The Chocolate Hills of Bohol under a blue sky
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Map

Bohol

Central Visayas
Visayas
Capital Tagbilaran City
Population (2024) 1,412,726
Area 4,821 km²
Municipalities 47
Cities 1
Island Group Visayas
Languages Cebuano, Boholano

Population: 2024 census (PSA). Area: land area.

Kapitbahay — Neighboring Provinces
An island province — the sea is the only neighbor. That isolation shaped everything here.

Bohol is an island province in Central Visayas, south of Cebu and northeast of Mindanao. It is one of the most visited provinces in the Philippines, with two famous attractions: the Chocolate Hills, at least 1,260 dome-shaped limestone mounds that turn brown in the dry season, and the Philippine tarsier, a primate so small it fits in a human palm and has eyes larger than its brain.

Tagbilaran CityCapital
4,821 km²Area
47 + 1 cityMunicipalities
VisayasIsland Group

Tagbilaran City sits on the southwestern tip of the island, facing the Bohol Strait. It is a compact, navigable city with a functioning heritage area around its old church. The city is the entry point for most visitors, who then disperse to the Chocolate Hills, the Loboc River, the tarsier sanctuaries, and the beach resorts of Panglao Island, connected to the mainland by a bridge.

★
1,268 Hills

The often-quoted figure is 1,268 hills, but counts range from at least 1,260 to possibly more than 1,776, spread over more than 50 square kilometers. They are most concentrated in Carmen, Batuan and Sagbayan, with fewer in Bilar, Sierra Bullones and Valencia, and they are the country's third national geological monument. They are made of marine limestone, uplifted and eroded over millions of years. The grass-covered slopes turn brown in the dry season (March–May), producing the chocolate appearance that named them.

The 2013 earthquake (magnitude 7.2) that struck Bohol on October 15 caused severe damage to the province's heritage churches — including the Baclayon Church, one of the oldest in the Philippines — and killed 222 people in Bohol and southern Cebu. Recovery and restoration have continued in the years since, but some structures remain unrepaired.

The 2024 census counted 1,412,726 people in Bohol's 47 municipalities and its one city, Tagbilaran, the provincial capital. The province covers 4,821 square kilometers: Bohol island, the tenth largest in the Philippines, and 75 smaller islands, among them Panglao. It lies between Cebu to the west, Leyte to the northeast and Mindanao across the Bohol Sea to the south. Its people are the Boholanos, and in the southeast interior live the Eskaya, a community known for its own language and script.

Bohol's first contact with the Spanish came in 1565, when Miguel López de Legazpi and Datu Sikatuna sealed their friendship with a blood compact, the Sandugo, on 16 March. The island subsequently became a center of Spanish missionary activity and later a site of one of the longest-running revolts in Philippine colonial history.

1563

Ternatan Raid

Before the Spanish came, Bohol, or Bo-ol, prospered under the brother rulers of Panglao, Datu Dailisan and Datu Pagbuaya, trading with the Sultanate of Ternate. After the two chiefs executed a Ternatan emissary and his men, Ternate attacked in 1563 with firearms supplied by the Portuguese; thousands of Boholanos died, Dailisan among them.

16 March 1565

Sandugo

Miguel López de Legazpi, looking for spices and gold, made a blood compact with Datu Sikatuna, chieftain of Bohol, to seal their friendship. The Sandugo is remembered as the first treaty of friendship between Spaniards and Filipinos.

1596–1727

Jesuits at Baclayon

On 17 November 1596 the Jesuits Juan de Torres and Gabriel Sánchez came to Baclayon, the oldest Christian settlement in Bohol. It became a parish in 1717, and its coral-stone church was completed in 1727.

1744–1829

Dagohoy Rebellion

In 1744 the Jesuit curate of Inabanga refused a Christian burial to the brother of Francisco Dagohoy, a constable killed in a duel, and Dagohoy rose in revolt. He set up an independent government in the mountains on 20 December 1745 with 3,000 followers, later 20,000, and twenty governors-general failed to defeat it. In 1827 an expedition of 2,200 troops under José Lázaro Cairo invaded Bohol; the revolt ended in 1829, the longest in Philippine colonial history.

3 March 1854

Province of Bohol

A royal decree made Bohol a province separate from Cebu. Its first governor arrived on 19 June 1854 and chose Tagbilaran as the capital.

1899–1945

American Rule and War

American troops took over Bohol peacefully in March 1899. Japanese troops landed at Tagbilaran on 17 May 1942, and Boholanos fought a guerrilla resistance until the island was liberated with the Filipino and American landing at Tagbilaran on 11 April 1945.

