Bohol is an island in the middle of the Philippines with a set of things to see that a child could have designed. Tiny wide eyed primates, hills shaped like chocolate drops, a river with a floating restaurant, and a beach. Three nights covers it.
The tarsiers first. The Philippine tarsier is a primate the size of a fist with eyes bigger than its brain, and the sanctuary at Corella keeps a few in a forest enclosure where you walk in silence and a guide points to the branch. No touching, no flash, whispers. It takes twenty minutes and the kids talk about it for years.
The Chocolate Hills are twelve hundred grass covered mounds across the middle of the island, green in the wet season and brown in the dry, which is where the name comes from. A viewpoint with steps, a photo, and the story that a giant cried them. Forty minutes. The ATV rides through the hills are for kids over ten.
The river and the beach
The Loboc river cruise is lunch. A floating restaurant with a buffet moves slowly up the river past palm forest and stops at a village where children sing. It is touristy and it is exactly the right amount of touristy for a family. Ninety minutes.
Panglao island is joined to Bohol by a bridge and it is where the beach is. Alona beach for the restaurants, Dumaluan for the quiet, a resort with a pool for the base. Dolphin watching at dawn from Alona, and snorkeling at Balicasag island, which is the best reef in the region and a short boat ride.
Fly to Tagbilaran or Panglao from Manila or Cebu. Rent a car with a driver for the inland day, it is cheaper than it sounds and nobody has to navigate. Then the pool, then the beach, then the flight to the next island.
Planning Philippines with kids? Start with the full Philippines family travel guide, or send me the ages and the dates and I will come back with what is really available.
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