Ogtong Cave Resort, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines
Central Visayas

CEBU [Bantayan Island]

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Kota Beach, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines
The island of Bantayan in Northern Cebu is probably one of the most mainstream tourist attractions in the province of Cebu when it comes to beachineering. If you want to chase some waterfalls, head south. If you’re into beach bumming, the northern municipalities got you covered.
📍Kota Beach / Budyong Beach

🇵🇭BANTAYAN ISLAND ADVENTURE PRIMER🇵🇭

✈️🛳🚌 How to get to Bantayan Island, Cebu:
⏺ Take a plane from Metro Manila to Mactan-Cebu Airport (e.g. Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and AirAsia).
⏺ Hail a taxi to get to North Bus Terminal.
⏺ Ride a bus bound for Hagnaya Port, San Remigio (travel time: 3 – 4 hours).
⏺ Ride a ferry en route to Santa Fe Port (travel time: 1 – 1.5 hours depending on sea condition).
 
🏄🏝🚴 Sites to Explore/Activities:
 
Kota Beach / Budyong Beach
Sugar Beach
Ogtong Cave Resort
Sandira Paradise Beach
Sandira Paradise Beach, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines
My friend and I woke up at 1:00 in the morning and made our way to Northern Bus Terminal in Mandaue from our hotel in Cebu City. Upon arrival, there was no air-conditioned bus at the parking spot of buses bound for San Remigio. We had no choice but to grab the opportunity to take the ordinary one than wait for we-don’t-know-how-long-it-will-take. I’m not picky after all.
📍Sandira Paradise Beach
Ogtong Cave Resort, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines
We reached Hagnaya Port before 6:00 AM but the ticketing counter was releasing tickets for their Masbate trip first so we had to wait. The terminal was full of passengers and from the looks of their beachy attire, they’re tourists as well bound for Bantayan Island.
📍Ogtong Cave Resort
Ogtong Cave Resort, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines
Dark clouds loomed over us as the ferry moved towards Santa Fe. We arrived at the port before 8:00 AM then hired a motorcycle for our inland tour. We passed by a bakery and had a quick breakfast before heading to the beach. Thankfully, the clouds cleared up. Well, sort of. There was still a thin cloud cover.
📍Ogtong Cave Resort
Kota Beach, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines
Our motorcycle driver/tour guide took us first to this beach. Kota Beach is known for its sandbar. Since it was still early, we were the only tourists during that time.
Kota Beach, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines
To be honest, I was expecting “more”. I mean, the photos online with all the filters made Bantayan’s pictures more impressive than they are in real life. The presets used also gave the illusion that the island’s beaches have super fine white sand but they actually have coarse granules in real life.
Sugar Beach, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines
A bit farther from Kota is this beach called Sugar Beach. I noticed an abandoned resort facing it and according to our guide, there have been some issues with the ownership.
Sugar Beach, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines
Since this is a public beach open for everyone, one thing you will notice right away is its shoreline populated with some pieces of garbage. Besides, the beachfront resort is no longer maintained, hence the shore’s condition. Kota shares the same coastline with Sugar Beach so the sand quality is the same but Kota is way cleaner than this beach.

⏰⏳ SAMPLE ITINERARY (Northern Cebu):

DAY 1
5:00 PM ETA Mactan-Cebu Airport
7:00 PM ETA accommodation
 
DAY 2
4:00 AM Check-out / ETD for North Bus Terminal
5:00 AM ETD for Hagnaya Port, San Remigio
8:00 AM ETD for Santa Fe, Bantayan Island
9:00 AM ETA Santa Fe / check-in
10:00 AM Start of tour
6:00 AM Head back to accommodation
 
DAY 3
5:00 AM Wake-up call / ETD for Hagnaya Port
7:00 AM ETD for Danao City
10:00 AM ETD for Consuelo Port, Camotes
1:00 PM ETA Camotes / check-in
2:00 PM Start of tour
6:00 Head back to accommodation
 
DAY 4
6:00 AM Wake-up call / breakfast
7:00 AM Continuation of Camotes Island tour
4:00 PM ETD for Poro Port
5:00 PM ETD for Cebu City via OceanJet
7:00 PM ETA Cebu City
8:00 PM ETD for Mactan-Cebu Airport
 