15 October 2013

Bohol Earthquake

A magnitude 7.2 earthquake centered in Bohol, which also struck southern Cebu, killed 222 people and injured 374. It brought down or badly damaged heritage churches, among them Loboc, Baclayon, Loon and Maribojoc.

28 November 2018

Panglao Airport Opens

Bohol–Panglao International Airport, billed as the country's first eco-airport, opened on Panglao Island, replacing the old Tagbilaran Airport.

Bohol culture is Cebuano at its root — the language, food, and general cultural patterns are those of the wider Central Visayas. What distinguishes Bohol within this framework is the Dagohoy heritage, the depth of the heritage church tradition, and a particular civic pride in the province's natural features.

Francisco Dagohoy

FD

Francisco Dagohoy

Rebel leader, longest revolt in Philippine colonial historyc. 1724–1800s

Born Francisco Sendrijas in Inabanga, Bohol, Dagohoy launched his rebellion in 1744 after the Jesuit curate, Gaspar Morales, refused a Christian burial to his brother Sagarino, a constable who had died in a duel while pursuing a fugitive. The refusal violated what Dagohoy considered a binding obligation of the Church. He retreated into the mountains and built a community of resistance that lasted 85 years and included, at its peak, over 20,000 people. His name and story are part of every Bohol schoolchild's education.

★
The Philippine Tarsier

The Philippine tarsier (Carlito syrichta) is one of the world's smallest primates — adults weigh between 80 and 160 grams. Their eyes, which cannot move in their sockets, are each larger than their brain. Tarsiers are nocturnal, carnivorous (they eat live insects and small vertebrates), and extremely sensitive to noise and bright light. They are endemic to several Philippine islands, with Bohol being the most associated habitat.

Heritage Churches

Bohol has one of the highest concentrations of Spanish colonial-era churches in the Philippines, reflecting the intensity of Jesuit and then Augustinian mission activity on the island. The churches of Baclayon, Loboc, Loay, Dimiao, and Jagna — most built in the 17th and 18th centuries from coral stone — form a circuit of heritage architecture that survived largely intact until the 2013 earthquake.

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Bohol's food is Central Visayan in character — Cebuano cooking patterns, with fresh seafood from the Bohol Sea, coconut-based preparations, and the pork dishes that appear at every celebration. The province also has a distinct sweet tradition tied to the cassava and caramel sweets produced in several municipalities.

Lechon

Whole roasted pig, the centerpiece of every major Bohol celebration. Bohol lechon is made with the liver sauce (sarsa) on the side and the skin crackled to a shattering crunch over charcoal. The stuffing — typically lemongrass, garlic, spring onion, and sometimes dried herbs — perfumes the meat from inside.

Calamay

A thick, sticky sweet made from glutinous rice, coconut milk, and brown sugar, packaged in half coconut shells and sold as a Bohol specialty. The texture is somewhere between toffee and rice cake. It is made primarily in the municipality of Jagna and sold throughout the province as pasalubong.

Kinilaw na Isda

Bohol / Central Visayas
20 minutesPrep
0 minutes (acid-cured)Cook
4Serves
Ingredients
  • 500g, skinned and cut into 1cm cubesvery fresh white fish (tanigue or lapu-lapu)
  • 1/2 cupcane vinegar
  • 3 tbspcalamansi juice
  • 2-inch knob, finely juliennedginger
  • 1 medium, thinly slicedred onion
  • 1/2 cupcoconut cream
  • 2–3 pieces, sliced thinsiling labuyo
  • to tastesalt
Method
  1. Place fish cubes in a bowl and pour vinegar over them. Stir gently to coat. Leave for 5 minutes — the fish will turn opaque as the acid denatures the proteins.
  2. Drain the vinegar. This first vinegar is discarded — it removes the raw fish smell.
  3. Add fresh calamansi juice, ginger, onion, and chilies. Toss gently.
  4. Pour coconut cream over the fish and mix.
  5. Season with salt. Taste and adjust acid and salt balance.
  6. Serve immediately with rice or as a starter.
Cook's note

The fish must be extremely fresh — kinilaw is only as good as the quality of the fish. Use the freshest fish available and serve within 30 minutes of preparation.

Cebuano is the primary language of Bohol, spoken throughout the province. Bohol Cebuano has its own distinct accent and some vocabulary differences from Cebu City Cebuano, but the two are fully mutually intelligible. Bohol speakers are sometimes good-naturedly ribbed by Cebu speakers for their accent, and return the favor.

