Best Places To Visit In Cebu – My Favorite 11!
Kumusta my dear reader! Welcome! In this article, I´ll share with you, in my opinion, the best places to visit in Cebu City!
Below you can see the entrance of an iconic church in Cebu City.
So I’ve recently been to the Philippines and Cebu city was awesome.
As the center of trade, commerce, and tourism in the Philippines, if Cebu city isn’t on your travel agenda…what are you doing? All I’m saying is, you might want to reconsider! I know you’ll love this Southeast Asian hub.
So let’s explore together the best places to visit in Cebu!
But first, let me recommend to you the travel insurance that we always used on our trips:
Now…the 11 Best Places To Visit in Cebu City:
1-Basilica del Santo Niño– One of the Best/most Amazing places to visit in Cebu!
One of the best places to visit in Cebu is the church Basilica del Santo Niño. Cebu City has several churches, but the oldest and most important one is the Basilica del Santo Niño located in Pilgrim’s Center in Cebu City.
The priest Andrés de Urdaneta founded this Catholic church, on the 28 of April 1565 in the honor of the holy child Jesus.
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Every day, a lot of people go to this sacred place to express their faith (It also attracts a lot of tourism too). I mean, how could it NOT?.
The Basilica del Santo Niño is an incredible architectural construction. This is one of the best places to visit around Cebu.
If you plan to visit Cebu City, the Basilica del Santo Niño is an absolute must-visit place. Not only is it a beautiful historical location, but you can also participate in the mass, buy some souvenirs at the church´s shop, light up some candles to pray, and also visit some great historical places nearby.
2-Magellan´s Cross – Best places to visit in Cebu
Another great place to visit in Cebu is the Magellan´s Cross (La Cruz de Magallanes). This cross is a Christian cross planted in the city on the 21 of April of 1521 by the Spanish and Portuguese explorers by order of Ferdinand Magellan. The Magellan´s Cross is a symbol of Catholicism in the Philippines and a symbol of Cebu city itself.
The Magellan’s Cross is located in Magallanes St in Cebu City, inside a chapel nearby the Basilica Del Santo Niño, which I mentioned in the last paragraph.
Under the Magellan´s Cross, you can find a scripture that reads: “This cross of Tindalo wood encases the original cross planted by Ferdinand Magellan on this very site April 21, 1521”.
3-Fort San Pedro.
Fort San Pedro, is a military defense structure built by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, on May 8 of 1565, 11 days after his arrival in Cebu. It’s located in the downtown area of Cebu City, in Plaza Independencia. Throughout the years, the fort experienced several modifications, but has really become a touristic hub, and earns its spot on this list as a “must-see” tourist attraction.
Fort San Pedro is the oldest and the smallest fort in the Philippines (2,025 m2). Inside Fort San Pedro you´ll be able to find a lot of historical information and images about topics such as Lapu-Lapu, Ferdinand Magellan, the Filipino natives, and images of the old city of Cebu.
In addition to that, you can find the “Pozo de la Virgen” (the well of the Virgin of Remedies) which is kind of like a wishing well that you can toss a coin into, to make a wish. Fort San Pedro is open every day from 8:00am-7:00pm. The entrance fee is 30 pesos per head.
4-Sirao Garden
Sirao Garden is the “Little Amsterdam of Cebu” located at Busay in Cebu. It´s a big garden full of different types of flowers and has a beautiful view. It’s like seeing a rainbow in the ground because of how amazingly colorful it is.
Sirao Garden has two sections. The original section, which is full of flowers and the pictorial part, was designed specifically to take pictures, because of the structures that were built there.
The entrance fees are different too, for the first, it’s around 100 pesos per head and whereas the other one costs 50 pesos per head. Sirao Garden is open every day from 6:00am-6:30pm. It’s much less crowded on weekdays, so it’s best to go someday between Monday and Friday :).
5-TEMPLE OF LEAH
Another one of the best places to visit in Cebu is the Temple of Leah. Located in Cebu Transcentral Hwy, on top of the hill in barangay Busay in Cebu City.
This temple was built as a huge gesture of love from Teodorico Soriano Adarna to Leah Albino-Adarna, his late wife. This temple is seven floors in height and more than 5,000 square meters in area. Pretty impressive!
The Temple of Leah construction began in 2012 and now is one of the most visited tourist spots in Cebu.
Inside the temple, Teodorico S. Adarna explains in a frame:
“I built this temple in 2012 A.D. as a symbol of undying love for and ceaseless devotion to Leah Albino Adarna, my wife for 53 years.
In honor of her lifetime passion, Leah’s collections of antiques, books, special objects, and memorabilia amassed from our foreign trips are enshrined and well-preserved inside the 24 chambers of this temple”
6-CEBU TAOIST TEMPLE
Another amazingly stunning construction, the Cebu Taoist temple was built in 1972 by the Chinese community and is located in Beverly Hills Subdivision, Lahug, Cebu. Inside the temple, you can find, a wishing well (they’re fairly common), a library and a souvenir shop, and also a chapel.
