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Cebu City
Highly-urbanized city in Central Visayas, Philippines

Cebu City

Cebu City, officially the City of Cebu, is a highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines.

Plan a trip to Cebu City→From Panglao

According to the 2024 census, it has a population of 965,332 people, making it the sixth-most populated city in the country and the most populous in the Central Visayas Region and in the whole Visayas.

Get in

Getting to Cebu City

See Metro Cebu for general information about reaching the urban region. Mactan-Cebu International Airport (CEB IATA) is in Lapu-Lapu. Many travellers land there and head for Cebu City by bus or taxi. MyBus travels from SM City to Mactan Airport via Park mall. Buses depart from 6AM-midnight at 20-min intervals) and cost ₱25 from park mall and 50 from SM per person.

  1. 01
    Cebu South Bus Terminal

    Natalio Bacalso Avenue,.

See

Worth seeing

The city was well established as a trade center and regional capital even before the first Europeans, under Magellan, arrived in the 1520s. When the Spanish returned to colonize in 1565, Cebu became the first Spanish city in the country and (briefly) the capital. Many of today's tourist sites go back to the period of Spanish rule which lasted until the Americans took over in 1898.

  1. 01
    Basilica of Santo Niño
  2. 02
    Magellan's Cross
  3. 03
    Colon St

    Brave the cacophonous traffic to see the oldest street in the Philippines with some nice worn-out classical buildings dating back to the American Era.

  4. 04
    Fort San Pedro

    The smallest Spanish outpost in the Philippines during the colonial era.

  5. 05
    The Chinese Taoist Temple

    There are many people of Chinese ancestry in Cebu, and several Chinese temples; one is the Taoist Temple.

  6. 06
    Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral

    A church built in 1565 by the first Spanish missionaries in Cebu, seat of an Archbishop who has subordinate Bishops in many cities of the Visayas.

Do

Things to do

  1. 01
    Tops Lookout

    This sits at the top of the Mt Busay and has an unobstructed view of the entire city at night.

  2. 02
    Sky Experience Adventure
Eat

Where to eat

Cebu City has a wide range of reasonably good places to eat, from restaurants and buffets to street-food stalls. All-you-can-eat buffets tend to be more expensive than in many other parts of the country. Street food is abundant, with stalls across the city selling a variety of Filipino snacks and local specialties.

  1. 01
    Robinsons Fuente

    B Rodriguez Street (Right on Fuente Circle).

  2. 02
    Elizabeth Mall Food Court

    3rd floor, E mall, Natalio B Bacalso Avenue.

  3. 03
    Muvanz Pocherohan And Seafoods

    Century Plaza Complex, Juana Osmeña St.

  4. 04
    Ned Nanay's Grill

    Don Mariano Cui St.

  5. 05
    Healthy U

    A Tormis St.

How locals move

Getting around Cebu City the local way

  • Get inTopline express ferry from Mactan marina wharf which is just behind Island central mall Mactan.
  • Get inThere are two fast ferries an hour going to pier 3 in downtown cebu.
  • Get inThere are yellow jeepneys from Terminal 1 at Cebu Airport going to Island Central Mall for .
  • Get inNote that Cebu City ferry terminals charge a terminal fee.
  • Get inIdentification is usually required to pick up ferry tickets, but this is at the discretion of the check-in agent.
  • Get inIf you are stranded overnight at a ferry terminal, you may be required to present identification or to complete a questionnaire about your intentions by security.
  • Get inLarge 2Go passenger ferries with a capacity of 1,000 or more passengers ply the routes such as to Manila, Butuan; Cagayan de Oro.
  • Get inFor some destinations, fast hydrofoil ferries are available.

From Wikivoyage: Cebu City, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see file page), Wikimedia Commons.