Cebuano (Boholano / Binol-anon)Primary Language
Eskayan (Eskaya community), Filipino, EnglishAlso Spoken
Austronesian / BisayanLanguage Family
Central Visayas (Region VII)Region
★
Bol-anon

Bohol Cebuano speakers refer to their variety as Binol-anon, or Boholano. It is also spoken across much of Southern Leyte and in parts of Northern Mindanao and Caraga. This is a regional identification rather than a linguistically distinct language, but it reflects the strong provincial identity that Bohol maintains within the Cebuano-speaking world.

Filipino and English are standard in education and government. Tagbilaran City, as a tourist hub, has significant English use in the hospitality sector. Cebuano remains the language of home, market, and community across the 47 municipalities.

Unlike Leyte and Samar (Waray) or Negros Occidental (Hiligaynon), Bohol is almost entirely Cebuano-speaking. The one exception is the Eskaya of the southeast interior, around Duero, Guindulman, Pilar and Sierra Bullones, whose Eskayan language and script are by their own tradition the work of an ancestor named Pinay; linguists think the language was most likely created within a single generation by one charismatic individual.

Bohol is well set up for visitors — a good road network, reliable accommodation in multiple price ranges, and Bohol–Panglao International Airport, on Panglao Island, which opened in 2018 in place of the old Tagbilaran Airport and has direct flights from Manila and several international points. The main attractions are concentrated enough to be covered in two to three days, but the province rewards longer stays.

Bohol-Panglao International (TAG)Airport
~1.5 hrs by airFrom Manila
2 hrs by fast ferryFrom Cebu
February to MayBest Season

Chocolate Hills, Carmen

The viewing complex in Carmen municipality has two observation decks on one of the larger hills, giving a 360-degree view of the surrounding domes. The hills are most impressive in the dry season (March–May) when they turn brown. In the wet season they are green, which is also striking, just differently.

Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary, Corella

The Corella sanctuary is run by the Philippine Tarsier Foundation and is the most responsible tarsier viewing venue in Bohol. Tarsiers live in the sanctuary forest in semi-wild conditions. Visitors walk with a guide through the trees and observe tarsiers at rest (they are nocturnal and sleep during visitor hours). No flash photography, no noise.

Loboc River Cruise

A floating restaurant cruise along the Loboc River through dense riparian forest. The river is calm, the forest overhangs, and lunch is served on board. The cruise is widely visited and somewhat touristy, but the river itself is genuinely beautiful.

Panglao Island

Connected to the Bohol mainland by bridge, Panglao is the beach destination of the province — Alona Beach being the main strip of resorts and dive shops. The waters around Panglao are part of the Bohol Sea, with coral walls and diverse marine life. Dive operators here offer access to some of the best diving in the Visayas.

✦
Hire a Tricycle for a Day

The most efficient way to see the Chocolate Hills, Baclayon Church, the tarsier sanctuary, and the Loboc River in a single day is to hire a tricycle with a driver for the full day. Rates are negotiable from Tagbilaran. The driver doubles as a guide and knows the roads.

Bohol's forests survive mainly in the Rajah Sikatuna Protected Landscape, a range of forested limestone hills across Bilar, Batuan, Carmen, Sierra Bullones, Garcia Hernandez, Valencia, Dimiao and Loboc. First gazetted as a national park in 1987, it is the largest remaining tract of natural forest on the island and one of the country's top birdwatching sites, with more than 120 bird species, among them the Philippine hawk-eagle, Samar hornbill, Visayan broadbill, Philippine frogmouth and Philippine trogon. Its mammals include the Philippine tarsier, the Philippine flying lemur, the long-tailed macaque, two civets and the Philippine warty pig. North of it rise the Chocolate Hills, grass-covered limestone mounds that are a national geological monument.

A Philippine tarsier (photographed in Bohol)
Photo: John Martin PERRY · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Philippine Tarsier
Carlito syrichta
Near Threatened
One of the smallest primates in the world: males weigh 80 to 160 grams, and each eye is larger than its brain. It hunts insects at night and is extremely sensitive to stress. The Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary in Corella protects tarsiers in a natural forest setting rather than in cages.
Field note: Do not use flash photography and keep voices low near sanctuary areas. Loud noise and handling can harm these animals badly.
Philippine Flying Lemur
Cynocephalus volans
Least Concern
Neither a lemur nor a true flier, the kagwang is one of only two species of colugo in the world, and it glides as it leaps between trees. Its population is concentrated in Mindanao and Bohol. It was listed as Vulnerable in 1996, as lowland forests were cleared and it was hunted, and as Least Concern since 2008.
Field note: Look for it gliding at dusk at the forest edge in Rajah Sikatuna. Never buy or keep one.
Samar Hornbill
Penelopides samarensis
Not assessed separately by the IUCN
A small tarictic hornbill found only on Samar, Calicoan, Leyte and Bohol. The IUCN still treats it as part of the Mindanao hornbill, so it has no assessment of its own, and it is one of the least studied of the tarictics.
Field note: Hornbills need big old trees to nest in. Report hunting or nest robbing to the DENR.
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Kasaysayan · Bohol

The 2013 Bohol Earthquake

LBy Lemcon Field Team, Lemcon✓ Fact-checked

On the morning of 15 October 2013, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Bohol, the strongest to hit the island in a generation. It was centered in central Bohol, near Sagbayan and Carmen.

