I just checked another dream destination from the list. Cebu, the second largest city in the Philippines, is an well know tourist site. And in order to save money for other dream destination, I certainly had to consider the cost and the value for my money. Therefore I started the trip with the objectives to check out the famous beaches with money saving in mind. If you follow my trace, you could find out how to tour around famous site in cebu by yourself, and save money at the same time.

For place to stay, it’s quite good to take the waterfront hotel. It’s a very famous hotel in Cebu city. If you reserve early, it is easy to get a good price. When we arrive, the first glance from outside looks like a palace. It was Christmas season, so a lot of people was around the lobby area. Yet, it doesn’t seem crowded because the lobby interior was really spacious. I guess it must be difficult to find a room around this time. Checked in the delux room , and the interior is ok. It could be considered quite good for a 4 stars hotel. Breakfast is not bad too.

We ate at Grand Majestic, a buffet type of restaurant. To my surprise, the food taste extraordinary good. (I hope it is not just because I was hungry. ) They serve Peking Duck, lot of kinds of Dim Sum and a kind of large fish fillet that I was not able to find out what kind of fish it is.

For going around and tour in Cebu, we just asked an security guard of the restaurant to call a taxi, and negotiated a service paid by hour with the driver. We agreed to pay him 200 pesos per hour. This is much cheaper than getting a service car from hotel.

Our first stop was plantation bay resort. The first impression was “WOW!” As we entered, we could see an enormous pool that could be easily mistaken as seaside area or a lake. (Or you can really say it is an artificial lake instead.) The resort is very big, and there is a cart service around the whole area. We took the cart and visited different sand beach. And at end of the trip, the cart driver refuse to take any tips. Therefore the actual expenses we had in plantation bay was zero…

Next we passed by Maribago Bluewater resort. Their beach is facing an dedicate tiny island. Quite a unique place for holding an romantic event like wedding ceremony.

Before the sun went down, we came to shang ri la resort.  Shang ri la really got a cut of the best beach of the Cebu island. The view was great. They build a wine and dine area just beside the beach with superb ambiance. It’s a perfect place to enjoy sunset. Unfortunately, they do not serve dinner there before 8:30 pm. Meaning, you could only have a drink but not eating dinner while enjoying sunset.

We went back to the central area of Cebu city for dinner. There is an Ayala mall in the center of business park. It’s quite similar to the Trinoma mall in metro manila. Lot of good restaurant could be found there.

And since we are already in Cebu, why not also have a tour in the nearby island – Bohol.