🇵🇭 Philippines · SE Asia
Cebu
Lechon, island ferries and canyoneering weekends.
cityislandsfood☀ best: Feb – May
The Cebu guide
Inside the premium guide
A preview of the real thing — a detailed premium guide, researched and checked in 2026. Click a page to enlarge.
THE COMPLETE CITY GUIDE
PHILIPPINES · RESEARCHED 2026
Cebu
Lechon, island ferries and canyoneering weekends.
sama·sama
The cover
What this guide covers
38 pages, A4 — cover to back. A phone edition comes with it.
What’s inside + how to use
The place & what a day costs
City at a glance — the best-of snapshot
What & how to eat
Where to eat — cheap & local
Mid-range & special occasion
Sweets, cafés & coffee
Vegan, veggie & gluten-free
Supermarkets & typical prices
Markets & food halls
Souvenirs & shopping
Where to stay — neighbourhoods
Budget, boutique & luxury stays
Hostels — the backpacker shortlist
Six big things to do
Top 10 experiences — book & compare
Nightlife & after dark
Best day trips
Insider tips + safety & scams
Ready-made day plans
Getting around
Arrival, tickets & transport cheat sheet
When to go + best time to visit
Cash, cards & tipping
Connectivity & insurance
Health, safety & entry
The travel toolbox
Every link, one place
Sama·Sama · Cebu guide38 pages
Everything it covers
STRAIGHT FROM THE GUIDE
Designed cover to cover
One real entry from the Cebu guide
The price tables further down give you the ranges. The guide gives you the places — 30 of them in Cebu, each priced, each one tap from Google Maps.
€2–4Turo-turo lechon & rice platesPoint-and-pick turo-turo eateries around Colon and the old city serving Cebu lechon, humba, tinola and veg over rice or a knot of puso. Fast, filling and cheap — the reliable everyday Cebuano lunch.📍 Open in Google Maps →One of 30. The rest are in the guide.
Everything. Two files. One price.
This isn’t a blog post saved as a PDF — it’s a detailed, premium, 38-page A4 magazine — researched and checked in 2026, designed to be used. And every purchase comes as two files: the A4 edition for your laptop, tablet and printer, and a phone edition laid out tall and narrow so you never pinch or zoom — the same guide re-flowed into 102 phone-sized pages. Keep it on your phone or print it, open it at a street corner in Cebu and it answers the question you’re standing there with.
38A4 pages — cover to back
102phone pages — same guide, re-flowed
244+researched prices in €
245live, verified links
108jump straight to Google Maps
61hand-picked photos
Add it up: 550+ researched details — every price checked, every venue placed, every link live. More usable information than a week of blog-tab hopping, in one beautiful file.
- Made for the phone in your pocket — as well as the A4 magazine you get a phone edition: one attraction per screen, nothing cut, every link still live. No pinching, no sideways scrolling.
- Every venue is one tap from navigation — 108 Google Maps links mean you never type an address on holiday.
- Real prices, not vibes — three honest daily budgets (€24 / €52 / €130) and prices on everything from a dorm bed to a splurge dinner.
- Zero sponsorships — nobody paid to be in this guide. If it’s in, it’s in because it’s good.
- Book everything from the page — stays open on Booking.com & Hostelworld, experiences on GetYourGuide, Trip.com & Klook, transport on official operator sites.
- Plan-it-for-me included — ready day plans, a Top 10, a best-of snapshot, and neighbourhood “best for” labels that choose your base with you.
Buy the Cebu guide — €9.95 →Or buy Cebu on Etsy ↗
Was €14.50 — now €9.95, every city the same.
This page gives you the ranges. The guide gives you the places — every venue named, priced and linked.