The quake set off landslides, toppled buildings, and brought down centuries-old churches, among them Loboc, Baclayon, Loon, and Maribojoc. It killed 222 people and displaced hundreds of thousands.

Yet the story of Bohol since has been one of resilience. Communities, government, and volunteers rebuilt homes and, stone by stone, restored the fallen churches, saving the island's heritage. The scars remain, but so does the strength. The Boholanos rose, closer and steadier than before.

Mga Larawan

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Lugar · Carmen

The Chocolate Hills

LBy Lemcon Field Team, Lemcon✓ Fact-checked

The Chocolate Hills are the wonder of Bohol, a field of more than a thousand near-identical mounds spread across the center of the island. Estimates range from 1,268 to 1,776 hills, conical and dome-shaped, standing side by side.

They are not made of chocolate. In the dry season, from around January to May, the grass that covers them turns a rich chocolate-brown, and that is how they earned the name. In the rains they turn green again.

To see them for the first time is to understand the wow. It is a landscape found nowhere else.

Mga Larawan

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Lugar · Panglao

Virgin Island

CBy Catherine Rufo, Lemcon✓ Fact-checked

Off the coast of Panglao in Bohol lies Virgin Island, one of the most photographed spots in the province. It is a long white sandbar that rises from the sea at low tide.

The water is crystal clear, the sand bright, and small stalls sell fresh seafood right on the bar. It is easy to see why locals and visitors alike love it.

Bohol keeps its charm through the seasons. The Chocolate Hills glow brown in the dry months and green in the wet, and out here on the water, the island shines white against the blue.

Mga Larawan

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Lugar · Bohol

The Tiny Tarsiers

LBy Lemcon Field Team, Lemcon✓ Fact-checked

I could not wait to meet the tarsiers of Bohol. I imagined something bigger. Instead I found them tiny, each about the size of my thumb, clinging quietly to the branches.

The Philippine tarsier is one of the smallest primates in the world, and one of the most curious. Its eyes are each larger than its brain. It can turn its head almost all the way around, about 180 degrees each way, and leap several meters between branches. It hunts insects, and lives around eight years.

We saw four of them, small and still in the sanctuary trees. Seeing even one was worth the trip.

Mga Larawan

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Lugar · Panglao

Alona Beach, Panglao

LBy Lemcon Field Team, Lemcon✓ Fact-checked

Alona Beach is a small tropical paradise on Panglao Island, at the southwestern tip of Bohol. The moment I saw it, it caught me.

The sand is white and powdery, the water clean, and pretty cottages line a garden by the shore. I was there for a site survey and could only steal a quick photo, but I could picture myself walking the beach with the sea breeze for company.

The people here are proud of their beach, and they should be. Even in the midday heat they welcomed me with a smile.

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Lugar · Alburquerque

Prony the Python

LBy Lemcon Field Team, Lemcon✓ Fact-checked

In the town of Alburquerque in Bohol lived Prony, one of the largest pythons ever kept in captivity in the Philippines. She was a reticulated python, measured at around twenty-three feet and weighing some three hundred kilograms.

Prony was caught in 1996 and became a local legend. When she died, her bones were preserved and put on display, so her story could go on being told.

I am afraid of snakes, so I read her story from a safe distance. It is a strange and gentle tale, and the people who tell it clearly hold Prony dear. As they say, Prony is timeless, forever in their hearts.

Mga Larawan

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Lugar · Bohol

Zoomazing Animal Park

LBy Lemcon Field Team, Lemcon✓ Fact-checked

A scary but fun afternoon among the cages of the Zoomazing animal park in Bohol, meeting lizards, monkeys, butterflies, birds, an ostrich, and snakes.

It was my first time to see a huge albino python up close. I was nervous when the keeper draped it over her shoulder, but she promised it was gentle, so I reached out and touched it. It swayed its tail as if glad to meet us.

There was a talkative parrot too, who danced as we sang and took sunflower seeds from our hands, and a shy lizard who kept turning away from the camera. An amazing, slightly nerve-wracking day.

Mga Larawan

Sources · updated 4 October 2026
Photo credits (2)

Photos from Wikimedia Commons, used under the licences shown; some were resized. All photo credits

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