Siquijor

Siquijor is a small island province in the Visayas lying some 22 km east of Southern Negros. While the coastline is mostly white sand beaches fronting the ocean full of tropical marine life, the interior is mountainous.

Understand
The Spanish named it Isla del Fuego due to the intensity of its fire flies. Legend has it that Siquijor rose from the sea during a tremendous thunder storm and one can still see fossils and shells on Mount Bandila-an, Siquijor's highest point.

Get in
Siquijor has only a small airport with few scheduled flights; it is about 5 km west of Siquijor town. Construction to expand it into a full airport capable of handling international flights is underway as of March 2020.

The nearest reasonably large airports are in Dumaguete and Panglao Island. Dumaguete Airport has no international flights but is well-connected to domestic destinations including all the main airports for international arrivals. Panglao Airport has international flights from South Korea, China, and Japan. The main air hub of the region is Mactan-Cebu International Airport in Metro Cebu. Panglao airport in Bohol Province also handles international flights. From any of those, one generally reaches Siquijor by ferry.

There are frequent passenger ferries from Cebu City (Cebu Island), Dumaguete (Negros island), Tagbilaran (Bohol) and Plaridel (Mindanao):
 * There are many ferries daily from Dumaguete to . Ferries cost and are operated by "Delta shipping lines" and "GL shipping lines". There is also a slow car ferry that costs  and takes 2 hours, operated by "Montenegro shipping lines".
 * Fast ferry from Cebu City run by 'Oceanjet' takes 5 hours to reach Siquijor town, it makes interim stops in Dumaguete and Tagbilaran. Price from Cebu -, from Tagbilaran - (2016).
 * Slow ferries from Plaridal and Tagbilaran dock at, both operated by "Lite Shipping lines". Ferry from Tagbilaran costs , takes 3 hours, leaves Tagbilaran on M W Sa at 8PM. in the opposite direction leaving Larena on Tu Th Su at 7PM (2016).
 * There is a direct ferry from Larena port to Liloan port in Santander at the southern tip of Cebu Island. the ferry departs liloan Port going to Larena Port at 10AM every day. Ticket costing . From Liloan port there are many buses going to Cebu City and some along the island's west coast to Moalboal.
 * There are also Ceres buses plying Siquijor from Cebu South Bus terminal.

Get around
There is a paved road running around the coast of the island.

San Juan is the main tourist area, though there are lots of other options. Within San Juan you can walk to some places, but the town is spread out along several km of seaside so for many trips you will need a trike or jeepney.
 * Hire a motorbike for per day (2016). Available at the port in Siquijor town, San Juan town and almost all resorts. However, resorts generally charge higher prices and very often require customers to return bikes before 6PM in order to force guests to have dinner at resort's own restaurant.
 * Hire a tricycle. For instance, price from Siquijor town to San Juan town is, while a day tour of the island is (2016). If you arrive by boat in Siquijor Town, then on your left as you walk off the pier toward where the tricycles congregate there is a large sign showing prices for various journeys. Drivers may ask for more, but the sign gives you a fine tool for bargaining and a lower limit below which you know the drivers will not go.
 * Jump on a jeepney; prices are very low, Siquijor town to San Juan - (2016). Although they run fairly rarely, mainly departing when full.

San Juan






Do

 * Visit Bolo Bolo healing ritual, Shamans and witches

Scuba diving
There is really good diving around the island, especially the southern end. Dive shops on the island also make trips all the way to the Apo Island (excellent) and Baligasac.

Banks & ATMs

 * PNB bank ATM in Larena (but only Visa cards are accepted).
 * Metro Bank ATM in Siquijor town, on the main road. (It accepts MasterCard and Visa.)

Eat

 * Rastaman Grill and Seafood. In the center of San Juan. Chicken, pork, seafood and vegetarian dishes. European and Filipino style, price low to midrange but great taste. Friendly staff and some nights have live music.

Sleep
Most people stay in some resort next to the beach around the island like San Juan. One quiet and remote option is the northwest tip of the island.

Budget




Stay safe
Power outages happen every couple of days and last for 1-3 hours (2016).

Connect
Most hotels and restaurants have WiFi with generally very slow internet. Cliff Side resort near Larena has high-speed 10mbps internet (March 2017).

Mobile coverage is limited to larger towns and villages where a full 3G signal can be acquired. And it's patchy or nonexistent in remote/sparsely populated areas (2016).

Cope
Many hotels prohibit guests from bringing in outside food, this way trying to increase their own restaurants' income.
 * Generika Drug Store. National Highway Corner Caridad Street Siquijor town. lower prices.

Go next
There are ferries to several nearby places:
 * Metro Cebu, the regional transport hub
 * Dumaguete in Negros Oriental, quite close
 * Tagbilaran on Bohol

Moalboal is a popular diving destination on Cebu Island. It can be reached via Dumaguete; see directions at Moalboal. Alternately, there is a ferry direct from Siquijor to Santander, the southernmost municipality on Cebu Island and buses from there to Moalboal.