5 Best Things To Do In Panglao – Bohol, Philippines

Last Updated on 16th September 2025

This post about the best things to do in Panglao contains affiliate links.

Apart from kayaking in the Big Lagoon in El Nido, Panglao was probably my favourite place in the whole of the Philippines.

We spent 5 days in Panglao and during that time we mostly stayed around White Beach which was just 100m from our hostel! While we were there, we also hired a scooter for the first time which we were incredibly nervous about, but it allowed us to go off on our own and explore more of the islands.

If you’ve got a trip planned to the Philippines anytime soon, make sure you’ve got Panglao and Bohol on your travel itinerary as they’re such beautiful places!

While there are not dozens of things to do on the islands, there’s still more than enough to enjoy a good few days of exploring; here are the top 5 things to do in Panglao/Bohol!

How to get to Panglao/Bohol

Depending on where you’re staying in Panglao or Bohol, will really depend on how you get there.

We were staying in Cebu just before we went to Panglao so we took the ferry from Cebu City to Tagbilaran port in Bohol.

The boat from Cebu to Tagbilaran, Bohol costs approximately £10 one way, but you then have to pay handling fees and port fees at the ferry port too.

There is also an international airport on Panglao Island, so you could always fly from Cebu, Palawan or Manila too. You can also fly into Panglao Bohol International Airport from many other places in Southeast Asia, but you’ll likely have to make a stop in Manila or Cebu, for example.

Where to stay in Panglao

While we were in Panglao, we stayed at the Just Chill Inn which was a mere 100m away from White Beach!

It was a lovely little place and the staff were so incredibly friendly (apart from the owner who was an Italian man and didn’t seem very helpful at all!). The Filipino staff were so nice however and really couldn’t do enough for us.

There’s also an on-site restaurant where we ate breakfast every day and dinner most evenings; the rum and cokes were also cheaper than just a can of coke on its own at just 76p, so we got a lot of use out of that bargain!

Despite the beautiful location and close proximity to White Beach, there aren’t actually many places to eat around Just Chill Inn so you’ll probably want to hire a scooter and drive up to Alona just down the road for food!

As we only stayed in Panglao and not Bohol, I can’t actually recommend anywhere to stay there, but you can search for affordable accommodation in Bohol below!

Find a place to stay in Bohol!

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Best things to do in Panglao itinerary and map

The below itinerary for the best things to do in Panglao and Bohol can be done over the course of just one day, so you don’t really need to spend five days there (like we did).

However, it will be a very intense day of driving and exploring if you do decide to cover both islands in one day, so I would recommend taking a couple of days to see everything, so you don’t feel rushed.

1. Libaong White Beach

As I mentioned above, our hostel was literally a stone’s throw away from White Beach and my goodness, what a beautiful beach it is!

Stunning white sand, glorious stretches of towering, swaying palm trees and endless blue ocean for miles around.

We walked along the beach almost every day while we were in Panglao and we also spent a full afternoon luxuriating on the white sand and frolicking in the sea.

Some parts of the beach are busier than others (the entrance to White Beach from the road where we were staying is the busiest bit), whereas some areas have no people on for metres at a time.

White Beach is also connected to Dumaluan Beach and Alona Beach (see below), where we also spent a bit of time walking on the sand and strolling through the palm trees.

As you approach the start of Dumaluan Beach (which is still connected to White Beach; you won’t be able to tell which one is which), you’ll see plenty of benches and wooden canopies on the embankment next to the sand where many locals frequent for daily picnics and barbecues.

There are also a few food market-style stalls where you can purchase Asian cuisines, refreshingly cold beers and ice cream.

Even though we visited the island during the low season, it was still busy enough almost every day, especially around the food area. The beach itself wasn’t overly crowded, though there did seem to be some local-specific events on some days as there were a few dozen people playing on the sand and swimming in the sea!

Read more: 13 Best Diving Spots In The Philippines

2. Bohol Chocolate Hills

The Chocolate Hills are arguably the most famous attraction in Bohol; there are said to be at least 1,260 hill formations spanning over an impressive 50 square kilometres, and there may even be as many as 1,776!

The Hills are covered in green grass that turns a chocolate brown colour during the dry season in the Philippines; hence their apt name.

However, when we visited the Philippines (in October/November), the Chocolate Hills were somewhere in between green and brown and therefore didn’t look very chocolatey at all.

The fact that they’re not always brown in colour often disappoints people but I still thought they were pretty impressive to look at, especially considering how many there are!

