Bohol Countryside Tour: Your Ticket To The Best Tourist Spots In Bohol

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The Bohol countryside tour is the best, most convenient way to see all the highlights that the island of Bohol has to offer in a single day trip. 

I spent two days exploring Bohol and the variety of attractions on this island in the Philippines is what makes it so attractive to both local and foreign tourists alike. If you want to see the world’s smallest primate, the Tarsier sanctuary is wonderful. For adrenaline junkies, an ATV ride through the Chocolate Hills is a must.

While it is entirely possible to do a day trip to Bohol from Cebu if you are limited on time during your trip to the Philippines, I prefer taking a more leisurely pace. I really enjoyed my time on this island, which is so different and way more relaxed than Cebu.

But first..

What is Bohol known for?

Bohol is famous for its Chocolate Hills and the tarsiers, which are said to be the world’s smallest primate. The island is also known for the stunning Loboc River, various heritage sites and old stone churches too. 

Observing the tarsiers was certainly one of the highlights for me.

The Bohol Countryside Tour in a nutshell

The Bohol Countryside Tour is brilliant because you get to do all of the following things in just one day:

• Marvel at the Neoclassical architecture of the Baclayon Church, which was completed in 1727
• See the world-famous Chocolate Hills
• Stroll through the beautiful Bilar Manmade Forest
• Enjoy a delicious local buffet lunch on a floating restaurant down the Loboc River
• Meet the tarsiers at the Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary.

This is the best value tour you will find in Bohol, and the exact private tour we booked for two people, which cost under $30 per person. Group tours cost much less, but we’ll delve into that..

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What the Bohol Countryside Tour offers

The Bohol Countryside Tour is a full day tour and takes around 6 to 8 hours. We booked a private tour for two people so we had the flexibility of going at our own pace and spending longer in the places we wanted to explore a bit more. We were also able to skip parts of the tour if we wanted to.

There are various tour package options available including group tours and a joiner tour, which takes you on a round trip to Bohol from Cebu and back in one day. 

The entrance fees to each site are not included as part of any package, so it is important to bear that in mind.

These are the tourist spots we visited..

Tarsier Sanctuary

Our first stop was the Tarsier Sanctuary. The Philippines tarsier is an endangered primate, known for their tiny size. They are smaller than the palm of your hand and have huge eyes. 

The Tarsier Conservation Area in Bohol is a protected area for the Tarsier to repopulate and reside away from any threats. The babies, which are smaller than the side of your thumb, are separated from the male Tarsiers here as they will eat them! Watching them sleeping peacefully on tree branches is so precious.

There are guides dotted around inside the sanctuary to help locate the Tarsiers as they are so small and like to camouflage. However, their main purpose is to ensure that the people visiting are maintaining the silence, not being disruptive or trying to get too close.

Sadly, as is always the way – there were a number of people who chose to ignore the clearly signposted rules about not disturbing the Tarsiers, which did detract from the experience somewhat.

Tarsiers are extremely sensitive creatures and become suicidal when scared, not to mention that they are an endangered species any way. The guides were much-needed – people were being noisy, antagonising the Tarsiers, using flash photography, moving branches to get closer and trying to get selfies with them too (!)

Ugh, humans.

The group itinerary states you spend around 45 minutes here on the tour, but as we booked a private tour package for 2 people, we definitely spent longer seeking them out (and trying to avoid all the people if I’m honest). 

Seeing these charming primates up close in their natural habit was fascinating and certainly something wonderful to tick off the Philippines bucket list.

Entrance fee: 50 Php.

Bilar Man-Made Forest

This short stretch of road spanning a few kilometres along the border of Loboc and Bilar is lined with magnificent red and white mahogany trees on either side, creating a natural funnel of sorts. We passed this en route to the next stop.

Sounds of the birds, crickets and other wildlife are amplified in this area due to the funnel, and you’ll also feel the temperature drop thanks to the shade that the trees provide. The occasional patches of sunlight breaking through the canopy make the silent forest all the more magical, though it can feel slightly eerie too, if not for all the other people stopping off to take their own photos too.

The driver stops for a few minutes for you to get out of the car and take some photos, while explaining the reason behind this forest.

These trees were planted in the 50s as a reforestation project to stop soil erosion. 

While it is a majestic sight and a great 5-10 minute experience, I was a bit puzzled as to why an island that is full of natural forests needs a man-made one too. Bizarre, but stunning nonetheless.

Bohol Chocolate Hills Tour 

The Chocolate Hills are one of the most famous tourist attractions in Bohol, and whether you understand the geology that created these hills or not, you should not miss this for the views alone. 

