Balicasag Reef
Balicasag Reef
4
About
Suggest edits to improve what we show.
Improve this listing
Tours & experiences
Explore different ways to experience this place.
Top ways to experience Balicasag Reef
The area
Best nearby
We rank these restaurants and attractions by balancing reviews from our members with how close they are to this location.
Attractions
3 within 6 miles
See what other travelers are saying
  • Kuyarenneil
    1 contribution
    A must to do while in Bohol
    This is one of the best experience and the highlight of our vacation. We paid 3K php for our boat exclusive for my family of 3 teenagers and hubby. Then we paid 300 php each for environmental fee and for the small boats when you reach the Balicasag Island for swimming with the turtles and fishes. We left around 6 am. First they took us to see the dolphins. We saw a group of dolphins swimming so close to our boat. Then after about an hour they took us to Balicasag Island for the small boat tour looking and swimming with the turtles first. You can rent your snorkel mask and flippers for extra cost 150 php for mask and 150 php for flippers. These are optional. Then our guides took us to another spot to swim with the fishes. We brought with us slices of bread to feed the fishes so they would come near us. For additional fee of 1500 php we paid for a go pro with a videographer/photographer and an SD card to record all of the underwater activities. It’s so worth it. Then around lunchtime our boatman and captain took us to Virgin Island to have lunch. There you can eat your own food or you can also buy food from the floating restaurants/stalls. We had our own food but kids and hubby wanted hotdogs, pork barbecue, broiled sword fish and broiled sea urchins and soda and bottled water. I paid around 2K php and everyone was so full and everyone shared the food. We also had young coconuts for 100 php each. The coconut water was so sweet and refreshing. We were not able to see the sand bar in Virgin Island since it was high tide. Our guides informed us that it’s best to visit this island during the months of December to February when it’s low tide season. You can swim in Virgin island and take pictures but we opted not to do this since we can’t see the sandbar. Around 2pm we headed back to the mainland and went home happy about our trip.
    Visited July 2022
    Traveled with family
    Written July 26, 2022
  • sherwok
    Norwich, United Kingdom53 contributions
    Ask before you buy
    Wish I had read these reviews beforehand. We hired a private boat for the 3 of us to go island hopping and snorkelling. Boat cost was 2000 peso and took us to Balicasag island. Then we were asked for another 1000 for a guide and snorkelling. Which was not expecting so refused to pay due to feeling was being ripped off. There were others off the island snorkelling with Dive companies and we were told to dangerous. We walked around the beach and swam on our own. Then the boat took us back. If you decide to hire a boat to understand what's included and if there are any additional costs. We have taken many a boat trip in Europe and in Asia and never come across this before. Lesson learned to avoid being conned
    Visited February 2020
    Traveled with family
    Written February 19, 2020
  • Footprints158353
    Coimbra, Portugal6 contributions
    Wonderful day at Balicasag Island!
    Although the island is a bit crowded with boats, the general feeling is that the touristic providers try to keep the reef safe. It is totally worth to book a trip to see the corals and the fish, and the guides are very professional. After you can also enjoy a wonderfull meal in one of the restaurants. Really good food!
    Visited September 2022
    Written February 9, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
Popular mentions

4.0
449 reviews
Excellent
218
Very good
125
Average
60
Poor
18
Terrible
28

Theboy1980
Norwich, UK31 contributions
Mar 2019 • Family
Don't bother its a trap. Just want to rinse you out of as much money as they can. You get a boat from panglao offing snorkeling for around 2000 pasos. You get there on a really noisy boat take your ear plugs. And out of the bushes comes a guide demanding more money to take you snorkeling in a patch half the size of a football pitch. Then if you want to see the turtles pay more. It's a total tourist trap where the locals are trying to milk you for all they can. Avoid please.
Written February 26, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Bob Hutchison
6 contributions
Jan 2020 • Couples
The reef is being destroyed by total lack of care by the Philippino people in return for making a fast Peso off of the hoards of Chinese people coming to Philippines. This is suppose to be a Marine Sancutary and is not being treated as such. Driving boats over reefs throwing anchors in on top of the reefs to name just a few items. Most of the fish are gone except for small ones and not very much in variety. Once the reefs are ruined then they will wonder why no more tourist are coming.
Written February 8, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Benson C
Singapore677 contributions
Dec 2019
This was the second leg of our island hopping tour and we swam with the green sea turtles who use this as a marine sanctuary reserved by the Philippines government.

