How to go to Bohol

I am always asked by officemates and friends how best to go to Bohol. After telling them how beautiful Bohol is - with plenty of exaggeration - and showing them nice pics of our province, I feel obliged to provide them the information. Of course, there are so many ways to go there. I will try to tell you all about them.

From Manila, one option is to take a plane to Tagbilaran at either the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2 (the Centennial Terminal) or the Manila Domestic Airport. You may read the profiles of these terminals/airports here.

Cebu Pacific flies to Tagbilaran twice daily. Flight 5J-617 departs from the Manila Domestic Airport at 6:50 and arrives at the Tagbilaran Airport at 8:10 am. Flight 5J-619 departs at 11:45 am and arrives at 1:05 pm. For both flights, Cebu Pacific uses their A319 planes. You may see their complete schedule here.

Philippine Airlines also flies to Tagbilaran twice daily. Flight PR175 departs from the NAIA Terminal 2 (Centennial Airport) at 8:00 am and arrives at the Tagbilaran Airport at 9:30 am. Flight PR177 departs at 2:30 pm and arrives at 4:00 pm. For PR175, Philippine Airlines uses either an A319 or a B737 plane, while PR177 uses an A319 plane.

Another way of going to Bohol from Manila is to take a boat to Tagbilaran. Superferry's Our Lady of Medjugorie leaves Pier 15, North Harbor, Manila every Monday at 11:45 pm and arrives at the Port of Tagbilaran on Wednesday at 12:30 pm.

On the other hand, Sulpicio Lines' Dipolog Princess departs from North Harbor, Manila also every Monday at 7:00 pm and arrives at the Port of Tagbilaran on Wednesday at 2:30 am.

Considering the limited flights to Tagbilaran, one option is to pass by Cebu, the queen city of the South. From Cebu, you may take fast ferries or the regular sea crafts from the Port of Cebu to the Port of Tagbilaran or one of our municipal ports.

Ocean Jet's fast ferries leaves Cebu for Tagbilaran daily at 6:00 and 9:30 am, and 2:00 and 6:00 pm. On the other hand, Weesam Express's fast ferries leaves Cebu for Tagbilaran daily at 9:10 am, 2:00 and 6:00 pm. In addition, Supercat has a ferry which leaves Cebu for Tagbilaran daily at 12:00 noon.

In case you want to save on transportation expenses, you may consider taking the regular see crafts of Lite Shipping and Trans-Asia. Lite Shippings' vessels departs daily from Cebu to Tagbilaran as follows: Sr. San Jose de Tagbilaran 10:00 am, Our Lady of the Barangay 12:30 pm, and Santiago de Bohol 7:00 am and 7:00 pm. In addition, Trans-Asia 1 departs from Cebu for Tagbilaran every Monday at 8:00 pm.

Finally, one interesting option in going to Bohol is to take the twice daily bus trips of Megastar and Philtranco from Metro Manila to the Ubay Port and the towns in the eastern side of Bohol, passing through Matnog in Sorsogon, Samar and Leyte. Believe me, I know some people who chose to take this option.