Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
mainly geared to divers, with good simple a/c rooms in a
pretty building on the shore. The beach is rocky but has
flat areas for sun
bathin
g and the “house reef ” is one of the
best in the area.
P1320
Mövenpick Hotel
Punta Engaño
T
032 492 7777,
W
moevenpick-hotels.com.
Rising from the ashes of the
old
Hilton Resort
, the newest player on Mactan's upmarket
resort scene has already made a stir with its contemporary
styling and lively
Ibiza Beach Club
, complete with ironwood
decking and jacuzzi looking out to sea. Rooms are modern,
stylish and feature full-length windows to make the most
of the views. Gue
sts can
be picked up from the airport by
Porsche Cayenne.
P8000
Shangri-La's Mactan Island Resort
Punta Engaño
T
032 231 0288,
W
shangri-la.com.
Not as tasteful as its
Boracay cousin, the Mactan
Shangri-La
is still super-
comfortable and has every amenity imaginable. There are
five hundred rooms, eight restaurants and bars and, if the
tra
c is getting you down, a helicopter to meet you at the
airport. Also plenty of activities, some of which you pay
extra for, including scuba diving, windsurfing, b
anana-b
oat
rides and, for relaxation, the renowned Chi Spa.
P10500
6
SHOPPING
Alegre Guitar Factory
Pajac-Maribago Road, Lapu-
Lapu
T
032 340 4492.
A visit to this famous guitar
factory offers the chance to see instruments being made
as well as doing a little souvenir shopping. The cheapest
steel-stringed acoustic guitars (from P2000) are not so
well constructed that you'd want to stake a musical career
on one, but for serious enthusiasts with more to spend
there are top-quality models. If a guitar is too much to
carry around, smaller ukuleles and mandolins (starting
from P1000) make novel gifts. The factory is a P250-300
taxi ride from central Cebu.
Daily 8am-6pm.
Olango Island
Five kilometres east of Mactan Island,
Olango Island
supports the largest concentration
of
migratory birds
in the country. About 77 species, including egrets, sandpipers, terns
and black-bellied plovers, use the island as a rest stop on their annual migration from
breeding grounds in Siberia, northern China and Japan to Australia and New Zealand.
Declared a
wildlife reserve
in 1998, the island is also home to about sixteen thousand
resident native birds which live mostly in the northern half; the southern half of the
island is made up of a wide, shallow bay and expanses of mud flats and mangrove. The
reserve is at its best during peak migration months: September to November for the
southward migration and February to April northbound.
ARRIVAL AND TOURS
OLANGO ISLAND
Day-trips
Most resorts on Mactan can organize a day-trip
to Olango, though you could visit independently; there are
hourly bangkas (P40) to Santa Rosa on Olango Island from
the wharf near the
Mövenpick
on Mactan Island, or you can
hire your own bangka from Maribago Beach to the island
and back for around P2000. From the small Santa Rosa
wharf it's only a short tricycle ride (P100) to the sanctuary.
Tours
If you want a knowledgeable guide, make arrange-
ments with the Coastal Resource Management Project of
the Department of Environment and Natural Resources
(
T
032 518 5430) in Mandaue, which runs an Olango Birds
and Seascape tour.
ACCOMMODATION
Nalusuan Island Resort & Marine Sanctuary
T
032
361 1093,
W
nalusuan-island.com.
One of the few places
to stay close to the island,
Nalusuan
is set on an islet rising
out of Olango's western coastal reef and has a choice of fan
rooms or a/c cottages on stilts in the water. The open-air
restaurant specializes in seafood caught on the doorstep
and there are nightly campfire cookouts where you can
barbecue food as you like it. The resort can collect you in
Mactan, if requested in ad
vance,
and there are kayaks
available to explore the area.
P2440
Toledo and Balamban
On the west coast of Cebu, less than two hours from Cebu City by road,
TOLEDO
has
several daily ferries for
San Carlos
in Negros (see p.307) - make sure you get there
before mid-afternoon as Toledo isn't a place you'd choose to stay. You're better off
heading twenty minutes north to the town of
BALAMBAN
, which has slightly more to
offer in its clutch of deserted black-sand
beaches
.
