Nature Break on Bohol Island in the Philippines

The Philippines…they had always sounded so remote to me, so exotic, and so time intensive they kept on being relegated further down the travel bucket list. Big mistake. While they are all of those things, even with a lifetime you probably couldn’t explore the entirety of their 7,000+ islands. So don’t wait any longer to get your feet wet in these gorgeous waters!

Obviously the longer you have the better, but I’m here to show you all that I’ve seen and done in just one week. Yes, it meant spending almost as much time on a plane and in airports than on the ground, but any seasoned traveler will make the most of it and consider the journey more than worth it! With just one week in the Philippines, the key really was deciding on which two islands I was going to explore, and with the help of a local colleague opted to start my adventure on the beautiful island of Bohol.

What attracted me to Bohol is its diversity and natural beauty. One could easily spend a week here splitting time between relaxing on white sand beaches, diving and/or snorkeling among pristine reefs, renting a scooter to explore the lush interior, visiting old churches, and sampling local food. It’s also less touristy than the big hubs of Cebu and Boracay, so you can see and experience the rural life, stumble upon rice paddies, chat with the locals at the fruit stand. 

A great home base to visit Bohol from, Baclayon is a small coastal town with easy access to both the main attractions of the interior and the beach activities of Panglao and other nearby islands. 

Greeting you on arrival, the Church of Our Lady of  the Immaculate Conception is considered to be one of the oldest in the Philippines (early 18th century). Constructed from coral stones from the sea, it required back then a million egg whites to cement them together

Some more modern Spanish touches can be seen today after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake in 2013 damaged part of the church. 

The inside is lavishly decorated in a baroque & neoclassical style and still vividly colorful after the extensive renovations.   

Since Baclayon is a small town, you won’t find hotels here (go to Panglao for that) but you’ll find the best B&B in Bohol in La Casita de Baclayon. The open-air living quarters are simply stunning, surrounded by 1.5 hectares of tropical forest and located up the hill from the old town center. It reminded me of my time in Bali and had all the charm of a peaceful and exclusive retreat.

A stone path at the back of the house led to a Javanese hut for morning musings or afternoon tea surrounded by the sounds of nature.

And if it’s company you’re looking for, there were 14 rescue dogs and cats during my visit, complementing the therapeutic effect of the house!

Breakfast was a homemade feast to last you through the entire day, with local fruits, fresh coffee, and your choice of a main dish to get your day off to a fantastic start.  

A traditional Filipino breakfast  (well one of many!) consists of garlic fried rice topped with an egg and served with longganisa, a pork sausage with spices.

Here’s another one I had that week at a local coffee shop: salted egg yolk toasts – sweet and really tasty!

Whether on two or four wheels, you’ll need at least a full day to see Bohol’s main inland attractions. Start with a quick stop at the Blood Compact Shrine, a monument in Tagbilaran City depicting a very important event in the Philippine history – the first international treaty of friendship between Filipinos and Spaniards, which would later set-up the country as a colony of Spain.

Next, drive inland towards a forest of skinny trees to meet the island’s most adorable inhabitants…

….the Philippine tarsier! There’s a sanctuary devoted to their protection since they’re an endangered species. A visit will give you the chance to briefly see them in their natural habitat and learn more about these very strange looking creatures.

The Philippine tarsier is one of the world’s smallest primates with an average height of 5-6 inches. What you’ll notice the most though are their huge, bulging round eyes. And if the whole package looks a little familiar you wouldn’t be wrong… both Stephen Spielberg and Georges Lucas used the tarsier as the inspiration for E.T and Yoda!! 

Your visit will be quick and very quiet as tarsiers are very emotionally sensitive and get stressed easily. It’s shocking to find out that many in captivity will commit suicide by banging their head against the tree trunks or hanging themselves with their long rat tails… 🙁 So make sure you visit a legitimate sanctuary such as the one ran by the Philippine Tarsier Foundation.

Another must-visit in Bohol are the famous Chocolate Hills which you can see from the main observation deck in the town of Carmen.

The 214 steps climb will give you a beautiful 360 degrees view of the middle of Bohol island in all its green beauty.

Look the other way and you’ll witness one of the most baffling geological formations in the world – more than 1,200 rounded hills covered in grass spread over 18 square miles of Bohol’s land. 

