Welcome back to Team Tala Travels! In this article, we will walk you through our adventures in Bohol! We saw the amazing Chocolate Hills, the tiny tarsiers, and different exotic animals at Xzootic Bohol! We also went to Baclayon Church and had a buffet lunch cruise at Loboc River! 

Let’s begin! 

Bohol Countryside Tour

We booked a Bohol Countryside Tour via Klook. It’s an All-In Package Tour, which consists of a van with driver, as well as the entrance ticket fees to all places covered by the tour. 

In short, after booking this tour, all you have to do is sit back, relax, wait for your ride, and enjoy all the sceneries around Bohol. There is no discount for Tala anymore, so we paid P10,570 for a private tour for 2-3 people. 

These are all the places covered in the tour, which starts at 9:00 in the morning and ends at 5:00 in the afternoon. 

Pick-up at the Hotel

At exactly 9 in the morning, our driver, Junriel, picked us up from our hotel Henann Premier Coast Resort in Panglao. He kept on saying Bohol and Beyond when paying for tickets, so we are thinking he is from this company. We highly recommend Junriel because he is polite, professional, and very knowledgeable about the history and stories about Bohol. Being with him feels like going on a road trip with a friend, just chatting about whatever without him sounding all-knowing and annoying! 

Chocolate Hills 

Our first stop is the Chocolate Hills! It is the farthest of all the places to be visited during the tour, so we went there first. It is about a 90-minute ride from our hotel.

Tala slept halfway through the ride, a strategy that she has mastered to prevent motion sickness on the road. 

When we got there, Emman noticed right away that there were dark clouds in the sky. True enough, minutes after our arrival, it started to rain!

So, we went first to the restaurant for snacks and to wait for the dark clouds to pass. We had hot calamansi juice from the restaurant, and banana chips and ube and melon pastillas balls from the snack shop inside the cafe. So good! 

Tip: The restaurant only accepts cash payments!

Finally, the rain turned to soft drizzles, so we went for the climb! You see, to get to the viewing deck, you have to climb 220 steps or so! This was an easy feat for Tala, since she already climbed 272 colorful steps to get to the temple at Batu Caves in Malaysia! 

But, don’t get discouraged! There are 3 rest areas before reaching the top. Pace yourself and you’ll get to the top soon enough! 

Tip: Prepare your legs for the climb!

Thanks to the umbrellas lent by Junriel, we were able to climb up without getting soaked! We made it to the top without stopping! Kudos to us! 

When we got to the top, Tala prepared her digicam right away and started taking photos! She kept saying that the Chocolate Hills are so beautiful! Well, they really are! 

Fact: There are approximately 1,770 hills within the Chocolate Hills Monument. Not all of these turn brown during the dry season because some hills have plants that do not wither easily.

We stayed at the viewing deck for about 30 minutes only because our driver only gave us 1 hour at this place (half of which was already spent at the cafe). We went down, used the restroom, and bade goodbye to the amazing Chocolate Hills! 

Tarsier Conservation Area

Next stop is the Tarsier Conservation Area. This is about 30 minutes away from the Chocolate Hills. 

When we got there, we were reminded not to make any noise and also to refrain from using camera flashes when taking pictures.

Because tarsiers are nocturnal animals, most of them are resting or sleeping during the day. 

We followed the trail of guests and saw trees all around us.

It was actually hard to spot where the tarsiers were because they were too tiny. We just knew that there is a tarsier on a particular tree because people were busy pointing their cameras there. 

Fact: Only 1 tarsier baby is conceived per pregnancy. A baby tarsier, starting Day 1, can already climb trees!

We noticed that there was only one tarsier per tree, and that they were all resting under a leaf shed. Then I remembered what Junriel said that tarsiers are territorial, and that they go back to “their own tree” after hunting for food. 

There was one particular spot where guides were standing up so that guests can get a great shot behind a tarsier. Check this out! 

We saw about 8 tarsiers. Tala was amazed to see 1 or 2 tarsiers awake and moving their head, probably surveying their surroundings.

Fact: Tarsiers also live in other areas in Visayas and Mindanao, but it is only Bohol that created a Tarsier Conservation Area for tourists.

The trail exit led us to the area’s souvenir shop, where you can see all kinds of souvenirs – ref magnets, bottle openers, shirts, pens, delicacies, etc! We got this cute tarsier ref magnet as a souvenir! 

Bilar Man-Made Forest

We were supposed to stop here and take photos, but because it was raining hard, we decided not to anymore. 

This area is on the road, lined up by mahogany trees, as a reforestation period after the war. According to Junriel, during the war, many people and soldiers cut trees to create their own shelter. As a reforestation initiative, the local government asked the help of boy scouts, girl scouts, and Bohol residents to plant mahogany trees in the forest.

