The Visayas are the Philippines' great connect-the-dots playground: a cluster of islands in the country's belly where every hop is a short ferry, every island has a different personality, and two weeks builds itself into a natural loop. This route runs Cebu's south coast, crosses to mystical little Siquijor, and finishes on Bohol — swimming with a few million sardines along the way.
Cebu City to Moalboal
Cebu City is the arrival hub and needs no more than a night — see Magellan's Cross and the Basilica del Santo Niño if you have a spare morning, eat proper lechon (Cebu's crackling-skinned roast pig, $4-5 a plate, the best in the country by broad consensus), then get out. Buses to Moalboal leave the South Bus Terminal every half hour: 3-4 hours, $4-5.
Moalboal's Panagsama Beach is a compact strip of dive shops and cafés, and its headline act is absurd: a resident bait ball of millions of sardines that lives fifty metres off the beach, over the reef drop-off, in snorkelling depth. You swim out, put your face in the water, and the school opens around you like a living curtain, flashing silver as trevallies strafe through. It's free, any hour, no boat needed — one of the best marine encounters in Asia at a cost of zero. Freediving courses here run $150-200; a two-tank dive around Pescador Island costs $55-70. Dorms are $8-14.
The standard side trip is Kawasan Falls at Badian, twenty minutes south — better done as the full canyoneering run ($25-35 with guide and gear): three hours of jumping, sliding, and swimming down a turquoise slot canyon to the falls. Skip the Oslob whale shark feeding further south; the money's tempting for the town but the practice keeps sharks from migrating and the crowding is grim. The sardines are the better story anyway.
Ferry to Dumaguete, spring for Siquijor
From Moalboal, buses continue south to the port at Bato/Liloan (1.5 hours, $2), where fast craft cross to Sibulan/Dumaguete on Negros in about 30 minutes ($3-5). Dumaguete is a likeable university town with a seafront promenade built for evening strolling; if you have a spare day, the twin crater lakes of Balinsasayao are an hour inland. Otherwise, roll straight onto the Siquijor ferry (1 hour, $6-8).
Siquijor: the witch island
Spanish friars called it the island of fire for its swarms of fireflies; Filipinos half-jokingly warn you about its healers and hexes. What you'll actually find is the Visayas at their gentlest. Rent a motorbike ($8-10 a day — the island's 75 km coastal road is quiet and paved) and do the loop: Cambugahay Falls, tiered blue pools with rope swings ($1 entry); the 400-year-old balete tree with its fish-spa pool; Salagdoong's cliff jumps; and Paliton Beach for a sunset that regularly embarrasses postcards. Guesthouses run $10-20, and three nights disappear easily. Visit a traditional healer if you're curious — a bolo-bolo cleansing costs a few dollars and a suspension of disbelief.
Bohol: hills, tarsiers, and the Loboc River
Ferries run Siquijor to Tagbilaran on Bohol most mornings (about 1.5-2 hours, $12-15). Base yourself on Panglao Island, joined to Bohol by bridge — Alona Beach is the busy hub (dorms $10-18); Danao and Dumaluan are the quieter sands. Book a day trip or hire a motorbike for the interior circuit: the Chocolate Hills, 1,200-plus grassy mounds that turn cocoa-brown in the dry season, viewed from the Carmen viewpoint ($2); and the Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary in Corella ($3), where the world's most anxious-looking primate — fist-sized, saucer-eyed — clings to saplings a metre from the path. Choose the Corella sanctuary over roadside cages, keep silent, no flash. Add the Loboc River lunch cruise if you like kitsch ($15), or kayak the same river at dusk for fireflies instead.
Divers and snorkellers should get to Balicasag Island's turtle-thick reef ($25-35 boat share, plus fees).
Practical notes
December to May is dry season; typhoon watch matters June to November. Ferries are frequent but sell out around holidays — book a day ahead on 12Go or at the pier. Budget $35-50 a day. From Bohol, fast ferries return to Cebu City in two hours ($12-15), closing the loop, or Panglao's airport flies you onward. The Visayas' real luxury is that nothing here is more than half a day from the next island.