I arrived in Cebu expecting a transit city, a place to change planes and boats on the way to somewhere quieter. Instead I stayed for weeks. The old city has a cross planted in 1521 and a small wooden child that half the country prays to; the markets smell of lemongrass, roasting pork and dried fish; and a couple of hours away the island turns into limestone ridges, cold rivers and reefs where a whole ocean’s worth of sardines swirls a few metres off the beach.
These routes start in Cebu City and Mactan, then follow the long island south and north and out to Bantayan, Malapascua and Camotes. Each comes with practical notes, a little history and the stories people told me along the way. Ferries, fees and roads change often here, and typhoons rearrange things every few years, so treat this as a starting point and check locally before you go.
