Metro Cebu

Three main cities make up the core of Metro Cebu; each has its own government and its own Wikivoyage article:

• 🌍 Cebu City — on Cebu Island; has the port, provincial government, many hotels, extensive shopping, lively nightlife, and much else (population in 2020 census 964,000).
• 🌍 Mandaue — a residential and industrial town located on Cebu Island between Cebu City and Lapu-Lapu (364,000).
• 🌍 Lapu-Lapu — on Mactan Island east of Cebu City; has the airport, some nice beaches and dive sites, and many high-end resorts (498,000).

For practical purposes, the three are in effect a single city; taxis, jeepneys and buses are available so travel between them is easy. There are two large bridges between Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, and many roads between Manadue and Cebu city.

• Cebu-Cordova Link Espressway (CCLEX). A third bridge, running direct from Cebu City to Córdova (the southern part of Mactan), went into service in 2022. It is 8.5 km (just over 5 miles) long and high enough to allow ocean-going ships to pass beneath. Unlike the two existing bridges the new one has a toll. (updated Apr 2022)

Cebu City has most of the region's historical sights and a range of facilities for travellers: accommodation, food and entertainment. It is therefore the main tourist destination in the region. However many travellers will also visit other areas: Lapu-Lapu for the airport, and anywhere except Cebu City for beach resorts.

The administrative region of Metro Cebu extends well beyond the three core cities; the most distant towns in the region — Carcar to the south and Danao to the north — are about 40 km (25 miles) from Cebu City. The region includes various suburbs or towns for which Wikivoyage has separate articles. We list them below, with each list ordered from Cebu City outwards:

East of Cebu City, on other islands:

• Lapu-Lapu, connected to Mandaue by bridges
• 🌍 Córdova — on Mactan Island, south of Lapu-Lapu
• 🌍 Olango Island — easternmost part of the metro area, a short ferry ride from Lapu-Lapu, but fairly rural. Has mangrove swamps, a wildlife sanctuary popular with bird watchers, a large reef area with good diving, and some mid-range resorts

North of Cebu City, on Cebu Island:

• Mandaue, bordering Cebu City and with bridges to Lapu-Lapu
• 🌍 Consolacion — mainly residential suburb north of Mandaue
• 🌍 Lilo-an — coastal suburb, home of the Rosquillos, a type of cookie
• 🌍 Compostela — municipality with a few coastal resorts and attractions inland in the hills
• 🌍 Danao — 40 km from the city. Has ferries to the Camotes Islands

South of Cebu City, on Cebu Island:

• 🌍 Talisay — a residential and trading center directly bordering Cebu City. Talisay has the fourth largest population of any municipality in the region. It could be considered a fourth core city
• 🌍 Minglanilla — largely a bedroom suburb just south of Talisay, known for its Sugat festival
• 🌍 Naga — has the largest factory in the country, making cement, and also a number of seaside resorts
• 🌍 San Fernando — more of a country area than a city region, though there is a town; has resorts both in a mountain area and along the coast
• 🌍 Carcar — old colonial town on the coast with a few interesting historic buildings.

All municipalities have some sea coast and all except Cebu City have some beach resorts. Many of the townships also extend up into the island's mountainous interior, but most of the population is along the coast.

This is an overview article. The tourist attractions, hotels, eateries and bars are described in the articles for cities within the urban conglomerate, mainly Cebu City and Lapu-Lapu.

The region has many resident foreigners, both employed and retired. Under Philippine law foreigners cannot own land but they can buy condominiums, and there are condo developments in many parts of the country catering to that market and to well-off Filipinos. In this area most foreigners can be found in Cebu City or in Lapu-Lapu, which has many high-end condos near beaches.

For digital nomads the IT Park area of Cebu City may be attractive; it has good facilities and there is some work to be had with companies there.

The main language of the province and of several nearby regions is Cebuano, also known as Bisaya to its speakers and Visayan in English. However many locals speak one or more other languages as well.

As anywhere in the country, English is widely spoken at skill levels ranging from awful to excellent. This is a highly developed urban area with many tourists, so good English is more common here than in many other regions.

Tagalog is also commonly spoken since the central government promotes it as a national language and it is used in schools, but it is not indigenous to this region. Several of the country's many minority languages — including Waray, Illongo and Hokkien Chinese — are also fairly common in the area, but most speakers of those will also speak at least one of Cebuano, Tagalog or English.

It is possible to arrive at the airport, go directly to one of Lapu-Lapu's resorts, not visit Cebu City (or only go there on a guided tour), and be almost entirely insulated from the Philippines. Some package holidays, mainly for Japanese and Koreans, do exactly this.

There is a coastal highway that runs north-south through all parts of Metro Cebu that are on Cebu Island; roads branch off it to Lapu-Lapu and Córdova. Very little of this road is divided highway or limited access, and parts of it form the main streets of several towns; traffic is often slow and driving difficult.

Traffic in the main cities is sometimes awful, especially in Mandaue since it is between two larger cities (Cebu City and Lapu-Lapu), there are only a few ways through and there is sometimes construction work on those. Traffic in Cebu City can also be unpleasantly heavy at times. Throughout the area travel during rush hours should be avoided if possible.

The Metro Cebu Expressway — 75 km of modern divided highway from Naga to Danao — is expected to be completed by 2022. As of early 2019 not much of it is in service yet, only a section from near SM Seaside mall in Cebu City into Talisay.

There are taxi, jeepney and bus services anywhere in the region.

