Hotels & Other Accommodation Options in Metro Cebu

Crowne Garden Hotel
Salinas Drive, Lahug, Cebu City
Tel. (63-32) 412-7517, 412-7759, 231-3036, 231-3773, 231-0772
email@crownegardenhotel.com
www.crownegardenhotel.com


Golden Valley Hotel
155A Pelaez Street
Cebu City, 6000
Tel No. (6332) 253-8660
Fax No. (6332) 253-8482
www.goldenvalleyhotel.net


La Guardia Hotel
Osmeña Boulevard, Cebu City
Tel. #: (63-32) 416-7889, 416-7881, 416-7787, 416-7788
email@laguardiahotelcebu.com
www.laguardiahotel.com

Metro Park Hotel
Saint Lawrence St., Lahug, Cebu City
Tel #: (063) (032) 233-2352, 233-3883, 233-3887, 233-3677, 233-0130
email@metroparkhotelcebu.com
www.metroparkhotelcebu.com

note: This page will be updated every chance I get.

Cebu Travel Blogger Visits Prony the Python

Cebu travel blogger meets Prony(after mini-zoo owner Sofronio), a python at a mini-zoo in Alburquerque, Bohol. They say that at 25 feet and 600 kilos, this is the biggest python in captivity. To get there, you have to pay a PHP10.00(about a quarter of a US dollar) for road maintenance fee and PHP 5.00 entrance fee at the mini-zoo. Photo opportunities also require some donation.

Cebu Travel Blogger Revisits History at Sandugo Site

This blood compact site in Tagbilaran City commemorates the blood compact(Sandugo) that Spanish explorer Miguel Lopez de Legazpi had with then Bohol chieftain Datu Sikatuna(King Katuna?) on March 16, 1565. It was considered the first international treaty of friendship between two people of different races according to a Wikipedia article.

Some dispute the real location where the ceremony took place. While this Cebu travel blog author was in Bohol, he found a marker that read: "Welcome to Loay, the real blood compact site". It could be possible, however, that a blood compact ceremony did happen in Loay, between Legazpi and another Boholano chieftain, Gala.

Cebu travel blogger party joins the blodd compact party..haha


Cebu travel blogger and equal half poses with figures of history

Cebu Travel Blog Recommends Cesar for Bohol Countryside Tour

Cebu Travel Blog author just had a great tour of the Bohol countryside. Accompanying him and his equal half was tour driver Cesar of Cavalry Transport Services, a Bohol-based rental service for vans, cars and buses used for tours in the beautiful island of Bohol. Cavalry Transport Services is owned by Rod Balaba and holds office in Tagbilaran City, Bohol's lone city. Their services also include providing transportation for weddings and seminars. Their Bohol countryside tour package costs only Php 2,000.00 excluding entrance fees, lunch and occasional donations, probably the lowest in Bohol. A sidetrip to Sagbayan peak in Sagbayan, Bohol will cost an extra Php 500.00 to cover fuel costs. The itinerary includes visits to the Chocolate Hills Complex(entrance fee: Php 25.00) in Carmen, Bohol, the Candabong Man-made Mahogany Forest in Bilar, Bohol, the Hanging Bridge in Loboc, Bohol, lunch at the floating restaurant at Loboc River(buffet cost: Php 300.00), the tarsiers at the roadside of Loboc(optional donations), the largest Python(Prony) in captivity(road maintenance fee: Php 10.00 + mini-zoo entrance fee: Php 5.00) in Alburquerque, Bohol, the century-old Clarin ancestral home in Loay, Bohol, the Baclayon church in Baclayon, Bohol and the Blood Compact Site in Tagbilaran City. Seeing all that for Php 2,000 in a white Toyota sedan makes this thrifty Cebuano tourist think it's all worth it. You may email them at rodboholtours@yahoo.com or call telephone number +6338-4160118 or mobile number +639185914969.

Cebu Travel Blogger Up Close with Bohol's Tarsier

Here are photos we took from our latest vacation to Bohol. We were so fortunate to be among the last tourists to have seen the tarsiers in captivity. A few days after our vacation, the Bohol provincial government enacted new legislation that mandated the return of tarsiers to the wild citing stress to the world's smallest primates as the primary reason for such. These photos were taken at a roadside tarsier mini-zoo in Loboc, Bohol. Tarsiers can also be found in the riverbanks of Loboc River of the famed Loboc Floating Restaurant and at Corilla in the interior of Bohol island.

Cebu Travel Blogger Thadz and equal half Karen poses with a tarsier


Cebu Travel Blogger poses with the world's smallest primate


Karen and Tarzy


Cebu Travel Blogger turns into a giant tarsier..lol


Super Tarzy Karen

Cebu Travel Blog Restaurant Review: Chika-an Just a Carinderia at SM North Wing

This Cebu travel blogger loves eating out and while there are a few places I haven't eaten at, I usually listen to friends' critiques of such places and try to pick the ones that had positive reviews. Chika-an at SM's North Wing has had positive reviews from my friends that it actually prompted me to try the restaurant just to find out for sure.

Native home-cooked dishes in a more cozy ambiance, that's what the place seemed to promise judging from its interior design, menu and friends' critiques. My experience however, was less positive or was a lot less encouraging than what my friends think. Well perhaps, it could be that I am harder to please than plain Cebu folks. It didn't help that I had a hard-to-please Bacolodnon to tow along.

The dishes they serve were okay, except that there was nothing extraordinary or special about it. We ordered Pork Sinigang(the presentation was plain awful), Crispy Pata(it ain't worth the price) and some mollusks baked in cheese(probably the only positive experience I had, probably because it wasn't a common dish). And oh yes, another positive is that if you are a rice lover, steamed rice is unlimited. Oh well, that's bad news though for those who are watching their calories like me.

Service is also wanting, the staff is inattentive, I had to holler a lot of times for my ice tea refill and it didn't help many of them do not actually wear warm smiles. They are quite impolite and discorteous too. One waiter, without a word took out the table napkins in our table when I still needed some of those. He did that without the courtesy of asking.

For Filipinos who are very critical of native dishes, I do not ask them to try Chika-an. It's just a t a level with a roadside carinderia or a regular school cafeteria and you are paying more for the brand rather than what the dining experience is worth.

Cebu Travel Says Cebuanos Hardly Feel Fare Rollback

A provisionary 50-centavo fare rollback is supposed to have been issued already and Cebu jeepney drivers are expected to heed the order. However, after a few days into the fare rollback memorandum, jeepney drivers in Cebu have continued to collect a minimum fare of 8 pesos as opposed to the Php 7.50 minimum fare set by the LTFRB. This to the dismay of Cebu's riding public. If at any, the 50 centavo rollback on fares is hardly felt by Cebuanos. Cebu's jeepney drivers actually make the scarcity of 25 centavo coins as an excuse while Cebu's riding public is too ashamed to ask for the 50 cents that is rightfully theirs. To resolve the issue, join me in urging the LTFRB to issue another 50 centavo provisionary rollback on jeepney fares while the petition for a Php 2 peso rollback is pending. This way Cebu's commuters are not shortchanged.