💰💶 ESTIMATED BUDGET (for a solo traveler exploring Northern Cebu): Php 7,000 – Php 8,000 (exclusive of airfare)
***Expenses may vary depending on the type of accommodation you will avail and personal consumption of food and other necessities. If traveling alone, you will solely shoulder the motorcycle tour rates.
Sandira Paradise Beach, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines
We hopped on our motorbike en route to our next destination. Considering most of the resorts in Santa Fe dot the same shoreline, we just opted to visit the ones with minimal entrance fees or those which are open to the public for free.
📍Sandira Paradise Beach
Sandira Paradise Beach, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines
We passed by Ogtong Cave Resort and pulled over by the guard’s house. The entrance fee is 200 pesos and it’s quite expensive for us traveling on a tight budget. We asked our tour guide to just proceed to the next stop in our itinerary.
📍Sandira Paradise Beach
Sandira Paradise Beach, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines
We saw a cliff diving spot along the road on our way to Sandira but I reckoned that it won’t be worth it to make a stop because the cliff jumping area was full of tourists.
📍Sandira Paradise Beach
Sandira Paradise Beach, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines
There were a couple of swimmers and tourists taking photos when we got here at Sandira but it was still not as crowded compared to other famous beaches in the Philippines. Maybe because it’s a bit far from the town proper of Santa Fe.
Sandira Paradise Beach, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines
The sand of this beach is coarser than those of other beaches I’ve seen in the country but its clean shoreline compensates for this.
Sandira Paradise Beach, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines
Before leaving Sandira, our tour guide introduced us to his cousin who is also a motorcycle driver and asked us if we could transfer to his relative’s motorcycle since he had some errands to do. Because we still have time left before going back to Hagnaya Port for the noon trip of the ferry, we told our new guide that we would spend the rest of our trip at Ogtong Cave Resort.
📜✏️ Tips/Reminders:
📌There are lots of resorts in Santa Fe. Most of them share the same shoreline.
📌Confirm with the shipping lines the schedule of ferry trips going back to Hagnaya Port in case you will be doing a day tour of Bantayan Island.
📌Bantayan Island is composed of three municipalities (Bantayan, Santa Fe and Madridejos). Santa Fe Port is your jump-off point to your island tour while the municipality of Bantayan is roughly 30 minutes away from Santa Fe.
📌You can hire a van if you are traveling with a group to save on time.
📌Expect rain and rough sea condition during monsoon season (June-February).
📌Always observe the LNT principles.
 
☎️ Contacts:
📌Van for hire: Kuya Tata (09776350200)
📌Motorcycle Drivers/Tour Guides:
Kuya Andy (09124971092)
Kuya Tata (09466367729)
Ogtong Cave Resort, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines
The moment we entered the premises of Ogtong, I realized that tourists would really get what they paid for. I’m glad that we didn’t miss the chance of seeing what this resort looks like.
Ogtong Cave Resort, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines
The place is fully developed with a swimming pool between the cave and the beach. A life guard is also on duty watching over the kids playing by the pool.
Ogtong Cave Resort, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines
We took a breather and had drinks at the restaurant before heading here at the resort’s beach area for our photo session.
Ogtong Cave Resort, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines
Most of the tourists were frolicking by the swimming pool. This Instagrammable area was so far devoid of people. We were actually the only souls taking pictures at that time.
Ogtong Cave Resort, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines
Our visit at Ogtong Cave Resort wouldn’t be complete without taking a dip in this cave pool. The water felt so great and the temperature was just right for a relaxing swim.
Ogtong Cave Resort, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines
The only downside is the size of the pool itself. It is way too small for a mainstream tourist spot like this one frequented by tons of travelers. No wonder why the majority of visitors opt to just bathe in the man-made swimming pool.
Ogtong Cave Resort, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines
It was quite a challenge to get the perfect timing for our picture-taking due to the cave’s size. A few more minutes passed and another batch of visitors arrived. It was finally time to go.
Ogtong Cave Resort, Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines
We returned to the port after washing up and changing clothes. We were just right in time for the departure of the ferry going back to Hagnaya. Boy was I so hungry so we bought some snacks by the ticketing counter and munched on junk foods. There was no time to have a decent meal since we had to be back in mainland Cebu in the afternoon. Yes, you read that right. We only stayed in Bantayan Island for a few hours. Technically, it was just a half-day tour. That’s how crazy I was for making this kind of itinerary. Nah, we just needed to return to the city in the afternoon so we would have ample time to sleep and rest before waking up at dawn the next day for our transit to Southern Cebu.

***For other destinations in Cebu and Central Visayas, you may visit this link.

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