Bohol Chocolate Hills, Tarsiers and Loboc River Day Tour

About Bohol

Bohol is a roughly oval island province in the Central Visayas, sitting between Cebu to the northwest and Mindanao to the south. Its capital is Tagbilaran City, and most beach tourism is concentrated on the smaller adjoining island of Panglao, home to Alona Beach. Inland, Bohol is hilly, agricultural, and famously green, threaded by the Loboc and Abatan rivers and dotted with old Spanish-era stone churches.

History and notable events

Bohol holds a special place in Philippine history as the site of the Sandugo, or Blood Compact, on 16 March 1565, when Spanish explorer Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and the local chieftain Datu Sikatuna sealed a treaty of friendship by drinking wine mixed with each other's blood, an event still marked by a shrine near Tagbilaran. Bohol was also the cradle of the Dagohoy Rebellion (1744-1829), led by Francisco Dagohoy, the longest revolt against Spanish rule in Philippine history, lasting roughly 85 years.

The province's centuries-old coral-stone churches, including Baclayon (one of the oldest in the country) and Loboc, were heavily damaged by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake on 15 October 2013, which also reshaped parts of the landscape and prompted a long heritage-restoration effort that continues today. The Chocolate Hills themselves were declared the country's third National Geological Monument and are on the UNESCO World Heritage tentative list. The Philippine tarsier, meanwhile, became an enduring symbol of Bohol's conservation work after decades of habitat loss; sanctuaries near Corella and Loboc now protect the species and educate visitors about why it must never be handled or kept as a pet.