Marcus’ Blog

Sunset on White Beach, in Moalboal, Cebu, Philippines

We spent our holiday this year in Cebu in the Philippines. A great difference from last year when we spent two weeks in Nepal and hiking every day. Instead, this year, we’ve been spending it on the beach, in the pool, at our friends’ house and with Nadine’s family.

Here are the pictures, and if you feel like reading a bit more, keep reading…

www.marcdelange.com/cebu

We first spend a few days in Cebu city and stayed with friends in North Town. On Good Friday we drove up to Balamben, crossing the Cebu inlands and hills. Great scenery along the way. In Balamben we stayed in Binghay Marine Park, a typical local resort where many families stay a couple of days.

After that we stayed one night at Tambuli beach resort back at Cebu (Mactan Island). Overpriced and nothing too much around here. But at least we had a nice afternoon on the beach and Nadine’s brother brought in a case of Red Horse beer (local stuff - much higher alc.% than the regular beer). Thanks bro

The plan was to drive to Moalboal straight after this, but since Nadine caught a fever, we opted to stay with our friends in North Town again, and we chilled out in their pool and have been driving around town in the Expedition a few days.

Wednessday we drove to Moalboal. A three hour drive and once you’re out of the big city Cebu, the views and surroundings are really amazing. Via Carcar, Barili, Dumanjug, Ronda, and Alcantara, we finally reached the town of Moalboal.

Moalboal is a small, laid back town with exactly one bar and one restaurant in the ‘center’. The reason to go to this place are the two beach areas, Panagsama Beach and White Beach. They are both very popular among divers as the coral reef starts just 30 meter from the shore.

Church in Moalboal

After looking at a few resorts (including one managed by a Dutch guy) we opted to stay in “Serena Resort”, because that one had both a beach and a pool. A tiny place (six cottages) but all very tastefully decorated. As there weren’t many guests at all, Nadine and I felt like the only people there, and it gave the feeling of staying in your own ’second house’ on the coast.

So we relaxed in this place for four days and filled them by swimming, walking along the beach, sleeping, eating (banana fritters for Nadine), and drinking San Miguel beer (Marc).

After this we both had a seriously dark tan, something we hadn’t experienced in some time!

From Moalboal it was back to Cebu on Saturday, and we met-up again with our friends in Cebu. Had some lunch in Tinderbox, and in the evening went out in the city (The Wine Shop and Ralph’s). This was a great evening and night out!

Last few days we opted for the beach again and checked into the new Hilton Beach Resort in Mactan Island. We liked this new hotel as it’s got a smaller set-up that resembles closer that of a small hotel where the staff know you. The service and staff was really great, but the location of the hotel is still somewhat shaky as it is pushed between a shanty town on the left and some other local houses on the right. The hotel built a big wall to the left to close of the view, but the result is that the beach feels a little cramped. See the picture below.

Beach in the Hilton in Mactan - Cebu

The hotel is not officially opened yet and time will tell how succesful it will be over the next years. At least the number of tourists landing in Cebu seem to rise every year so the potential is there.

Check out more pictures below:

www.marcdelange.com/cebu