Siquijor travel guide for slow travelers

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If you’re dreaming of a tropical escape where time slows down, crowds are few, and magic literally lingers in the air—say hello to Siquijor. This tiny island in the Philippines often flies under the radar, but that’s exactly what makes it perfect for slow travelers. With its relaxed vibes, untouched nature, and happy locals, Siquijor invites you to ditch the itinerary and just be.

Whether you’re into waterfalls, white sand beaches, healing traditions, or simply swinging in a hammock with a fresh coconut in hand, Siquijor has a way of making you feel like you’ve stumbled on a well-kept secret. And you have! So why should you go? Because sometimes, the best adventures happen when you stop rushing and start soaking it all in.

We spent 2 weeks on the island recently, and found it so hard to leave. An experience that every traveler to Siquijor can relate to! We’ve put together an extensive Siquijor travel guide, so look no further.

Siquijor Travel Guide

How to get to Siquijor?

There are multiple ways of getting to Siquijor; it all depends on the time you have and the methods you’re willing to use!

• The easy & quick way: flying in from Manila or Cebu. If you’re coming through either of those airports anyway, take a flight to Dumaguete, Negros. From there, you take a tricycle to the Dumaguete port and take a ferry from there. The ferry takes 40 minutes and goes plenty of times. No reservation needed.
• The cheap way: Chances are you will be coming from Moalboal, Cebu island. From Moalboal, there are buses to Bato. From the bus stand in Bato, you get a tricycle to Liloan Port. From there, you take the boat to Sibulan port in Negros. From Sibulan port, it’s another tricycle to Dumaguete port and from there, you take the ferry as above. This whole trip will take you around 8 hours, and this is what most people do. If it sounds complicated; no worries. It’s not, and all the locals will know where you’ll want to go and help you get to the next place.
• What we did: we didn’t feel like an 8 hour journey! We did take the bus from Moalboal to Bato (airconditioned) and from the Bato bus station, took a tricycle to SouthSeas Beach Resort. We stayed there for 3 nights to explore south end of Cebu, and then took the cargo boat that goes twice a week at 7am (or 2am!). This boat takes 3,5 hours, which made us land on Siquijor at around 11am. Perfect for us! Their most up-to-date sailing schedule is always on their facebook page. We bought the tickets the morning of, there is no need to reserve this one either.

What is the best place to stay on Siquijor?

While Siquijor is not huge, picking a location to stay is important. We stayed in three different places on the island, so got a good idea of the areas.

Our first couple of nights were in Enrique Villanueva. It is quiet here, not many restaurants or bars. The beaches are not super accessible, but it is a good base for exploring the north interior of the island. We stayed at Bangka Beach Guesthouse. Budget bamboo huts for cheap, but a pool and a resident dog!

Then it was time to move on to Lazi, in the south of the island. This was perfect for waterfall chasing and to explore the eastern tip of Siquijor, which has remote beaches. We loved our stay at the Siquijor Island Castle Resort. Brand spanking new, and the owners deserve the world, they are so kind! Also, it’s completely Filipino owned, which we liked a lot.

Finally, we moved on to San Juan. In our opinion, especially if you don’t have as much time as we did, this is the best area to base yourself. It’s the most vibrant part of the island with beautiful beaches and a nightlife. Here, we stayed at Apo Diver Beach Resort, which has a beautiful beach side pool and the best cocktail bar (with cutest bar owner ever) on the island: El Kabron.

Getting around on Siquijor

If you decide to stay in San Juan, you could decide not to rent a scooter and take tricycles. They are plentiful and cheap all around the island!

But to have freedom and flexibility, we always recommend renting a scooter. This should set you back between 300 and 400 pesos a day, but is well worth it if you want to go off the tourist routes. The roads are in good shape and driving is easy.

Driving license laws on Siquijor

Siquijor is one of those places where the police actively checks driver’s licenses. Supposedly. To rent a scooter from a shop, many will require that you have an actual motor license. Your car license won’t do. You can bypass this by renting at your accommodation.

All around the island, the police puts up roadblocks and will stop scooter drivers to check their license. So what does everyone do? The locals without a valid, or if at all, license, will literally wait around the corner for the police to pack up. Tourists either risk it, wait it out, or take another road if there is one.

