Best things to do in Bohol + 3 day itinerary – Visit Bohol

If you’re looking for the best things to do in Bohol, I chose the most beautiful places in Bohol that I totally loved! There are so many places where I was just admiring nature and relaxing.

Oh, the Philippines… This country truly amazed me with wonderful people, great beaches and landscapes. I’ve also put it on my list of 10 cheap countries to visit because you can easily explore it on a budget. I have another post where I gave 20 tips to travel on a budget, you can view it here. 🙂

Day 1: Panglao Island tour: visit the best beaches in Bohol

Exploring the beautiful beaches – one of the best things to do in Bohol

You can either choose one beach that you like the most and spend the day or explore them all! I’ve included some nice beaches to visit just below the next photos. For this, you will need to rent a scooter, but if you’re afraid of riding, no worries!  The streets are not crowded at all. My boyfriend tried for the first time to ride a motorbike here, in Bohol. Honestly, it was the best place to learn to ride a scooter.

I took all the Panglao Island beaches one by one, exploring their beauty. When going between them, I also explored lots of beautiful places inside the island. I also had some unfortunate situations too, like a flat tire. This way I spent around 40 minutes at a service, where I also met two locals. 🙂

Some examples of beaches you can explore on Panglao Island are:

1. Batya beach
2. Bikini beach
3. White beach
4. Dumaluan beach
5. Alona beach
6. Momo beach
7. Panglao Beach

Personally, I tried to visit Alona Beach (the most popular one), but I gave up. When I arrived there, lots of people came to us asking to book tours, accommodations with them etc.. When we asked where we could park, they said we have to climb and park further away. We were confused because there were many scooters parked there and decided it’s too far away to park. We wanted to catch the sunrise at Panglao Beach too so we didn’t have that much time to spend there. I wish I could have stayed a bit there too, but I didn’t like that it was very crowded and too many people asking us to book things. That’s just my personal opinion though, all the other beaches were perfect! 🙂

Exploring some of the most beautiful places in Bohol by motorbike

As I usually say in my blogs, exploring without having anything planned is great! While exploring the beaches of Bohol, try to meet local people and explore smaller paths too. If I saw an interesting road that seemed nice, even if it wasn’t in my plan, I still tried to explore it. I found myself around beautiful palm trees and almost no people. On other paths, I would meet local kids that would wave at me and ask me questions about myself. They were really cute and I always enjoyed talking to them!

This doesn’t apply just to Panglao Island for sure, it’s for the entire Bohol island, depending on how much time you have. If you still would like to plan things, here are some of the best things to do in Bohol to put on your list. I haven’t mentioned any of them in this article except now:

1. Bamboo Hanging Bridge
2. Dimiao Falls
3. Anda Cave Pools
4. Kinahugan Falls
5. Alicia Hills

Day 2: Visit Bohol’s most known gems

Chocolate Hills: relaxation at its finest

Would you like to sit on the top of a hill and admire lots of others in the background? If yes, that’s the place for it! The Chocolate Hills are a group of hills right in the heart of Bohol with an incredible landscape. The hills are not high, most of them are between 30 and 60 meters. Also, don’t have any hopes to find chocolate there! haha

We were pretty confused because putting Chocolate Hills on Google Maps, it led us nowhere. It was a small and bumpy road and a local person told us it goes nowhere. So we turned back and tried to look again for some roads on our phones. After looking for a while, I found Hilltop 360 View Park. It was amazing! There were no other people except us and the owner. There was a very small entry fee of around $1. Once arrived there, we could relax in a hammock in complete silence. All around the place we could view the beautiful hills. It’s for sure one of the best things to do in Bohol, so don’t miss it. 🙂

The Chocolate Hills is well-known for being one of the most beautiful places in Bohol.

Visit the Tarsier Sanctuary

Another great place to visit is the Tarsier Sanctuary. When I first arrived in the place where other people were taking photos, I couldn’t see the tarsier. After a better look, I was able to see the tiny cute animal! It was so small that I could have almost missed it. They were really cute, looking at us with big and beautiful eyes. Visiting them is for sure one of the best things to do in Bohol. 

The downside is that the tour was very short, but it was enough to see and admire them. Another great thing is that it’s right on the way from Panglao Island to Chocolate Hills, next to the Man-Made forest. This way you can see them all on the same day. 

Man-Made Forest: spectacular and among the most beautiful places in Bohol

For this, again, you should rent a scooter. There aren’t many cars passing by and it was very safe for us to ride. We stopped many times to relax in the middle of nature and admire the beauty around us.

We visited Bohol during summer, so another great thing in the forest was the cool breeze instead of the summer high temperatures. After the forest, you will arrive at Carmen, where you’ll find Chocolate hills. I talked about them earlier in this article, so you should really put all of them on the same day.

The Man-Made Forest is one of the most visited and most beautiful places to see in Bohol. Riding a scooter (that is very cheap) in the forest is among the best things to do in Bohol. Scooters can cost even 6-10 USD dollars per day and it’s also a great place where to start learning how to ride it.

Day 3: Loboc River Cruise + Sunset watching at the best beaches in Bohol

One of the best things to do in Bohol is to take a Loboc River Cruise

You can choose if you want to take an official cruise or an unofficial one. On the way to Chocolate Hills, you will see the beautiful river. Honestly, I would totally avoid trying to visit them both on the same day. I spent around 2 or 3 hours relaxing on Chocolate Hills and I could have stayed there all day. 

Official or unofficial cruise?

If you’re wondering about this, it depends on how comfortable you are talking to local people. It also depends on how much you want to explore and how much time you have. The fact that this is one of the most beautiful places in Bohol is totally true.

If you want to float down the river in comfort, you can buy a ticket at the shore. Your cruise will most likely include a buffet-style lunch and a live band. Some or all boats will also offer you a performance of Filipina women dressed in traditional clothing, singing and dancing.

If you choose the unofficial cruise, you can try to take to locals that have boats and want to take you for a ride. This cruise will offer you more freedom and also you won’t stay with lots of people on the same boat. If the person that is offering you the ride is okay with it, you can reach the waterfall that is at the end of the river. The ride will be incredible, for sure one of the best things to do in Bohol.

You definitely shouldn’t miss the best places to see the sunset in Bohol

After you’re done with the cruise, I would recommend to choose a beautiful beach and admire the sunset. Personally, as in the photos above, I’ve watched the sunset at Panglao Beach. This is for sure one of the best beaches in Bohol and also uncrowded. Other nice beaches where to see the sunset are:

1. Alona beach
2. Doljo beach
3. Momo beach