cebu area; backpacker friendly?

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sonar

Contributor
Messages
288
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Location
Netherlands
# of dives
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Hi all,

Considering visiting the cebu area for diving and travelling somewhere in february- march. Won't have much cash so I was wondering how the conditions are for backpacking. I will pbb travel alone. Think about visiting malapasque, bohol, cebu and maybe danao. Pbb the most logic route for a month..

- how much is a cheap room?
- how much is a single dive on average?
- are there a lot of backpackers? I never met anybody visting this area so I am a bit worried there is not a lot to do for solo travellers in my age group (30)
- I was in PG a few years ago, really liked it but hated the nightlife and prostitution. I am not looking for clubbing or anything but just like normal bars, play some pool, nothing special. Just don't like girlbars..
- What budget would you recommend for a month? (excl. diving and ticket) I would travel budget but not too cheap; too many beers, decent food (sometimes local, sometimes touristy) etc.

Thanks in advance!

cheers
 
A cheap room in cebu or bohol is about 600 peso a nite.A single dive on average with own gear is around 1200 peso . There are backpackers at most locations but only a few compared to thialand bali or vietnham. Alona beach in bohol has many bars to play pool good diving also moalboal in cebu has what your looking for with bars and diving. Dumaguete city on negros island jump off point for dauin and apo island diving also offers what your looking for . Excluding diving and flight prices a budget of 1000 to 1500 us dollars should be ok
 
The budget i quoted may be cutting it very fine for 1 month best to bring more as its hard to really say how much you will spend
 
Dubdivers number are probably not far off. If i was trying to live on as little money as possible i think I could find somewhere to stay for 400-500pesos per night in most of those locations.

Meals can be found at local eateries for P150(that's a pretty good size meal and a soft drink at the right local place).

So you're up to about P1000 per day.

Add beer x 5 @ P40 each. Now P1200 per day....you can of course go to the store, buy your own tanduay and sparkle and then just mix your own night for around P100.

So you're at about P36,000 for the month. Add transportation of max P500 between 3 location, P3000. Call it P40K. So with the occaisional fancy night in some tourist places you're going to hit $1500.

Then add your diving at P1200 per dive, plus equipment, nitrox etc etc.

You'll find plenty of people to hang out with whether they are backpackers or not...Malapascua has lots of DMTs and Instructor trainees...so plenty of pool going on. And the local discos make a night out quite cheap. And you wont find any prostitution here.

Enjoy!
 
Most Philipinos speak English which is great help.
1. The country is NOT on the beaten track for backpackers.
2. Moalboal, Dumaguette(Apo island), Bohol, Southern Leyte and Malapascua would be a nice round trip without any backtracking or vice versa.
3. P1,000.00(1US$=P42.7) for food and beverages is adequate in ALL places.
4. Diving rate is various eg Nelson charges P800.00 for a boat dive in Moalboal.
5. Do not forget to add equipment rental if necessary.
6. Peter's Dive Centre in Southern Leyte has dorm bed. Matt in Malapascua can probably find you budget room. There are some budget places on Alona Beach(Bohol). As far as I know Apo Island is mainly for budget conscientious divers.
 
COntact me if you decide to go to Moalboal. There are a couple of places which can be had for 600 to 800 a day and I can discuss discounted dive rates with you depending on your length of stay.

Cheers,
Roger
 
thx for the tips guys!

1500 seems realistic to obtain :) For some reason flight tickets to cebu are crazy expensive (1500usd+ from amsterdam). It gets cheaper when I buy a ticket from adam to HK and then buy a seperate ticket from there with cebu air. Does anybody got additional tips regarding flying? I would prefer to fly to KL to visit a friend for a few days. (most Asian flight operators are not included in the search engines here)

I am a DM but I guess it's impossible to work for free dives for one month? If it would be possible I would love spend the whole month on one spot.
 
You can expect to pay 1000euro from what I've seen this time of year. I just booked flights to Cebu, 818euro was the cheapest I could find. However its quite a journey. Toulouse - Frankfurt, Frankfurt - Seoul, Seoul - Cebu.


You could go Amsterdam - Manila (KLM 777 jet) for about 900euro and Cebu Pacific from Manila to Cebu for what looks like 680 to 1000 Peso each way.

Good Luck!
 
I think it can be a bit cheaper; to KL for 550, from there it should be possible for 250 I hope :)

thx for looking though :)
550 makes it tempting to stay in malaysia; 500 extra for a ticket would be pretty brutal for a months trip
 

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