The Chocolate Hills were formed naturally due to the movement of tectonic plates around 2 million years ago. The sea that covered the area retreated and left behind an accumulation of coral and shells. Over time, with the help of rain and wind, this ‘debris’ has naturally sculpted into cone shapes ranging from 30 to 50 meters in height, and thus forming the hills.

The power of nature is truly remarkable.

After a rigorous, steep climb up around 250+ stairs made out of bamboo in the pouring rain, we found ourselves on a large viewing deck. We spent some time here taking photos and enjoying the view.

Reaching the top of the hill is a great feeling and the views spanning across the numerous Chocolate Hills and rice fields is one not to miss. The hills turn a chocolate brown colour during the dry season, alas they were green when we visited in November. These wonders go on forever in all directions.

Note – climbing down the stairs was a lot harder as the stairs are uneven, broken in parts, the odd missing handrail – and in the rain, everything becomes slippery! Fortunately, I had the foresight to leave my sandals in the car with the driver and change into a pair of trainers for this experience.

Although the Hills weren’t the colour of chocolate when we visited – they only look brown in the dry season – they were still very impressive.

Entrance fee: 100 Php

Chocolate Hills ATV ride

A Chocolate Hills ATV (all-terrain vehicle) ride is one of the best experiences to enjoy more than just the spectacular views from the top. There are several tour companies and ATV rental places at the Chocolate Hills. You can choose between a guided tour, which is what we did or to simply rent an ATV. 

We opted for a buggy guided tour for 1500 pesos, which was about an hour long – again, I’m sure we spent longer here thanks in part to the rain.

Riding through the jungle in the mud and rain and weaving through the coconut trees around the base of the Chocolate Hills was an epic experience.

Cost: 1500 Php.

Lunch on the Loboc River Cruise

The Loboc River buffet lunch cruise in Bohol was one of my favourite activities on this island. The floating restaurant cruise leads you down the stunning, tranquil Loboc River through all the lush tropical vegetation of nipa palms, coconut trees, banana groves and dense bushes.

Lunch on cruise was outstanding, I was incredibly impressed. While I massively struggled to find vegan food in the Philippines overall, I didn’t have high expectations here, to only be pleasantly surprised. This is up there one of the best meals I had on this entire Philippines trip.

The journey lasts 1.5 hours and takes you up the river to Busay Falls; a small waterfall that flows into the river, where the boat turns around. Stopping off at a large floating platform in the water, native men and women perform a traditional Filipino dance, the Sug-ong Balsa, using sticks and tourists can hop off the boat and take part too – this performance was excellent.

The on-board live singer was, erm.. let’s just say interesting to say the least. The out-of tune 80’s and 90’s pop songs did provide for some hilarious alternative entertainment though.

The lush scenery is the real star of the show here though, and the entire experience was a joy.

Fees: 850 Php per person, includes lunch. Note that drinks and tips are not included in this price.

Baclayon Church

Your final stop is at the Baclayon Church where you can marvel at the Neoclassical architecture. The church was built in 1727 and was later declared a National Cultural Treasure. 

After the extensive damage caused by the 2013 earthquake, much of the original features and materials were destroyed, but the church has been restored in order for the locals to be able to use it again.

Entrance fee: 50 Php

Is Bohol worth visiting?

Absolutely, yes. 

Located just south of Cebu, Bohol is easy to access via ferry. We travelled business class on OceanJet Ferries (the fast ferry) which was a smooth, convenient and very pleasant experience. 

In fact, it was so much better than I had imagined which is always a welcome surprise.

Is the Bohol Countryside Tour worth it?

Bohol is best seen and experienced via a motorbike or with a driver. There are far less cars on the road in Bohol in comparison to Cebu or Manila, so it isn’t easy to flag a taxi down at all.

The tourist spots in Bohol are scattered throughout the island and so accessing them by public transport or by hiring a scooter takes some planning. It can also be pretty time consuming in comparison to simply booking a private tour – and as we discovered during our time here, Uber is non-existent. 

In fact, there are so few taxi drivers in Bohol itself, that we had to ensure we booked our airport transfers in advance and we then had the same driver for the duration of our trip.

On your own, it would be challenging to visit all of these places in one day, which is why the Countryside Tour has become an essential activity for any first-time visiter to Bohol. 

In my opinion, you also cannot beat having an experienced tour guide to explain things to you as otherwise you’d seemingly be driving around, ticking things off a list.

So yes, the Bohol countryside tours are worth every penny – they are the best way to spend a day on this island.

Is tipping required on the Bohol tours? 

Tipping is not really part of the Filipino culture and so it is not mandatory to tip in the Philippines. However, tour guides make very little money and so tips are recommended and very much appreciated. 

As a Westerner, once you convert the amount into your local currency, it’s not much at all. For example, 100 pesos would be considered a generous tip and that works out to around £1.40 GBP.

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