Loboc River Cruise 

At around 1:00 in the afternoon, we arrived at the Loboc River Cruise office.

Junriel asked us to stay inside the waiting area while he purchased our tickets. We used their restroom while waiting. Finally, Junriel gave us our tickets and ushered us to Gate 2, where our boat was docked. 

We were ushered to a table for 3, and we saw the buffet food already to be devoured in the middle of the boat. The food was great! There was grilled tuna, beef caldereta, vegetable salad, fried rice, fried chicken, and many more! There were also dessert items, like cupcakes, puto, and bibingka. A glass of juice per person is included in the buffet lunch, but additional drinks have to be paid separately. 

While we were eating, a photographer asked each table to go to the open area for pictures. She directed our shots, totalling about 16 photos.

Before the cruises ended, she asked each family if we wanted to purchase each photo for P150 (USD3). She said that if I purchased all the photos, she would give me a soft copy of all the photos. It was a hefty price, so I said I would purchase only 1 photo. But, she gave me all the soft copies anyway. Thank you! 

Tip: Do not purchase all the photos! They will give you access to all the soft copies anyway as long as you buy 1 photo. Their photo booth is located at the souvenir area as you exit the Loboc River Cruise office.

The cruise took about 1 and a half hours. After eating, people can go to the back of the boat to enjoy the beauty of Loboc river.

People also danced to the songs sung by the cruise singer! Good thing the rain stopped, so we got to stay at this open area until the ride ended! 

Xzootic Animal Park and Butterfly Garden

This place is just an optional spot for tourists. Junriel mentioned that there are some people who are instantly turned off by tours with trips to zoos where animals are caged and captured. 

Since this place is not part of the actual tour, we paid for our entrance tickets, which is P100 (USD2) per person. There are also packs of watermelon seeds that can be purchased if we want to feed the macaque monkeys. We did not bet to buy this since we ran out of PHP and the zoo does not accept Gcash payments. 

The first animals we saw were pythons. We were reminded not to touch them because the snakes were in the process of shedding their skin, which is painful. They may attack people who touch their skin because of the pain. 

The whole time, a guide was with us, explaining to us the history of each animal, what they eat, and how they live. 

We saw lots of pigeons, parrots, love birds, a hawk, and an injured owl rescued from the wild.

There were also aggressive macaque monkeys that were placed in cages with small holes to prevent harming pigeons roaming freely in the zoo. 

There was also a crocodile, who feeds on 2 whole chickens a day. But, our guide said that since it is currently overweight, they feed it only 1 whole chicken per day. 

Next, we went to the Butterfly Garden, where we saw many kinds of butterflies. We learned from our guide that butterflies only last for 15 days! 

Our guide talked to us about the life cycle of a butterfly. Tala kept on saying “I know that…” because she wrote a Life Cycle of a Butterfly Book in their writing class. 

Baclayon Church

The Baclayon Church, also called the Immaculate Conception Church, is the second oldest church in the Philippines. Since we went there on a Tuesday, the church was closed, so we only got to take pictures outside the church. 

Aproniana Gift Shop

Junriel told us that this gift shop offers cheap souvenir items, so we decided to buy all our souvenirs here. 

When we got here, the staff gave us a card that entitles us to a 10% discount on items purchased from the store. 

We got packs of peanut kisses, a shirt for Tala’s grandma, cute tarsier magnets, and a sand toy kit for Tala’s beach fun when we go back to the resort. 

We wanted to buy their famous kalamay as pasalubong, but we could not bring it home because these items need to be in checked baggage, which we do not have. (We only packed light for this trip.)

Blood Compact Shrine

We were supposed to visit this shrine, but because we used up a part of our time at the zoo, we ran out of time already. Anyway, Junriel said that this is just a statue showing the blood compact event that happened between Datu Sikatuna from the Philippines and Miguel Lopez de Legazpi from Spain. This blood compact symbolizes the friendship between Filipinos and the Spaniards. 

Tip: It may be challenging to go to this place and the zoo within the 8-hour tour period. If you want to visit both places, make sure you manage your time well and allot only 30 minutes or less for each place.

What’s Next?

This is the end of our Bohol Countryside Day Tour experience. All in all, we were very satisfied with our trip! It was an amazing package because we got to see many of Bohol’s attractions! Book this tour if you are planning to visit Bohol in the Philippines! 

Thank you for reading this far! If you find this article fun and informative, please show us some love! Like and subscribe to our site! And share this to people who might be interested in visiting the beautiful island of Bohol! 

Remember, this is Team Tala Travels!