The drive to the Chocolate Hills is a fair trek and we hired a scooter from our hostel in Panglao for the day to get there. It was the first time we’d been on a scooter and we met up with a girl who we’d met previously in Coron and El Nido so we drove there with her.

It’s an almost-two-hour journey from White Beach in Panglao to the Chocolate Hills in a car, and even longer on a scooter (you’ll need an entire day to explore Bohol as there are numerous stops along the way that you’ll want to visit too; see below!).

3. Alona Beach – top Panglao tourist spot

Alona Beach is situated right next to White Beach and Dumaluan Beach so you can easily cover all three within the space of an hour or so.

Along Alona Beach, there are numerous luxurious and lavish beach resorts which are perfect for honeymooners or people wanting to splash out on accommodation in Panglao!

Before we arrived, we’d heard that Alona Beach could only be accessed by guests of the resorts along the beach but we had no issue walking up and down it, or even swimming in the sea there so I’m not entirely sure if this is something that’s enforced frequently.

The sand here is equally as beautiful as the White Beach stretch of sand, although Alona Beach is definitely much quieter (probably due to people thinking they can’t go on the beach!).

The sea is also lovely; something that pleasantly surprised me as we’d been unlucky and hadn’t experienced great sea conditions in Indonesia or the Philippines so far. Every place we’d been in the sea so far, we’d been greeted by washed-up coral and sharp rocks along the water’s edge that cut our feet every time we stepped into the water so the sea at Alona Beach was idyllic in comparison!

If you get the opportunity, I would suggest taking a look at the accommodation options and lush resorts along Alona Beach as it looked like such a perfect place to stay.

While I thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Just Chill Inn, I can imagine being right on the beach that was practically private and reserved for guests would be completely magical!

4. Bilar Man-Made Forest

Depending on where you’re staying in Panglao or Bohol, you will most likely drive through the Bilar Man-Made Forest on your way to the Chocolate Hills.

Even though I’ve never actually been, it reminded me somewhat of The Dark Hedges in Northern Island, from what I’ve seen in pictures at least!

The Bilar Forest stretches for 2km and is a beautiful place to drive through, especially on a clear and dry day.

It was relatively quiet as we were driving there fairly early in the day, but there were much more people pulled up on the side of the road on our way back in the late afternoon.

Speaking of pulling up on the side of the road, you have to be extremely careful when doing so while taking pictures of the trees and surroundings.

While it might seem like common sense, both times we drove through the forest, there were people who stood and even sat in the middle of the road taking pictures!

It might make for a beautiful picture, but there are just too many twists and turns along the road, that it can prove incredibly dangerous to do this!

As you can see from the pictures above, you can still capture some great shots from the side of the road, without standing right in the middle!

5. Philippine Tarsier and Wildlife Sanctuary

Before we landed in the Philippines, I’d never even heard of a tarsier, never mind knew what they looked like, but after a brief bit of research, it was clear that we had to go and see these furry little creatures!

The Philippine Tarsier and Wildlife Sanctuary is one of the best places to visit in Panglao and Bohol and I would highly recommend checking it out while you’re visiting some of the best Panglao tourist spots on the island.

While they look like they could belong to the monkey family, they’re actually part of a group of primates called Tarsiiformes; they do look exactly like a cross between a monkey and a lemur though!

They can only be found on a few islands in Southeast Asia, primarily in the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia.

There are very few left in the wild, which is why the Philippine Tarsier and Wildlife Sanctuary in Bohol helps to look after them and preserve the ones still currently alive in the Philippines.

There are two sanctuaries on Bohol Island and I think the one we went to gets better praise as from what I’ve heard online, the other establishment is a bit too “commercialised.”

Tarsiers are unbelievably small (seriously, these pictures don’t do them justice at all; they’re much smaller than the palm of my hand!), and they usually grow up to 9-16cm. The tiny babies are naturally much smaller and they’re so cute!

The Tarsier Sanctuary in Bohol is an ideal place to see them in their natural habitats as they’re well looked after by the staff there.

One thing I found odd (though rather fascinating!) about tarsiers is that they’ve been known to really hurt and even kill themselves if they’re disturbed by too much noise or light!

Therefore, it’s imperative that you’re incredibly cautious when walking around the Sanctuary; you’re welcome to take pictures but make sure you don’t have flash on and you will also be required to whisper as you walk around too!

While it might not seem like there are tonnes of things to see and do in Panglao and Bohol, there’s more than enough to last you a couple of days of sightseeing and exploring!

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Pin for later – best things to do in Panglao and Bohol

Have you ever been to Panglao? Is it somewhere that you’d like to go one day? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter at @imjustagirl_16.