Why Honeymoon in Bohol
Variety is the case for Bohol. You can watch the sun come up over the Chocolate Hills, have lunch on a floating restaurant drifting down the Loboc River and snorkel a turtle reef the next morning. All of it is within about an hour or two of your hotel.
The pace is gentler than in Boracay and the island is more developed than Siquijor, so there is a good range of resorts and restaurants without the crowds of a party beach. Getting here is easy too, with direct flights from Manila and a fast ferry from Cebu.
It also suits couples with different interests. One of you can dive Panglao's walls while the other takes a cooking class or a long massage. You reconvene at sunset on Alona Beach or on your resort's clifftop deck.
When to Go
The most comfortable months run from about November to April, with daytime highs around the low 80s Fahrenheit and cooler nights. Heavy showers are most likely from November to January, so February through May is the most reliable dry stretch. That is also when the Chocolate Hills turn the chocolate brown that gave them their name.
May to July is hotter and very humid but still workable, especially for diving. From about August to October the weather becomes unpredictable, with the main typhoon season affecting the Visayas. Ferries from Cebu can be suspended during storms.
Holy Week and the Christmas holidays fill Panglao with domestic visitors. Book well ahead if your dates fall in those weeks.
Where to Stay
Most couples stay on Panglao. Alona Beach is the busiest area, a short white beach with dive shops, restaurants and nightlife. Amorita Resort sits on the cliff at its eastern end with sea-view villas and is a popular honeymoon choice. Further along the south coast, Dumaluan and Doljo beaches are quieter, with larger resorts on longer stretches of sand. South Palms Resort is one of the best known there.
For something more remote, look at Anda on Bohol's eastern tip. It has small resorts on white coves, cave pools a short drive away and far fewer visitors than Panglao. It works best as a second base for two or three nights.
For a night in the countryside, a few lodges along the Loboc River let you wake up to mist on the water.
Romantic Things to Do
Hire a private car and driver for a countryside loop. Start at the Chocolate Hills viewing deck in Carmen early, before the tour buses, then drive through the man-made mahogany forest at Bilar. Stop at the Philippine Tarsier Foundation sanctuary in Corella to see the tiny primates clinging to branches. Finish with a lunch cruise on the Loboc River, where floating restaurants drift past palms with a band on board.
On the water, take an early boat to Balicasag Island for snorkeling with turtles over a protected reef. On the same trip you can stop at the Virgin Island sandbar.
Spend a slow afternoon in Anda, swimming in a cave pool and walking a long white beach. Then end the day with a sunset massage or cocktail on a clifftop deck.
Getting There and Around
Bohol-Panglao International Airport (TAG) opened in 2018 on Panglao Island and has direct flights from Manila (about 1 hour 20 minutes) plus some routes from other Asian cities. Alona Beach and most resorts are 15–20 minutes away.
From Cebu, fast ferries run several times a day to Tagbilaran in roughly two hours, a good option if you are coming from Mactan-Cebu or heading to Siquijor next. Ferries also link Bohol to Siquijor and Dumaguete.
On the island, a private car and driver is the easiest way to see the countryside and is affordable for a full day. Tricycles cover short trips around Panglao. Experienced riders can rent scooters, though roads to Carmen are busy with trucks and buses. Anda is about two to three hours from Panglao by road.
Food and Drink
Bohol's specialties are mostly sweet. Try calamay, a sticky coconut and brown sugar confection packed in coconut shells. Peanut kisses are small cookies shaped like the Chocolate Hills. Ube, purple yam, appears in desserts and ice cream around the island.
On Panglao, the restaurants around Alona Beach range from grilled seafood stalls to Italian, Korean and modern Filipino kitchens. For dinner, look for kinilaw, grilled tuna belly and sinigang. The Loboc River cruises serve a buffet of Filipino classics. It is more about the setting than the food.
Most resorts on the south coast have beachfront restaurants and will arrange private dinners on the sand or a clifftop deck. A cold San Miguel and a plate of crispy pork belly after a dive day is hard to beat.
Honeymoon Tips
Visit the tarsiers only at the official Corella sanctuary or a similarly protected site. Tarsiers are nocturnal and easily stressed, so keep voices low, never use flash and skip roadside attractions that keep them in cages.
Do the Chocolate Hills early. By midmorning the light is flat and the deck is crowded.
If you want to see the old stone churches, note that several, including some in Loboc and Baclayon, were damaged in the 2013 earthquake. Some have been restored and others are still under repair.
Book dive and snorkel trips with operators that respect marine sanctuary rules at Balicasag. If you pair Bohol with Siquijor, take the morning ferry, since afternoon seas tend to be rougher.
