Full Day Bohol Countryside Tour {Review}
Post Last Modified – May 29, 2023 ¦ gr8traveltips.com
A Full Day Bohol Countryside Tour With Valeroso Ralle On Tour
Table of Contents
On our wonderful vacation to the Philippines a few seasons ago, we spent a few nights on the 🏝 Island of Bohol, located just a short fast ⛴ ferry ride from – Cebu.
One of the major highlights of this island is taking the fabulous {Chocolate Hills Tour}, and the ⚓ Loboc River Cruise.
Experiencing the {Full Day Bohol Countryside Tour}, is simply a Must Do! We enjoyed this wonderful Tour with 🌴 Valeroso Ralle On Tour.
Valeroso Ralle On Tour is a well established travel and tour business on Bohol, which is a German locally owned and operated enterprise.
In business many years, they have established themselves as the {premier tours and travel business}, on the island.
The Island Of Bohol Philippines
On their premises, you will also find the local 🗺 Tourist Information Center, where staff are pleased to assist in any way they can.
Bohol is a Province of the Philippines, in the Country’s Central Visayas region. It comprises 🏝 Bohol Island and numerous smaller surrounding Islands.
Bohol is known for coral reefs and unusual geological formations, notably the Chocolate Hills.
On the main Island near the town of Carmen, these 1,200 or so symmetrical mounds turn cocoa-brown in the dry season.
A Look At Our Full Day Bohol Countryside Tour
As previously mentioned, this is a full day tour and one that simply cannot be missed when visiting.
With Valeroso Ralle On Tour, you have a choice of creating your own unique private tour in a 🚗 car or a 🚌 mini van depending on your group size.
They also run a daily public group tour in their 🚌 mini vans as well.
Without a doubt, this is their most popular tour, followed by their outer island water tour excursions. This was definitely the highlight of our short stay while visiting.
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Full Day Bohol Countryside Tour Includes
➡ Visit the Tarsier Sanctuary;
➡ Experience Bohol’s Beautiful Countryside;
➡ View the Magnificent Chocolate Hills;
➡ Enjoy the Popular Loboc River Cruise with Lunch;
➡ Walk Along the Sevilla Bamboo Twin Hanging Bridge;
➡ Visit a Butterfly Garden and Snake Center;
➡ Take a Stroll Through a Local Public Market;
➡ Drive Through and Stop In The Mahogany Forest;
➡ Visit Baclayon Historic Church of 1727;
➡ View the Blood Compact Shrine;
➡ Option to Zipline and / or Ride an ATV;
➡ Finish the day with a cold beverage with a commanding view overlooking the city of Tagbilaran.
As you can see, this is a complete tour with the opportunity to see and enjoy many of the major attractions the island of Bohol has to offer.
Below, is a sneak peek of our amazing day with our guide and driver.
The Tarsier Sanctuary
Our driver 🧑 Ricky, arrived at our hotel to pick us up right at our scheduled time in the morning, after having breakfast.
It was then off into the countryside of Bohol, where our first stop was to the incredible – Tarsier Sanctuary.
Tarsiers are a species of small leaping primates, which can only be found in the Islands of Southeast Asia, including the Philippines.
They are incredibly small, yet have the largest 👀 eyes relative to body size of any mammal.
You can check out more great pictures and facts on these extraordinary creatures on the website below;
A unique looking primate and was neat to see them up close. Not something you would be able to experience most anywhere else in the world.
Chocolate Hills
Without a doubt, the biggest attraction on this Island are the 🗻 Chocolate Hills. These very unique landforms were formed ages ago by what is known as the “uplift of coral deposits.”
Combined with the continuous action of rainwater and natural erosion, they eventually formed these amazing round hills scattered throughout the valley.
There are known to be over 1200 of these hills, and most are between 30 and 50 meters in height. These mounds are covered with grass and by the end of the dry season, turn a chocolate brown color. Hence the name “Chocolate Hills” was given many years ago.
During the wet season, the hills are lush and green in color, but still a beautiful site to view.
These amazing hills were declared a {National Geological Monument} in 1988, by the National Committee on Geological Sciences.
An absolutely beautiful site to see, and where you can also experience the natural beauty of the Island.
Bilar Public Market
It was back in the 🚗 car, making our way eventually to the Loboc River for our cruise and lunch.
Along the way, we were able to make a brief 🛑 stop and stretch our legs at the Town of Bilar. You’re given time to take a stroll through their public market.
This gives you an opportunity to observe the locals going about their business and their daily life, living on the Island of Bohol.
It’s always great to see and interact with the locals away from the tourist zones, no matter where you travel to in the world.
Mahogany Forest
We then made our way to the 🌳 Mahogany Forest, with a brief stop to stretch once again and take a few 📸 photos.
This is a full 2 kilometer man-made mahogany 🌳 tree forest, that was planted inside the borders of the towns of Loboc and Bilar
This is an incredibly beautiful dense forest, lining both sides for the highway.
Planted by locals many years ago, this cool dense forest is a welcoming retreat for locals and visitors to view, and also escape the 🥵 heat of the day.
