Is the Chocolate Hills Worth Visiting? This is my Bohol Experience.

When I was planning to visit Bohol, I didn't really know where to go. Since the pier was located in Tagbilaran, that was where I decided to stay. When I checked how far away the tourist attractions were from Tagbilaran, I said to myself that I probably would just stay within the city.

So I surprised myself when I decided to go to Carmen, where the Chocolate Hills viewing deck was located.

When I went to Cebu City last year, my Cebuana friend was disappointed because I did not visit the popular attractions that tourists visit. I told her that I was already happy with visiting Magellan's Cross.

When I was in elementary school, Magellan's Cross was one of the tourist sites that I would often see in my books at school. I remember feeling like a loser whenever summer vacation would be over and my friends would tell stories about visiting the places we saw in books.

I also find myself gravitating towards museums and old churches whenever I visit a place for tourism and not the usual spots that appeal to most people.

When she found out I was going to the Chocolate Hills, my friend said it was nothing special, but I still made it a point to visit the place because it was one of those places in my books at school.

The primary reason I visited Bohol was because I wanted to connect with my maternal ancestors. I recently traced my family tree and found out that my maternal grandmother's parents were from this island.

Upon arriving at the pier in Tagbilaran from Dumaguete, I already knew that it was more economically advanced. Panglao was visible from the pier.

Even though it is not in the same category as Cebu, Tagbilaran has a big mall and even call centers!

The place I stayed at was great. It was only two kilometers away from the pier and less than a kilometer away from the bus terminal.

As soon as I got there, I visited all the historic places in the downtown area including the museum and the church.

There was conflicting information when I was doing my research, but I was able to get a bus going to Carmen from the Dao Bus Terminal. The fare was a little more than 100 pesos.

On the road going to Carmen, we passed by a lot of historic structures as well as the usual tourist attractions you hear about in Bohol.

Upon arriving at the man-made forest, the temperature dropped. It makes you wonder why they don't market this place like Tagaytay.

Maybe it was because I had very low expectations, but the Chocolate Hills took my breath away. I mean, the photos and videos you see simply do not capture their beauty.

Do you remember the music in the Wow Philippines tourism campaign videos? That's what comes to mind whenever I see these photos I took of the Chocolate Hills.

Visiting the Chocolate Hills became the highlight of my Bohol trip.

There are other viewing points aside from the one I went to. In fact, I thought that I had to take a motorcycle ride to the top, which online, it said was 100 pesos. In the end, I paid a 100-peso entrance fee, which already included a van going to the top.

You should have seen the restroom at this place. It was air-conditioned! Meanwhile, there could have been an air-conditioned rest area for tourists, but this was a government operation, so it figured!

If you are visiting the Chocolate Hills and travelling by bus, you can also visit the Loboc River Cruise and the Manmade forest because these are found along the route to the Chocolate Hills.

The next place I decided to visit was Panglao. Yes, I got budoled by the foreigner travel vloggers who go to this place. Perhaps it was because I had very high expectations, but I was not impressed by Alona Beach. Maybe it was better at the other beaches in Panglao that had high entrance fees. This was a public beach, so maybe it's already good, all things considered.

I was however, impressed with these palm trees.

Panglao was also accessible via public transportation from the Dao Bus Terminal.