From the temple, if you climb the steps towards the entrance, you’ll be able to appreciate the amazing view of Cebu City (the temple is 300 meters over sea level).
Luckily for all of us, there’s no entrance fee to visit Cebu Taoist Temple, another one of the most visited places in Cebu City which I’d highly recommend. We recommend you to visit this tourist spot even for 1 hour. In this temple, you’ll even feel Chinese!
7-SM SEASIDE CITY CEBU
In my opinion, if you like shopping, this is one of the best places to visit in Cebu City, without a doubt.
Locally called SM SEASIDE or just SEASIDE, this huge mall (470486 m2 and 5 floors in height) was first opened to the public in 2015 and it’s located in the South Road Properties, Mambaling, in Cebu City.
SM SEASIDE is one of the best places I visited in Cebu. It has numerous clothing stores, technology stores, different types of food such as Filipino and foreign food, massage and relaxation shops, a big supermarket, and a ton of other stuff. WHATEVER I needed to buy, I knew I could find it here!
If you are a person who doesn’t enjoy shopping at all, don’t worry! SM SEASIDE has a large rooftop atop which lies a very beautiful park. In it, you can simply relax, walk, or just chill while enjoying the incredible view of the sea.
8-Jollibee – Best places to visit in Cebu
Jollibee, it’s not “one” place, perse, but we couldn’t miss this. Jollibee is the most beloved fast-food chain in the entire Philippines with more than 1000 restaurants throughout the country. This fast-food chain, founded in January of 1978, offers different types of foods, not only burgers and fries.
Jollibee sells a combination of menus like fried chicken, spaghetti, rice, burger, and coke for a meal, and fried chicken with fried egg and coffee for breakfast. In addition, you can find hot dogs, corned beef, pancakes sandwiches with egg and bacon, and some Filipino foods like pansit palabok and lumpia (shanghai spring rolls).
For dessert, they have the classic ice cream cones of chocolate and vanilla, sundae, the yummy coke float (coke with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup), and Halo-halo. This last one, is a very traditional, typical Filipino dessert and Filipinos love it! Make sure to try the Halo-halo!
Filipino adults and kids love Jollibee!
9-CEBU OCEAN PARK
One of the newest and best places to visit while you stay in Cebu City is Ocean Park. Cebu Ocean Park is the largest oceanarium in the Philippines with 7 meters in-depth and a volume of 3500 cubic meters of seawater.
Cebu Ocean Park opened its doors to the public on 23 August 2019, a few days ago.
This park is located in the prime South Road Properties (SRP), Mambaling, near SM Seaside, in Cebu City. The regular entrance fee is 800 PHP, which allows you to enter several attractions.
If you want to buy tickets or have some info, you can visit the website www.cebuoceanpark.com.
10-Kawasan Falls – Best places to visit in Cebu
Kawasan Falls is another one of the best places to visit in Cebu. Located in Badian, 6031 Cebu, Philippines, these falls are visited by a huge number of people every year. This is one of the best places to visit around Cebu.
These waterfalls are a dream place, located in the middle of nature, the color of the water is crystal and turquoise and its surrounding stones and many trees make Kawasan Falls a beautiful place.
From the center of Cebu, to reach Kawasan Falls you have to travel for 4 hours, a distance of approximately 110 km by car or bus going to Moalboal (only 20 km distance from the falls) or Badian.
The bus ticket from Cebu to Kawasan Falls costs approximately 150 PHP and the first bus goes early at 5 am. These falls start to get crowded at 9 am, so we recommend you to pass the night in Moalboal before going to the falls. The Kawasan Falls entrance fee is 45 PHP each.
11-AYALA CENTER CEBU – Best places to visit in Cebu
Ayala Center Cebu opened its doors to the public in November of 1994 and is located at Cebu Business Park in Cebu City.
This mall is one of the huge malls in Cebu and has a great outside area to relax, play, or eat. Approximately, on a normal day, more than 85000 people visit Ayala Center Cebu on weekdays. Best places to visit around Cebu
Ayala Center Cebu mall is smaller than the SM SEASIDE mall, commented in this article, with a total retail floor area of 240688 m2 and 5 floors.
According to my Filipino wife and her friends, this shopping center is a very nice place but very expensive for them.
In my personal experience, I had more fun enjoying the view of the Ayala mall park because there were fewer people than inside.
Thank you very much for reading our post about the Best Places To Visit In Cebu! So, have we forgotten anything? which of those best places to visit in Cebu would you like to see? Amazing places to visit in Cebu!
Let us know, down below!
If you want to read more about fantastic places in the Philippines, you can read our posts about:
…or if you love foods and want to read about Filipino Cuisine, just click HERE!
SALAMAT!! (“Thank you” in Filipino)
Best places to visit in Cebu, best places to visit around Cebu
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