City Break: One Day Cebu Road Trip

What to do on a day trip to one of the biggest provinces in the Philippines - Cebu, with only limited time in this historic place?They said that the province offers variety of travel worthy experiences , from modern skyline to highland hideaways you'll end so much to do in the Queen City of the South. 

Cebu has always been a tourist magnet and its capital - Cebu City, which brags of its colorful heritage being the very first seat of Christianity in the country. While here enjoy the heritage walk of colonial houses, monuments and streets that stretches for about 2 kilometers, good enough for a full day trip.

Spending just a day in a new destination, especially its "The Cebu" sounds very bitin for "how else will you be able to explore a new place when you only have 24 hours to do that?". There are so many activities to dive into and once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience to be explored. 

So, in this post, I'll be sharing to you the pride of Cebu City and Lapu-Lapu City. I'll be highlighting the main tourist destinations that me and my officemates explored. We visited some of the great sights that provides plenty of history, culture, and energy, with an atmosphere that is purely captivating. Let's rediscover the "Queen of the South" as I share with you the awesome experiences you can also make in your Cebu adventure - from city tours, Amsterdam-copied flower garden, to Roman-style temple - everything you can find in one place.

We begin our trip starting from the farthermost travel destination in Cebu City, the Temple of Leah. Built as a symbol of undying love and ceaseless devotion of Teodorico Soriano Adarna to is wife for 53 years, Leah Villa Albino-Adarna, the temple was constructed in the year 2012. It is now one of the most visited attractions in Cebu City, located on top of hill in barangay Busay, the temple is seven-storeys high, and covers a land area of more than 5,000 square meters. You can see the a grand staircase with angels made up of brass and the Queen of the Temple in a 10-ft statue with crown and flower. The gate opens to a driveway to the main courtyard, with granite floors and marble fountain at the center.  Temple of Leah is a 45-minute drive from the city center, and entrance fee is at 50.

Next spot took us less than an hour to reach the place that has now gained popularity by word of mouth and in the social media - the Sirao Garden also known as the Little Amsterdam or the Mini Holland of Cebu. Curious about the fuzz this garden is making the social media, our group included this in our day trip. 

The garden has a variety of plants grown everywhere like dahlia, Mickey Mouse, cockscomb, China aster, everlasting, yellow bell, Guernsey lily and petunia to accentuate the place with vibrant colors. Aside from the obvious different varieties of colorful flower bearing plants, Sirao Garden has now improved to becoming one of the best selfie corners and IG worthy site due to added structures that made it look like, well the little Amsterdam.

After the one drive in the uphill, we manage to go back to the city center and explore the infamous Magellan's Cross. The cross is kept in a small chapel in front of Cebu City Hall, next to Basillica Minore Del Santo Nino in the Magallanes Stress, named after the Spanish last name of Magellan - Fernando de Magallanes. Magellan's cross is a Christian cross planted by Portuguese and Spanish explorers led by Magellan. The arrived in Cebu on April 21, 1521, spreading Christianity there, and consequently to the whole country. He was killed by Lapu-Lapu, the chieftain of Mactan Island, during the Battle of Mactan.

Just a few steps from the Magellan's Cross is the Basillica Minore Del Santo Nino, which is the home of the original and oldest religious relic in the Philippines in honor to the Holy Child Jesus. It is a very old church symbolizing as well as reminiscing the birth of Christianity in the Philippines spread by the Spaniards. There is no entrance fee to visit the Basilica and Magellan's Cross. You can easily see both in less than half an hour. 

Our Cebu City tour would not be complete without visiting the Beautiful Taoist Temple, built in 1972, the place is extremely peaceful and offers amazing phoo opportunities since it is approximately 300 meter above sea level. This temple complex is filled with classical Chinese architecture, sculptures and calligraphy. It is the center of worship for Taoism, however, no-worshippers are also welcome to visit the temple with no entrance fee. But, it is highly recommended that we should follow their rules and be silence for the whole sightseeing.

Just a coast from Cebu City, we drove all the way to Mactan's Lapu-lapu City and visited the Mactan shrine. It commemorates the Battle of Mactan that took place in 1521 between the Spaniards and the Visayan (central Philippines) native people in April 1521 and, along with paintings and plaques about that battle, it also contains two other important shrines - the Lapu-lapu Shrine and the Magellan Shrine.

As the night comes to an end, we never missed the opportunity of seeing the instagrammable 1000 roses attraction in Cordova, Cebu. Roughly taking an hour to get from Cebu City, it features two patches of artificial LED roses that light up from dusk till night. At the edge of the property is the cafe, and beyond that is already the ocean with a city view across it. So, expect a nice breeze and an additional sight to see while you're there.

That's it! Our one day worthy filled trip in Cebu. We were dead tired after the trip, of course! But it was all worth it. Fyi, we stayed for three days in Cebu and stayed in Waterfront Insular Hotel. Shoutout to my loving IAG family for sponsoring this trip. I had a great time.

Love,

Cotabatena Wanderer