Bohol

Over twelve hundred cones left behind as the limestone wore away. The full spread only opens up after 214 steps to the Carmen deck, and the name comes from the dry season, when the grass browns off; in the green months it reads wrong.

A nocturnal primate that fits in a palm, so by day it clings to a branch and sleeps. At the Corella sanctuary there is no touching and no flash, and a guide points out which tree holds one. Roadside places that put one in your hand are not sanctuaries.

Tables are set on a raft and lunch is eaten while it works upstream and returns. Partway along a village stage sings to a guitar and the raft ties up for ten minutes. Lunch is one fixed buffet, so nothing is chosen.

Built in 1727 from cut coral stone, with lime mortar said to have been mixed with egg white. The 2013 earthquake brought down the bell tower and the front, both since rebuilt, and the museum beside it shows photographs from before alongside the broken pieces.

Sand stretches 1.5km along southern Panglao, lined with dive shops, and every Balicasag boat leaves from here. The strip is narrow enough that high tide takes the walking room, and in the evening the stalls set tables on the sand itself.

Forty minutes by boat from Panglao, ringed by a reef that drops away like a wall. The jackfish shoal and the turtles grazing sit at separate spots, so the boat puts you in twice, and a snorkel is enough for the turtles.

Light drops through a hole in the roof onto the pool inside. Swimming is allowed but the water is still, slippery and a little sour, and the stairs are narrow enough that a crowd moves in single file. Torches are lent at the entrance.

The name means smoke and comes from the spray thrown up at the base. Steps down from Antequera reach a fall split in two with a pool you can swim in, though after rain the water muddies and it sometimes closes.

Two kilometres of planted mahogany whose branches close over the road and keep it dark at midday. Planting began in the 1950s, and the criticism since is that one exotic species makes thin ecology. Parking is scarce, so cars pull over briefly.

A triangular tower raised in 1796 to watch for raiders. The stair to the upper floor is narrow with no rail, so people climb singly, and low tide dries the coral floor in front enough to walk on. It stands on the point at Maribojoc.

A bronze group recalling 1565, when the Spaniard Legazpi and the Bohol chieftain Sikatuna drank wine mixed with their blood to seal a friendship. It stands by the seaside highway south of Tagbilaran, a quick stop between Panglao and town.

A long beach on Panglao's south shore, east of Alona. Its sand is soft and crowds are thin, and at the ebb the shallows lie bare far out. Those avoiding Alona's bar strip stay over here.

Boats leave Panglao at dawn to look for dolphins swimming in pods offshore, then stop at Pamilacan Island to snorkel. Islanders there once hunted whales and manta rays; now guiding visitors to watch them pays the bills.

A crescent sandbar a short boat hop off Panglao that surfaces only at low tide. Island-hopping boats call on the way back from Balicasag, and small craft wait around it selling sea urchin and coconuts. At high tide it all but disappears.

A viewpoint park on a hill north of the Chocolate Hills, looking over the rows of domes from a different side than Carmen does. Fewer people come here than to the main Carmen deck, and its gardens and rides pull in families.

A coral stone church just over the bridge onto Panglao, with a well beneath the altar. Though the sea is steps away, the well water is fresh, so the faithful treat it as miraculous and bottle it. Look up, too, at the painted ceiling.

A coral stone church on the Loboc River whose facade and tower partly fell in the 2013 Bohol earthquake; restored, it reopened in 2021. Its 4-storey belfry is detached, standing by the riverbank. The cruise landing is close, so people visit before or after.

An organic farm and restaurant on a seaside bluff in Dauis. Salads come from its own beds and flowers, and the ice cream runs to malunggay and ube flavours. A shop sells honey and handwoven bags, handy for gifts.

Two swaying footbridges decked in woven bamboo over the Sipatan River, one for crossing and one for coming back. The deck bounces with each step and the water shows through the gaps. Tours heading for the Chocolate Hills pull over here.

A forest waterfall in Candijay, counted as the tallest in Bohol. The path down passes the Cadapdapan rice terraces. It lies at the island's eastern end, a long drive from Panglao, so most pair it with the beaches of Anda.

A white-sand beach in Anda at Bohol's eastern tip, with fewer resorts than Panglao and far less noise. Several cave pools of clear water hide among the nearby cliffs. It faces east, so sunrise is the show here.