SHOESTRING
€24/day
dorms, street plates, transit
COMFY
€52/day
private room, sit-down meals, a treat
FLASH
€130/day
nice hotel, good dinners, no maths
🧮 Trip maths
€365 total
What Cebu costs, day to day
🛵 Getting around
Grab
Angkas / Move It
Bolt — not in the Philippines
Uber — left the Philippines in 2018
Jeepney / modern jeepper ride€0.2–€0.3
MyBus airport linkone-way€0.8
OceanJet ferry to Boholone-way — Book promo seats early€10–€16
Bus south (Oslob / Moalboal)one-way€2.6–€4.3
🛏 Stays
Per night
Hostel dorm bed€6.9–€11
IT Park hotel double€30–€52
Airbnb condo€22–€39
Mactan beach resort double€69–€156
Monthly
Studio condo, IT Park€260–€434
1-BR condo w/ pool€347–€564
🛒 Groceries & daily life
Puregold / Metro Gaisano — the value picks
SM Hypermarket / Robinsons — in every mall
Carbon Market — produce at local prices — daytime visits
Water 1.5 L€0.4–€0.6
Milk 1 L€1.6–€2
Eggs ×10€1.6–€2.1
Bread loaf€0.9–€1.3
Rice 1 kg€0.9–€1.2
Chicken breast 1 kg€2.4–€3.1
Bananas 1 kg€0.6–€1
Local beer 0.5 L (shop)€0.9–€1.2
🍜 Eating out
Carinderia (point-at-the-pot) meal€1.3–€2.6
Lechon plateCebu’s gift to the world€2.6–€4.3
Mall food court€2.6–€4.3
SuTuKil seafood feastper person€6.9–€13
Specialty coffee€1.7–€2.6
🎡 Things to do — with kids
Cebu Ocean Parkentry€12–€14
Mactan beach day passper person€5.2–€13
Sirao garden + Temple of Leahcombined entries€2.6–€3.5
🌙 Things to do — grown-ups
Kawasan canyoneeringincl. gear + guide€22–€30
Moalboal sardine runFree with your own mask€0–€4.3
Oslob whale sharksper person — Ethics are debated — Moalboal is the wilder choice€22–€30
Tops lookout at sunsetentry€1.7–€2.6
🌤 Climate
Day °CSea °CRain
Best: Feb – May · Wet: Jun – Oct
No hard dry season — brief showers all year. Feb–May is driest; typhoon-fringe risk Nov–Jan.
✈️ Getting there
Cebu PacificAirAsiaPAL ExpressManila€17–€43
Siargao€26–€61
Singapore€52–€104
Cebu Pacific’s fortress hub — the whole archipelago opens up from here.
🏧 ATMs & money
Fees: A flat ₱250 rides on almost every foreign withdrawal, with 10,000–20,000 ₱ limits — it stings in percentages on small pulls.
Limits: ₱10,000–20,000 at most banks; HSBC allows up to ₱40,000 — four fees become one.
Best machines: HSBC (higher limits)BPIBDO
HSBC branches allow bigger single withdrawals, diluting the flat fee. Bring some USD as backup for islands; change at bank counters or established changers, not kiosks.
🩺 Health & safety
Vaccines: Routine, Hepatitis A, Typhoid; rabies awareness with strays.
Health: Bottled water, repellent for dengue, sunscreen like it's a job — the tropics' honest checklist. City private hospitals (Cebu Doctors', Chong Hua) are good; island clinics are basic, so travel insured.
Tap water: ⚠️ Metro Manila and Cebu tap is chlorinated but most drink bottled/purified; on islands, always bottled.
Safety: The tourist islands — Boracay, Bohol, Cebu's resorts — run calm and heavily hosted; violence involving visitors is rare there. National statistics look higher than your actual itinerary: the areas driving them (far southwest Mindanao) are 500+ km from anywhere on this site. Typhoon season is Jun–Nov; Dec–May is your blue-sky alternative.
Emergency: 911 nationwide
🌱 Vegan, veggie & gluten-free
Plant-based: Hardest of the region — meat hides everywhere. Stick to Chinese-Filipino veggie houses, Bohol's farm cafés, and market fruit.
Gluten-free: Rice-based mains are safe; soy sauce (toyo) is in most adobo and marinades — grilled fish + rice is the reliable order.
'Walang karne' = no meat · 'gulay lang' = just vegetables · big cities have growing vegan scenes (Cebu IT Park).
🛂 Visa & entry
For most short tourist trips, citizens of the US, UK, EU/Schengen, Canada, Australia and New Zealand either enter visa-free or get a simple online authorisation (an eVisa or eTA) before flying. Typical visa-free stays run 30–90 days. Some countries want a visa arranged in advance, and a growing number ask you to fill an online arrival or eVisa form even when 'visa-free' — so always check the official portal for your exact nationality before you book.
Rules change — always verify with an official source for your nationality before you book.
💬 Traveller tips & reports
Lechon logistics — CNT and Rico’s are the famous names, but the Carbon-area stalls sell the same crackle for less. Go before 1 pm — when it’s gone, it’s gone.
@crispy.side.up · Jun ’26 · ▲ 139