We came across multiple blocks, and always chose the latter 2 options. The tourists that did risk it were mostly fine, but we did see one of two get pulled over. Know that the fine is 5000 pesos, and the roadblocks generally never last longer than an hour.

It’s quite funny to see what happens. The locals know it and the police know it. It’s a bit of a show. Always wear your helmet, this will cost you another sum! (And really, be safe people)

Things to do on Siquijor

The best beaches

Siquijor has so many beaches to lounge around at! Not all of them all readily accessible or clean, but there are some white sand bounty beaches!

• Little Boracay, a little further down from Paliton beach, was our most beautiful beach. Palmtrees, white sand and some vendor stands to buy drinks, but all very peaceful
• Paliton beach is Siquijor’s most known beach, and for good reason! It’s insta-gorgeous
• Coral Cay is the largest San Juan beach, and offers beautiful sunsets
• Salagdoong beach is known for its cliff jumping. You can enjoy the jumpers here from the sandy beach between the cliffs
• Monkey beach. There is a small sign by the road, where you will find (a) parking space for scooters. From there it is a 10 minute walk through the jungle, but you could drive your scooter also. From the end of the path it is a short climb down to a very secluded beach.
• Tubod beach. This is part of a marine sanctuary. Entrance is 100 pesos, but you get a beautiful beach with reef that is wonderful for snorkeling.

Beaches to avoid

Far be it from us to tell you what to do, but the below beaches have a climb down that’s not worth it, mostly due to trash everywhere in the surrounding jungle or beach.

• Umpas beach
• Secret beach
• Bunsuran beach
• Larena beach
• Talisay beach

Go go chasing waterfalls

Siquijor is known for its plenty waterfalls, and we do love waterfalls! Well, I do, the husband tags along. We dedicated a full day to visit a lot of them, when based in Lazi. This turned out to be perfect!

Cambugahay falls is the most famous, and the busiest waterfall on the island. If you come after 9, it is loaded with tour groups. For good reason, because the whole area is super pretty, but it can be a bit overwhelming as there is one track up and down. Come right at 8 and enjoy it in relative quiet and use the swings and take your platform selfies.

Kawasan Falls (not to be confused for the Cebu Kawasan falls) is closeby. A lot smaller than Cambugahay, but beautiful.

Kukulasa Falls, Locong Falls and La-gaan Falls are a lot quiter than the above 2 falls, and feel quite local. Worth a quick visit!

Lastly, Bolo Bolo cold pools are excellent for a dip. It’s mostly locals here who come and enjoy the waters.

Lugnason Falls, closer to San Juan was our favourite. Good height, beautiful pools at the top and a deep jump.

Know that most, if not all, falls require a trek down. You get to cool down in the water after, but it gets hot! Some falls send a mandatory guide with you for just a few pesos. Give them a tip if they stay to watch after your belongings. Always listen to the lifeguards! If they say you can’t jump or swing, don’t do it.

Island views

There are a couple of places to go to if you want a good view over the island. The first is the observation tower (here), which is pretty much right in the middle of the island. The tower rises up above the jungle and offers a 360 view! The road there is very doable, but go slow if it has rained as it becomes a bit slippery.

Bintangan Peak is further up north, not far from Kalumsan Falls. Reachable by scooter as well and gives you dramatic views over the north.

BuCafe is a very popular, insta-worthy hotspot. It’s beautifully located, has little hammocks and swings and a killer view. It’s not surprising this is a busy spot. But I’ll be honest; don’t come here for the food or the cocktails. Come up, take your photos and have a juice (or not) and enjoy the view!

📖 More Philippines’ island tips? Check out Bantayan!

Lazi church and convent

The church and adjoining convent are the most important historical landmark of Siquijor, and the convent itself is one of the biggest in the Philippines. They are beautiful buildings and, for good reason, the government is preparing to submit a request to be added to the UNESCO list.

The convent is not active as such, but operates as the Siquijor Heritage Museum, which goes deeper into exploring the region’s culture heritage and the role of the church.

Marelle’s seashell museum

If you’re slow travelers like us, you’ll have time for the quirky stuff! Give Marelle’s a try. It’s a restaurant as well as a seashell museum. A tiny one, but the exhibition room is stuffed full with shells, some pretty rare, and other treasures of the sea. The staff is super knowledgable and is super sweet.

If you eat at the restaurant entrance is free, otherwise there is a small fee.