Sevilla Bamboo Twin Hanging Bridge
We made a short, but fun stop at the Sevilla Bamboo Twin Hanging Bridge.
This is an unstable bamboo pedestrian bridge, that runs across the Sipatan River. It’s quite fun to walk across and to take a couple of 📸 photos as well! It has become quite the tourist attraction over the years, earning extra income for the local community. 🙂
The bridge was actually built for locals to be able to cross the Sipatan River, many years ago.
There are now two bridges for tourists to cross in each direction, due to the high volume of tourists coming to view and stroll across the bridges.
Loboc River Cruise With Lunch
This was definitely another highlight of the day and again, very popular as well. As we happened to be traveling during the Chinese New Year, crowds were outrageous!
Even though it was extremely busy during our visit, they were very well organized and had us loaded on a boat in no time.
The cruise was very relaxing, the buffet lunch was superb and the scenery was beautiful!
Your floating restaurant vessel will lead you down the river through lush tropical vegetation including; nipa palms, coconut trees, banana groves, and dense bush.
The source of the Loboc River is located in the Town of Carmen, almost in the center of Bohol.
From Carmen, the river takes a westerly course for a distance of about 1.5 kilometers, then flows due south into the Mindanao or Bohol Sea.
This river in Bohol is known to be one of the cleanest rivers in the Country.
The short journey travels slowly up river and turns back at Busay Falls. A very small waterfall that flows into the river.
A brief stop is made alongside a floating cottage, where you are entertained by a local group to rondalla music and dance.
This was a very relaxing and enjoyable lunch break and river cruise, that’s was definitely worth experiencing when visiting Bohol.
Full Day Bohol Countryside & The Butterfly Garden – Snake Center
The tour continued on after our lunch making our way through countryside, viewing farms and rice paddy fields along the way.
Our next stop was to the small 🦋 Butterfly Garden and 🐍 Snake Center.
Here, your guide at the center will brief you on the beautiful 🦋 butterflies they have in their sanctuary. You also get a chance to get up close and personal with a few very large 🐍 snakes as well!
They also have a Palm Civet Cat or Milo, Musang in the center as well.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with this type of 🐈 cat, they are most famous because of their love of coffee berries.
Coffee seeds inside of the droppings of palm civet 🐈 cats are left undigested and produce a special flavor of civet coffee, also known as kopi luwak coffee.
Today, this is the most expensive coffee in the 🌎 world!
For movie buffs, you may recall the Hollywood hit movie – “The Bucket List.”
This is where actor Jack Nicholson, playing a very wealthy individual, drinks this coffee while hospitalized along with actor Morgan Freeman.
They joke about the fact that the beans from the coffee are gathered from the Palm Civet Cats droppings, and that it is the most expensive coffee in the world! 🙂
Baclayon Historic Church
The Roman Catholic ⛪ Church of Baclayon located near the city of Tagbilaran, is one of the oldest churches in the Philippines.
Founded by the Jesuits in 1596, it was converted into a parish church in the early 1700’s.
The structure which was originally constructed of coral stones, has a cruciform architectural plan joined by a pyramid-shaped wall.
The church and watch tower were strategically important at the time, built facing the sea.
The defensive stone walls that surrounded the original church complex, were removed during the 1870’s.
The interior of this beautiful church is absolutely stunning!
Even for the non-religious, visiting this historic landmark is definitely worthwhile.
Blood Compact Shrine
The Sandugo or Blood Compact Shrine monument, is a landmark at the site of the first international treaty of friendship between Spaniards and Filipinos.
This well-known monument in scenic surroundings, is a statue depicting a famous blood compact from 1565.
This is now an historical landmark and the site of the first international treaty of friendship. In the background is a view of the beautiful Bohol Sea.
The monument, with the bronze statues of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, Rajah Sikatuna and several other witnesses, was a masterpiece of the Boholano sculptor and National Artist for Sculpture – Napoleon Abueva.
Valeroso Ralle On Tour certainly lived up to their reputation on the Island, as that of the premier tour and travel agency in Bohol.
The service was outstanding, our guide superb and the tour itself was just excellent!
If fact, we used their travel agency to book our fast ferry tickets, and also arranged for transportation from our hotel to the ferry terminal in Tagbilaran City. This is where you board the ⛴ ferry back to Cebu.
For more detailed information about this Full Day Bohol Countryside Tour with Valeroso Ralle On Tour, I have included a link to their Official Facebook page below for your convenience.
You can check out their other island tours they offer as well.
📰 Valeroso Ralle On Tour Facebook Page
I’ve also listed the 🌅 Official Philippines Tourism Authority link below to their website page for your convenience. It’s filled with excellent information on everything this beautiful Country has to offer.
Although our Full Day Bohol Countryside Tour was in collaboration with Valeroso Ralle On Tour, rest assured all content and opinions are that of the author and reflect my personal experience only.
All personal 📸 photographs on this post are the property of gr8traveltips.com and are copyright protected. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. 🚫“The Philippines Is The Biggest Exporter Of Tropical Fruits & Coconuts In The World.”
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