See the articles for individual cities for descriptions of most of the area's attractions. Here we mention only a few of the most important, and even for those the details are in the city articles.

Magellan's expedition in the 1520s was the first to circumnavigate the Earth, but Magellan himself did not make it all the way; he was killed in a battle on Mactan Island with the forces of a local chief named Lapu-Lapu. Today the island's main city is called Lapu-Lapu; it has a statue commemorating the warrior, with a monument to Magellan nearby.

Magellan was fighting Lapu-Lapu at the request of Rajah Humabon of Cebu, who was friendly with the Spaniards and had been baptised a Christian. Two of Magellan's gifts to the Rajah are now among Cebu City's most important tourist sites. One is Magellan's Cross, the other a statue of Santo Niño (the Holy Child). Cebu's greatest church is the Basilica of Santo Niño; the statue is inside and the cross is in a small chapel nearby. These draw Catholic pilgrims from all over the Philippines, and some from further away.

The Sinulog festival, dedicated to Santo Niño, is on the third Sunday in January; it attracts large numbers of both tourists and pilgrims. It is centered on the Basilica in Cebu City but is celebrated throughout Metro Cebu, in the rest of the province, and to some extent even in nearby provinces. If you visit around that time, be prepared for sold-out hotels, large crowds and severe traffic problems.

There are many religious sites to visit, notable churches being the Archdiocesan Immaculate Heart of Mary in Minglanilla and Sto Tomas de Villanueva in Danao, as well as many shrines and crosses such as at Q Park in the hills of Compostela.

For bird watchers, the wetlands wildlife sanctuary of Olango Island is a major draw.

Diving, both snorkel and scuba, is a major draw for travellers throughout the Philippines, and various other activities, from just relaxing on beaches to going out in boats to admire dolphins, are popular as well.

Within the Metro region, except for the very urban Cebu City, every town listed at #Cities above has some beaches, beach resorts and dive sites. Many of the higher-end places are in Lapu-Lapu and Córdova. More moderate prices can be found on Olango Island or the coastal towns away from the city to either north or south.

A number of other popular diving sites are located near Cebu and often reached via the Metro region. Moalboal is reasonably nearby on Cebu Island; see Cebu_Province#Understand for other possibilities within the province. Popular destinations in nearby provinces include Panglao Island in Bohol Province and Dumaguete in Negros Oriental. There are flights or ferries to both, and Dumaguete can also be reached by bus.

All the resorts and most hotels have restaurants and bars, many with international menus. As anywhere in the country, all the malls also have food vendors, though the smaller ones may have only fast food chains. In addition to those, the areas around Mango Avenue and the IT Park (both in Cebu City) also have many restaurants; both areas include places with international menus.

There are many fast food outlets and plenty of street food; see the Philippines article for discussion.

For restaurant listings, see the city and town articles listed at cities above.

The region's largest entertainment area is along Mango Avenue in Cebu City.

Nearly all the resorts and many of the hotels also have bars, some with live music. For other bar and night club listings, see the city and town articles listed at cities above.

All the suburbs along the coast have some dive sites and beach resorts, and Lapu-Lapu has many, mostly upmarket. Cebu City itself has none and Mandaue only a few. There are also many other possibilities in other parts of Cebu Province.

The high-class hotels are mainly in Cebu City or near the airport in Lapu-Lapu. High-end beach resorts are mostly in Lapu-Lapu or Cordova. Mid-range hotels can be found in all the larger towns, mid-range resorts on Olango or in the coastal towns north and south of Cebu City. Backpacker places are mostly in Cebu City, especially the older Colon district down by the port.

For hotel listings, see the city and town articles listed at cities above.

The area is poor; there are beggars and it is wise to take precautions against pickpockets and common scams. In general the region is reasonably safe and violent crime is rare, but parts of Cebu City are considered risky at night.

In general, this can be solved by taking as little money and valuable items around with you as possible; if possible, avoid taking any money, because what may seem to you like not very much money would seem to a poor, hungry person like quite a lot. For example, if you took US$20 with you, you wouldn't think it was much, but someone who desperately needed a meal would.

All the major cities have social hygiene clinics which offer free testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases:

• Cebu City Social Hygiene Clinic, Room 103, City Health Office, General Maxilom Aveune, ☏ +63 32 2605517. 
• Mandaue Social Hygiene Clinic, Mandaue City Health Office, S B Cabahug Street centro, ☏ +63 32 3460110. 
• Lapu-Lapu Social Hygiene Clinic, Lapu-Lapu City Health Office, Lapu-lapu City Hall Road, ☏ +63 32 3402584. 
• Talisay City Social Hygiene Clinic, Talisay City Rural Health Unit 1, Multi-purpose Bldg., Poblacion, ☏ +63 32 4915567. 

For other health services see the Cebu City article.

Anywhere on Cebu Island is readily accessible by road, and there is good bus service. The diving destination Moalboal is one popular choice.

There are also some bus-and-ferry combination journeys to nearby islands, in particular to Dumaguete or to San Carlos (Negros Occidental) and on to Bacolod. There are two main bus stations, the North station in Mandaue and South station in Cebu City; to discover which one has buses for where you want to go, see the article on your destination.

Popular tourist destinations reachable with a few hours' ferry ride are Bohol and Dumaguete.

Boracay is one of the country's most popular and most developed beach resort areas. It is somewhat further away and is most easily reached by plane to Kalibo, then ferry. It is also possible to get there using buses and ferries via Bacolod and Iloilo City.