The butterfly sanctuary

This small, backyard run sanctuary will only take 15 minutes of your time to explore, but it supports the owners preservation project. Here, he breeds around 12 butterfly species and every once in a while, releases them back into the wild.

If 100 pesos isn’t a lot for you and you love butterflies, it’s a nice way to support the community.

Secret Siquijor

Secret Siquijor is a cute little spa. They offer flower baths with a beautiful view, as well as massages. They will welcome you with flowers and healthy drinks, and it’s just the perfect quiet place to unwind at for a while!

Put ‘entrance secret siquijor’ in Google Maps to find your way there.

Things to know for a Siquijor island stay

• Power outages are frequent, and when the power goes out, ATM machines don’t work. Always have some on you as the Philippines are a cash-is-king country.
• Speaking of, there are plenty of ATM’s around the island!
• Looking for stable WiFi to work? Hit up Shaka Cafe or Janin’s Cafe. Though, we did not find the WiFi as unreliable as ‘everyone’ says. There are currently no co-working spaces on the island.
• Siquijor is a low-crime island. Still, always use common sense.

How to use the Pisonet

Speaking of the WiFi situation, once we discovered the Pisonet, we kinda fell in love. Pisoboxes, physical boxes that are connected to the Pisonet, provide internet to households and people in rural areas. These boxes, often illuminated by colored LED lights, can often by found by sari-sari stores, or just attached to houses or small business. If you see a covered bench occupied by a bunch of people on their phones, chances are they’re using the Piso WiFi.

How does it work?

• Open your phone’s setting and open the WiFi networks
• If there is a Pisobox nearby, the network will show up, with Piso added into the name
• Find the box (ask a local if you don’t immediately see it)
• Connect to the network on your phone
• It will prompt you to insert coins in the box
• Pay what you like (usually 2 to 5 pesos per hour)
• Click ‘paid’ on your phone and wait for it to connect
• You may have to close the settings screen en re-connect to the WiFi network.

This works without fail and is a great solution, we could not believe how well this worked. If we were at a remote restaurant or just anywhere and needed internet to look something up (we do not buy SIM cards), most of the time, where was a Pisobox around to connect to.

Siquijor’s black magic reputation

When we spoke with locals and told them our next destination was Siquijor, many of them told us they would never go there. Black magic and ‘voodoo’ had them spooked. While you could still find someone to cast a spell on someone for you if you really wanted to, nowadays, most sorcerers focus on healing practices.

Most healers are centered around Mount Badilaan, the holiest place on the island. They can perform mystic rituals and work with herbs and plants to soothe ailments. Every year in April, healers come together for a festival of healing, during which they brew traditional potions together.

Should you be invited or interested to go yourself, always be respectful and ask permission.

Favourite restaurants on Siquijor

• Hidden Valley Resto is without a doubt the best restaurant on the entire island. It’s dining with a view, and the Swiss owner’s Filipino wife, who was a professional chef for years, cooks up a storm!
• Dolce Amore cannot be missed here. You would never expect an authentic Italian restaurant on a tropical island, but here we are. Come before 5pm if you haven’t booked in advance to get a table. It shows up in every Siquijor travel guide, but it’s an island institution!
• NekNek Pinktastic Bistro; this place really is pinktastic, but the food is also really good and the owners just get it. Random fact: they have the cleanest restaurant bathroom we’ve ever seen in Asia!
• Ayans Local Food is worth the trek up north. Delicious local food, do try the banana blossoms! They also offer massages with prior appointment. No joke, that was the best massage we had in a long time, and we had just come from Thailand.
• Voodoo Restobar; a classy rooftop place with seriously good food.
• Twenty4 Restaurant & Burger Bar in Lazi have just opened up a second location, and for good reason. Great food at good prices. Owner Hans has a vision!

Siquijor Travel Guide: FAQ

You didn’t mention the Cantabon Cave or the underground river?!

That’s right! The reason for this is very simple; I am terrified of dark, enclosed spaces. Thus, a cave and underground stuff do not sound like fun to me at all. Plenty of stuff to be found about them online though, and it is supposed to be awesome, so go do it!

How many days do you need for Siquijor?

We recommend 4 days to properly explore the island and have some time to relax on the beaches.

What is the best time to travel to Siquijor?

Dry season runs from November until approximately beginning of May and is the best time to visit. There is not much rain, humidity is not yet at an all time high, and the evenings are pleasant.

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