These are the Chocolate Hills and they get their name from the brown color they wear in the summer months when the grass covering them dries up. Eerie, mesmerizing, otherworldly are just a few adjectives that comes to mind when first laying your eyes on this peculiar landscape. No one can really reach a consensus as to how they were formed, the most logical being that they are the weathered formations of a kind of marine limestone on top of a impermeable layer of clay. I much prefer the legend that says that these hills formed after two ancient giants threw sand at each other in a fight that lasted days and left their mess behind…

On the way out, there’s a small butterflies conservation center down the road that makes for a cute and quick stop. 

If you’re lucky you’ll be able to spot a few pretty specimen staying still long enough for you to take a photo, either eating…

…or copulating, which they’ll be busy doing for several hours and up to a full day!

Besides butterflies, you’ll also unsurprisingly find splendid flowers. The Philippine wax flower showcased below was a particular stunner.

Continue down the main road to reach the famous stretch of Bohol’s man-made forest. Two km of densely planted mahogany trees form a beautiful canopy as you drive south on the Interior Road.

Soon you’ll arrive at the Twin Hanging Bridge, a foot bridge made of woven bamboo crossing the Sipatan River. It’s a little slippery so you have to be careful crossing it but it affords nice views of the emerald river flowing underneath it.

For even more riverside beauty, nothing beats spending an hour aboard one of the many floating restaurants that cruise along the Loboc River, bringing you deep into the quiet countryside while you munch on local specialties. 

The boat will even stop at one of the nearby towns’ “cultural collectives” which will perform native dances for your entertainment.

A good dose of history awaits at the Clarin Ancestral House which used to be the residence of the former governor of Bohol.  While it doesn’t look like much from the outside, a tour of the living quarters inside is a must for the design and architecture alone.

The house was built in 1840 in traditional Filipino-Spanish style and you’ll enter through the large receiving hall with its high vaulted ceiling and floors of wide hardwood planks. It’s now a museum and displays some of the family’s collections of arts, furniture and clothing, but it’s the gorgeous light and wooden details I kept on admiring. The windows were  made of capiz shell, diffusing the hot sun into the softest of glow.

Wood carving skills were popular back then…what I wouldn’t give for this bar cart and dining set behind!

And the dining room, where you’ll find hand blown glass vessels and various cooking tools from forgotten times, is also a delight overlooking the back gardens.

Back on the road, you won’t be able to miss Santa Monica Church, a Roman Catholic church in Alburquerque town.

It’s famous for its arches supporting a pathway that connects the church to the convent, an unusual feature.

Next we make our way to Panglao Island which is connected to Bohol via a bridge and only a few minutes drive from Baclayon and Tagbilaran City. Most people stay on Panglao as this is where the beaches and the majority of the hotels are. It has a more touristy feel than the rest of Bohol though if you’re here for a beach vacation and want easy access to the wonderful dive sites, it’s definitely more convenient. 

I didn’t try the beach in Panglao as there was a mini tropical storm passing through the day I was there. Instead, I visited this great organic farm, hotel and restaurant, Bohol Bee Farm.

It’s a super relaxing place with a wonderful organic restaurant right on the water.

You can feast on local, organic and really fresh cuisine while watching fishermen off the shore and staring into the infinitely turquoise waters down below. My honey chicken with local red rice and plantains was the perfect antidote to the gloomy weather outside. 

Travelling to exotic places also means trying out unusual flavors of ice cream, especially with fruits not available back home. Ube (purple potato) is an extremely popular flavor here and the taste is as enjoyable as the vibrant color.

This being a farm, you can visit the grounds and peek at what’s growing.

Their farm store is a definite stop to stock up on yummy snacks for the road from dried fruits to herbal teas, honey, homemade chocolates, etc.

This being a rainy day well, there’s not much else to do but eat again…and I wasn’t complaining! There are a few cafes along the main road in Panglao for whiling away the afternoon and indulging in a delicious banana cream pie or whatever else you fancy. Check out Shaka, an excellent vegetarian cafe near Alona beach if you’re ever in the area.

If you want to try a little tipple before dinner time, may I suggest you seek out some real local wine at the market? Locals here drink religiously their coconut wine (also known as tuba) which is their poor man’s drink – I think I paid $0,15 for my large glass here. Depending on where you are in the Philippines, it’ll either be white (pure coconut sap) or red like mine (mixed with some tree bark to help it ferment). It’s tasty and a little vinegary, and if pretty fresh there won’t be that much alcohol in it yet. It’s nevertheless a great way to connect with the locals after their hard day’s work (and yours spent relaxing and eating). 

The day in Bohol always ends with a beautiful sight over the water – locals walking at low tide to pick up food for dinner, whether it’s small fish or the numerous sea urchins dotting the shore.