20 January 2014

While staying at Alona Beach (Panglao Island, Bohol), we booked a snorkel tour and a country tour with one of the local tour agents (the ones who walk around bugging you all the time).  We had priced a few and settled on one that we were happy to support.  Toto gave us a good deal for two days (one day snorkel tour, one day country tour) and agreed to all the little details that we insisted were deal-breakers (we needed snorkel equipment, guaranteed air-conditioned van, only two of us on our boat and in the van etc)

The tours were great fun and helped us to see a good deal of Bohol’s attractions that we may not have got to had we tried to wander around on our own.

The standard tour choices available all over Bohol are:

• Island Hopping Tour:
  • Dolphins, Balicasag Island, Virgin Island

• Country Tour:
  • Choose all or some: Zip-line, Tarsiers, Chocolate hills, Butterfly farm, Lunch River Cruise Loboc, Baclayon church, Blood Compact statue, Zoo and a few other little stops.

Toto was true to his word (but only because we insisted that he sort things out before we got on the boat – like there was no snorkel equipment?) and overall, we had a very enjoyable two days. The driver on our country tour was Toto’s cousin/friend and he was a wonderful tour guide and great conversationalist.  He was so professional and that made all the difference to us getting the most out of the day.

The total cost for both days (for two people, excluding lunches) was 2,000 pesos (about $45 US) but don’t let that stop you from bargaining with the vendor.  You will also have to pay extras for all the entrance fees during the country tour and buy lunches (ask about the cost of the attractions before you decide on which ones you would like to do).  To be honest, the “extras” didn’t come to that much either.

If you only have a couple days in Bohol, I highly recommend that you do these two tours, especially if seeing the main attractions on the island is one of your priorities.