Last updated on at 03:45 am
If you are looking for a beautiful beach as a vacation destination, then you might want to consider Panglao Island, off the coast of Tagbilaran City in the island province of Bohol in the Philippines.
Bohol, Philippines
Bohol is a province in the Visayas region in the Philippines, an hour by airplane from the capital city of Manila.
I’ve heard so many praises of Panglao from many fellow travelers I’ve met during my travels, so I decided to go check it out. The island indeed lived up to the hype.
Panglao Island
Panglao is beautiful. Fine white sand, turquoise clear waters, pristine shores—it was literally a paradise. It’s like Boracay but without the stifling crowd of tourists. Only a few would mill on the beach, so it’s quite peaceful and you can enjoy your vacation more.
Alona Beach
We spent most of our beach time in Alona Beach, the most famous one in Panglao that has a great underwater scene. It’s a bit pricey in the area, but since it was the nearest beach to our hotel, it was convenient for us to be there.
Activities
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Food
There are a good number of restaurants and food joints on the beachfront where you can enjoy a glass of shake or beer if you’d prefer to just take in the view.
Diving
For those who love diving or would like to try it, there are some dive shops around to help you do that. Many would say that Panglao’s underwater scene is excellent so diving in this area is really a must-try. We haven’t had time to do that given the limited stay we had, but we’re planning to go back soon and get some diving done.
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Island Hopping on Panglao Island
Island hopping is also very famous in Panglao. For a private island hopping tour for 3, you will pay around P2000.
Night Scene
Panglao’s night scene is milder than Boracay; not too crowded and not too noisy.
Dumaluan Beach
Another beach to try is Dumaluan Beach, around 30 minutes by trike from Alona Beach. It has that more “virgin” feel and far lesser crowds than Alona Beach so it was immediately a hit with us. The only issue, though, was that it would cost P400 (Philippine Peso) for a round trip by trike. Actually, we paid P300 since we did some serious haggling with the driver.
How to Arrive on Panglao Island
Bohol is an hour airplane ride from Manila. Planes land in the capital city of Tagbilaran. It takes around 40 minutes to reach Panglao Island from there. Since we were a group, we took one of the vans for hire at the airport which costs P600.
Where to Stay
We stayed at Franzen Residence, a place that’s not beachfront but accessible to the beach by a 5-10 minute walk. That’s only possible during the day, though, since there are no lights in the area at night. It was a good place to stay with lovely, friendly owners. A triple room costs us P2,500 per night.
Where to Eat on Panglao Island
- Alona Hidden Dream
We went crazy over seafood during our trip and our favorite go-to place was Alona Hidden Dream. It was at the back of Alona Beach, just around 5 minutes walk. You can pick out any fresh seafood you like and have it cooked in the ways available.
- Buzz Cafe
We also love the organic dishes offered by Buzz Cafe, a branch of the Bohol Bee Farm. It was located just along Alona Beach.
Their salads were superb, and we particularly love the Organic Vegetarian Chips. We made a beeline for their bestselling Malunggay ice cream, which we were skeptical about at first but turned out really good. They also sell honey in bottles, pesto spreads in jars, and other organic stuff that you can bring home as gifts.
Final Thoughts
In closing, Panglao was the best! It perfectly met our criteria of a beautiful beach with less crowd. If you’re like us who want that, then we’d say you’ll definitely love Panglao!
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FlashandFrugal says
Wow it looks beautiful! I am due to go to Philippines in a few months and am currently working hard deciding where to go within the many islands – perhaps I’ll give this a shot!
Olivia says
It’s a beautiful island, not too many tourists around. We love it there. I hope you would too! 🙂
Robert says
Always great to read about new destinations. Visiting the Philippines is definitely a priority for me and just seem to read about Boracay only. Will definitely have a closer look at this lovely island! 🙂
Olivia says
Please do. It’s beautiful and was worth the trip for us! 🙂
Fransiskus says
Hi Olivia, I like organic vegetarian and of course it’s grilled fish, salad, organic red rice yummy…
Olivia says
And healthy, too! 🙂 Thanks for dropping by.
javealife says
we lived there for two years, and to be honest it looks like they have made a big effort to clean up the beach area over the last couple of years as there used to be a huge amount of building on the sand
Olivia says
It’s clean now and looks really beautiful 🙂