Cebu
A Spanish port city facing Mactan across a narrow channel, where the beach resorts sit a short drive from the runway.
- Arrival
- Mactan-Cebu International · CEB
- To the city
- About 45 minutes by car to uptown Cebu City
- Private jets
- At CEB, open around the clock
- Best time
- February to May
The city
A city on one island, the beaches on the next.
Cebu City is where Spain first planted its cross in the islands, and the old quarter still keeps the basilica, the fort and the cross itself within a few streets of the port. Across the Mactan Channel lies the island of Mactan, with the airport on it and the resorts along its shore, about twenty minutes by car from the aircraft.
The MICHELIN Guide arrived in 2025 and picked eighteen addresses, from lechon to tasting menus. Come between February and May, when the rain eases below 100 mm a month; from June the showers return and the wettest months pass 180 mm.
Arriving
Land on Mactan, stay on Mactan.
Mactan-Cebu International stands on Mactan Island, in Lapu-Lapu City. International flights use Terminal 2, opened in 2018 under a roof of Austrian timber arches; a 3,310-metre runway is backed by a second one, opened in January 2025.
- Manila 1 h 05
- Taipei 2 h 30
- Shanghai 3 h 20
- Seoul 4 h 15
- Istanbul 12 h 45 long-range jet
When to go
February to May.
The Visayan heat is constant, 30 to 33 °C in the afternoon, and the water off Mactan runs from 27 to 30 °C. February to May is the drier stretch, March and April at little over 50 mm. From June to November the rain runs between 160 and 190 mm a month.
- 30° J 110 27°
- 30° F 78 27°
- 31° M 54 27°
- 33° A 52 28°
- 33° M 96 29°
- 32° J 179 30°
- 32° J 190 29°
- 32° A 162 29°
- 32° S 182 29°
- 32° O 186 29°
- 31° N 174 29°
- 31° D 122 28°
What to see and do
Days in and around Cebu.
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Landmark
Basilica del Santo Niño
The church in the old centre of Cebu, with Magellan’s Cross in its pavilion a few steps away.
-
Landmark
Fort San Pedro
A small Spanish stone fort by the port, a few minutes on foot from the basilica.
-
Landmark
The reefs off Mactan
Clear water and coral a short boat ride from the resorts, with a marine sanctuary off Plantation Bay.
-
Culture
Casa Gorordo Museum
A house of the 1850s in the old Parian district, home of Cebu's first Filipino bishop, shows period furniture and family heirlooms.
-
Wildlife
Olango Island Wildlife Sanctuary
A Ramsar wetland since 1994 where 48 of the 97 recorded bird species are migratory, reached by boat across the Hilutangan Channel.
-
Culture
Carcar heritage town
Ancestral mansions such as Balay na Tiesa surround the plaza and the Church of St Catherine of Alexandria.
-
Golf
Alta Vista Golf and Country Club
An 18 hole, par 72 course by Gary Player's Black Knight Design, open since the 1990s in the hills above the city.
Where to stay
On the shores of Mactan, and one Key in the city.
Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.
- Shangri-La Mactan, Cebu Thirteen hectares of gardens and a 350-metre beach, twenty minutes by car from the airport.
- Dusit Thani Mactan Cebu Resort At the northern tip of the Punta Engaño peninsula, with a 100-metre infinity pool and the Thai dining room Benjarong.
- Plantation Bay Resort and Spa Eleven hectares for 252 rooms, most of them opening onto a saltwater lagoon, with its own house reef.
- NUSTAR Hotel Cebu The only hotel in Cebu with a MICHELIN Key: 223 large rooms with deep tubs and floor-to-ceiling windows, and Mott 32 downstairs.
Where to dine
Chosen by the MICHELIN Guide.
MICHELIN Guide Manila and Environs & Cebu 2026, the first edition, which awarded no stars in Cebu.
- Sialo MICHELIN Guide Filipino contemporary ₱₱₱₱ President Laurel Street, Cebu City
- Enye by Chele Gonzalez MICHELIN Guide Spanish ₱₱₱ Crimson Resort & Spa, Mactan
- DIP MICHELIN Guide Nikkei ₱₱₱ Sheraton Cebu Mactan Resort
Elsewhere in Philippines
More reasons to come.
Flying to Cebu?
Choose how you arrive.
A Business or First Class seat on a scheduled airline, or an aircraft of your own. Tell us the date and how many are travelling, and we reply with one final price, our margin included.