Philippines Attractions: Review of
Cruise Trip on Loboc River
in Bohol Philippines

All prices listed below are subject to change

Loboc River is famous for its floating restaurants – there's no doubt about that! Here's our experience from the Loboc River Cruise.

How to get to Loboc River Cruise
in Bohol Island

The floating restaurants leave Loboc Tourism Complex. Passenger jeeps ply the route between Tagbilaran and Loboc. You can also take bus from Tagbilaran. With local transport, it should take you about one hour from Tagbilaran.

Price: 300 pesos per person (includes tour and buffet)

There are a lot of companies providing river cruise, and it seemed like the price varied from company to company.

How long: The cruise itself lasts for one hour.

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A personal review of the cruise on
Loboc river
in Bohol Philippines

As the boat takes off from Loboc Tourism Complex, the Filipino buffet begins!

PS: Make sure you grab a table at the front or at the sideline to actually get a view of the river.

All sorts of Boholano dishes are presented nicely, with live guitar music in the background. That day we were served BBQ, pansit (noodle dish), chopsuey and lots of fruits. With live guitar music I mean a Filipino guy playing guitar and sings Boholano songs as the boat floats down the river.

While you're eating, enjoy the life along the river.

Our boat took a pit-stop after 20 minutes. There are river stations along the river where locals provide entertainment "in exchange" for donations.

Dozens of local kids, youth and elderly dressed in white and green clothing started dancing, singing and entertaining us with "Tinikling," the Filipino national dance.

This was probably the best part, because here you can soak the culture of Philippines. I personally enjoyed their performance!

After this, the boat continued floating down the river, making a U-turn at Busay waterfalls.

I've seen many waterfalls in my life, so Busay was not that terrific compared to those waterfalls. It was OK, but it was not the highlight.

Then the boat floated back towards the tourist complex.

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Was the Loboc River Cruise
worth the money?

All I can say is that I did it once, and that's pretty much enough. This is a typical tourist experience in Bohol which I enjoyed with my family (even though I had fever and was mostly distracted).

Take time in choosing restaurant. There are different types of restaurants depending on which boat you choose. I've heard some travelers got disappointed by the selection of food, and some were not.

I've also read a lot of reviews saying that the waiting queues for the floating restaurants were long, but that day in January 2009, there was no queue. Maybe we were lucky? I don't know...

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