On a recent trip to Bohol Islands in the Philippines I had to take the opportunity for touring the Chocolate Hills. I’m extremely happy I did… mostly because the beaches at Panglao Island are not that great and spending a full four days there is honestly a bit much. Having a full day tour to break up the experience and see something different was extremely welcome.
Even if you don’t typically enjoy joining guided tours, sometimes they are by far the simplest and most cost-effective way to transport yourself to the thing you want to see. That was definitely the case here, as renting a car and driving into the remote countryside of Bohol would have required considerable time and expense.
I went with an outfit called Abraham Tours that I booked on Viator. It was very convenient because the Abraham Resort was just a 10 minute walk from where I stayed at The Story Resort and the tour began and concluded there. After a merchant offer rebate from my Venture X card the tour cost was only about $45 USD.
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Touring the Chocolate Hills
The first thing to know about this tour is that it involves a lot of time in a van. It’s about 4-5 hours of driving altogether. The second thing to know is that there’s several other attractions aside from touring the Chocolate Hills.
The hills portion is divided into two parts. The main attraction is seeing them from the designated viewpoint on one of the hills. You drive up to a sort of visitor center area in the tour van then walk up 225 steps to the highest viewing platform. Once you arrive here you really understand the wisdom of getting here on an organized tour. There’s not a lot of parking or restaurants or really much of anything set up for large numbers of people to be driving here on their own.
We only stayed at the observation point for about 45 minutes, but that’s plenty of time to take in the views and take plenty of photos. This isn’t really like a US national park where you can spend a day or more hiking and doing recreational activities. You just look at the hills, which are extremely steep and not possible to climb on your own.
Optional ATV Rides
Prior to touring the Chocolate Hills we arrived at a facility that does ATV rentals at the base of the hills. For an additional $20 USD you can ride around for an hour in either a four wheeler or a two-person buggy. This isn’t the kind of thing I’d seek out on my own but when in Rome…
It was fine. They significantly undersold the amount of mud that would be present on the trails. I spent the entire ride trying to minimize the amount of mud covering my shoes. There’s an opportunity to wash off and change at the end but having not prepared for being covered in mud it was of little benefit. If you do this, just bring sandals and a change of clothes and be ready.
The guides come along with you on ATV’s and these guys are very concerned with you getting nice photos. Of course they want you to post them on social media etc etc. It was even a little annoying how much of the ride was dedicated to posing for photos and riding to specific points for scenic backdrops. If you want to skip the ATV portion of this tour you shouldn’t feel too badly about doing so.
Tarsier Sanctuary
Tarsiers are tiny little monkey-like primates native to Bohol Island. Apparently they are a threatened species of some sort that requires conservation.
The tour included a trip to a tarsier sanctuary. They tell you a bit about them as a species but they don’t bore you to death with facts and details. I was sort of expecting a petting zoo type experience. Like clowning around with monkeys in Gibraltar but these things are honestly no fun.
Being nocturnal, they just sit in a tree and snooze all day. We saw three of them, but they’re actually very difficult to see or photograph in the dense jungle environment. Even when you do see them they just appear as a little clump of fur. Kind of underwhelming to be honest.
Coconut Salt Works
This was actually our first stop in the morning and it was something of a surprise. It’s not mentioned on the tour page, at least on Viator. Anyway, these guys have massive piles of coconut husks and they leave them in the tidal areas where salt water inundates and soaks into them.
There’s an explanation of how they dry them out and burn them, then separate the ash from the salt, which is sold in baseball-sized lumps as a gourmet specialty product.
We were allowed to taste the salt and offered a chance to buy some, which is likely the entire point of this stop. It was mildly interesting and only required a few minutes for the presentation.
Lunch and Paddle Boarding the Loboc River
At the time I took this tour it stated lunch was included in the price. So I was a little annoyed when that was not the case. Especially since if I had known that I’d have ordered a lot more food.
The restaurant is a resort hotel on the river and it’s a very nice spot for lunch. Outdoor but covered with a large pitched roof. The food was pretty good but like many restaurants in the Philippines portions are small. It’s not expensive at all.
After lunch we set out on the river right from the restaurant. You’re given the choice of a stand-up paddleboard, kayak or just swimming near the pier if you prefer. Again, kayaking is not an activity I’d typically seek out on my own so it was nice to have a chance to do it as an inclusion. A kayak is definitely the move by the way. Everyone who chose the paddleboard tired out easily and ended up sitting on it. One guy even laid down and had his girlfriend towing him because she was smart enough to get a kayak.
Baclayon Church
The final stop after touring the Chocolate Hills was Baclayon Church, which was built in the 1500’s as a Spanish mission. It’s an impressive church, being the size of a cathedral and not far from Tagbilaran City, on the way back to Panglao.
This was another brief stop, just about 20 minutes or so. Long enough to see it, hear a tiny bit of history, and snap a few photos. The tour drops you back at Abraham Resort around 5:30. While nothing here was an absolute must-see aside from touring the Chocolate Hills, it’s an overall nice day that ticks a lot of boxes. The price is below many similar operators and the experience was well worth the cost.
