What To Do In Bohol, Philippines – Loboc River Cruise

When traveling through the Philippines, we found ourselves in Cebu for 2 days, waiting for a flight to the island of Siargao. We didn’t really know what we wanted to do, and in doing a little research discovered the island of Bohol, just a couple hours away from Cebu by ferry. The island, pronounced very similar to “Butthole”, is best known for the Chocolate Hills of Bohol. When we arrived, we decided to rent scooters and explore the island that way. One of our destinations, a lazy 45 minute scooter ride away from our resort in the Mactan Island area of Bohol, was the Loboc River.

My memory is a bit foggy, but we pulled off at the first boat place we saw along the river. I believe we paid around $10 US for the 1-2 hour boat ride, which included lunch. I can’t recall the name of the company we booked with, but if you’re on the main road, headed east, you’ll cross over a bridge above the Loboc River and the office and dock are just below the bridge on your right. The map at the bottom of this article shows the location of our boat cruise company, however if you follow the river north, you’ll find another shown on the map, I believe this is probably the more common area to book a Loboc boat tour. I have a feeling we slightly overpaid, and I’ve heard other boats take you to a waterfall, which we didn’t get to see.

It took a while to get the boat going, but after a 45 minute wait we left the dock and they started serving the lunch buffet. Food was sub-par, but edible, but we didn’t take the cruise for the food anyways, so that was fine. They also served beer and soda for an additional cost.

One cool surprise was at the turnaround point for the cruise, they dropped us off at a local village of a tribe called Ati. I think the Ati people only make money off tourists, so they go all out to impress with costumes, animals, weapons, etc. They’re super friendly and playful (as most Philippinos are in my experience, some of the friendliest people in the world), and they encourage you to take photos with them for a small tip. It was a bit touristy, but fun nonetheless.

Cruising up the Loboc River on a nice day is a really fun. The river scenes from the Francis Ford Coppola movie “Apocalypse Now” were filmed on the Loboc, which makes the tour that much better. Most package tours of Bohol island include a Loboc River Cruise, however if you’re comfortable and have a bit more time I recommend renting a motorbike and exploring the island that way.

Loboc River Cruise Video

Image Gallery – Loboc River Cruise, Bohol