

Above: Charlie bravely hid his disappointment about the lack of actual chocolate.

Bohol was the one island we didn't loop fully, as we were laid low with the shits for a few days. Not sure what from, but handwashing had admittedly been lax at times 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♀️

From what we did pedal, Bohol's roads were good.

Of note: the ferry port from Cebu City (to Bohol) was the least smooth of our trip.

It was super-busy at Pier 3. We had been warned to refuse the "fixers", but it was hard to figure out which ticket booth to use. We ended up with Clemer Lines to Getafe, which turned out not to be the RORO.

Although the bikes wheeled onboard fine with panniers off, the mandatory shuttle bus from the passenger terminal was a very tight squeeze (below) !

.

Food & Accommodation 

Food in the Philippines was a learning curve for us.

After early disappointments with Filipino 7-11s (a poor relation of those in Taiwan and Japan),

and hotel "silog" breakfasts consisting of processed meat + garlic rice (!) + fried egg, often served stone-cold ...

... we discovered local "eateries", serving a selection of canteen-style bargains. 

Above: Eatery fare was best enjoyed earlier in the day, as the dishes were often cooked first-thing and spent the rest of the day standing !

Rice is an absolute staple in the Philippines, served with pretty much every meal. Expect to leave with a rice belly ! 

Fresh fruit was easy to find on street stalls, and inexpensive (approx.15p/banana, 20p/mandarin, 50p/ripe mango). 

The mangoes were sweet, smooth and utterly delicious.

Ice-cold buko juice, made fresh from young coconuts, was a winning roadside drink to beat the heat (below).

Evening meals in local restaurants averaged about £7/head, including a Filipino San Miguel beer or two.

Charlie's favourite was pork sisig, served on a sizzling plate.

Molly capitalised on the abundant seafood: kinilaw (ceviche salad), squid (pusit) and tinola (fish in ginger broth).

Above: Team favourites pork sisig (top) and kinilaw. Yum !

Strict vegetarians would definitely struggle in most places. Even vegetable sides like pinakbet and chow mein usually involved fish/oyster sauce and bonus bits of pork 🐖

Above: A cow's head being butchered at a local market. 

Budget accommodation in the Philippines was usually pretty basic. The typical cost was around £25/night, although our cheapest stays were 800 pesos or £10.80 !

Cheaper rooms were typically clean, but with ancient, noisy aircon; a non-functioning TV; and resident ants.

Bathrooms were usually wet-rooms, with a normal-looking toilet that didn't flush (bucket supplied !); an unheated shower with feeble pressure (sometimes requiring a "bucket shower" !); and one solitary towel between two people.

Above: A typical budget bathroom 

In contrast, some of the budget city hotels were quite luxurious.

The beach "resorts" we stayed in seemed quite run-down, and were often strangely lacking in guests.

Above: Seaview Moonrise Resort in Alcoy, Cebu: one of our more comfortable stays.

We often used Booking.com and Agoda for convenience, but sometimes phoned hotels directly (rates were usually cheaper that way).

Cycling in the Phillipines: Ups & Downs

🤗 Beautiful people. Safe, friendly feel. Easy communication. Universally superb service, even though tips are not expected. "Sir" and "Ma'am" were the common forms of address !

🤗 Island-hopping was a breeze thanks to the well-run, frequent inter-island ferries and "can-do" attitude of the staff.

🤗 Buckets of sunshine, but caution !! Extremely hot and humid ("felt" temperatures often 40 degrees Celsius plus).

Rainy season (typically from June) started early, some biblical downpours (below).

🤦‍♀️ Shocking poverty

🤦‍♂️ Pitiful stray dogs

🤦‍♀️ Ants indoors, almost everywhere !!

🤦‍♂️ Coastal roads were often busy and noisy, there were rarely options to bypass these (no Google Maps Bike option at the time of writing).

Much of the coast was less scenic than we expected.

🤦‍♀️ High noise levels in most places.

Screaming motorbike exhausts, crowing cockerels and off-key videoke, everywhere, night and day !

.

Cycling the Philippines:

Practical Pointers

⭐ "Brown-outs" (power cuts) are so common, some hotels have their own back-up generators ! Keep a headtorch handy. 

⭐ Ferry scheduling/ ticketing is best done in person at the ferry ports themselves - online info is a bit patchy.

⭐ Visa extensions: required at 1 month, and monthly after that. The website was impenetrable, but we had great experiences in person at the helpful Bureaus of Immigration in Roxas (Negros) and Lapu-Lapu City (Cebu).

^

Above: Are you ever in need of INSPIRATION?

Meet John Kenneth and Chris John (CJ to his friends) DECATHLON store assistants (Iloilo City, Capital of Panay store). Both so helpful and enthusiastic.