The turtle families here are huge and plentiful and also not afraid to interact with humans. We had a good time swimming alongside them.

One thing that could be made better is that the motor boats run very close to the marine sanctuary endangering both the swimmers and turtles with the propellers. The noise of the boats are pretty loud which can spook to the turtles however as the practice is not really regulated and the locals reliant on the money this brings, nothing much is done to regulate the visits.

What you can do as a tourist is to also educate the drivers of the boats on good practices as these people are not trained tour guides and marine experts.
Written January 1, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

JPManogura
Panglao Island, Philippines20 contributions
Feb 2022 • Family
This is one of the best islands here in bohol. Where you can go snorkeling or diving. This island is 40mins away from alona beach by boat. There are two sanctuaries that you can visit for snorkeling the marine sanctuary (corals and fishes) and sea turtles where mostly in shallow water. This is one of the best things to do if you are in bohol. It's fine to go to Balicasag Island at 9am after balicasag you can go to another island which is near called the virgin island(it's a sandbar) , like 15 mins away before you will come back to alona beach 🥰
Written January 15, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Biffro
London, UK1,165 contributions
Apr 2023 • Couples
We did two dives at this reef with Piratas Dive Centre in Bohol and it was a massive highlight. The reef is full of colourful and pretty pristine coral and diverse shoals of fish. We were so fortunate to have seen lots of turtle and a massive shoal of jack fish. The diving here was the best whilst in the Philippines and we were lucky to have had good visibility and calm water whilst here. A beautiful reef teeming with life and well worth coming to see.
Written May 5, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Andy G
Nottingham, UK23 contributions
A trip to Balicasag Island is a must while in Panglao but be aware the minute you step off the boat onto Balicasag everything is geared to extract as much money from you as possible. You will be told you have a table reserved for you where you will be given a menu of available food with no prices on it. Needless to say everything is overpriced. Then you will be given a card about hiring an underwater camera for 1000 peso! You can also hire "sea shoes" but you will find it cheaper to buy them from BQ Mall in Tagbilaran. Now its time to be lead to the slaughter like lambs...you will be introduced to your "guide" who will tell you the cost will be 200 peso per person which includes "entrance" fee (into the sea!) "municipal" fee (no official receipt!) plus the guide's fee for "guiding" you literally 3 minutes down the beach in a small paddle boat! I asked the guide why do I need a guide and he was unable to offer any credible reason. TAKE NOTE: you do NOT need a guide! Simply walk down the beach for 3 minutes, walk into the water, drop some bread in it and watch the fish come round your legs. Some people do try to underestimate your intelligence.
Written August 17, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Carrie G
60 contributions
Jan 2018 • Couples
I definitely do not recommend getting sucked into this tourist trap. It’s heartbreaking to see 1,000’s of Chinese tourists descend upon the reefs daily and kick all the coral with their shoes, feed the fish junk food and then throw the wrapper in the water, harass and touch the fish and get in their faces to take photos. I almost started crying into my snorkel mask it upset me so much.

There’s really no pleasure in the trip. We went from Alona beach and paid 600 pesos each (the starting rate is like 900-1000+ but you can get it cheaper if you haggle and I think we actually overpaid for our rate). They tell you to meet at 6am but you really don’t take off until almost 7. Then, it’s a looooong, slow boat trip on a loud boat with no muffler that hurts your eardrums. I mean, it’s deafening!! Think bombs away/ rock concert loud! For about 1 hour each way.

Once you’ve been deafened, you get told to sit at a table and wait, while people constantly harass you to buy overpriced food, drinks and trinkets. Then, you’re told to leave your bag unattended at the table while you go snorkeling. We told them we’d bring our things and leave them on the small snorkel boat and they reluctantly agreed.

Then, they try to charge you 100 pesos for fins you don’t need. Do you see a pattern? It’s pay pay pay, buy buy buy the entire trip. When it’s time to snorkel, you get 30 minutes of water time. After 2+ hours of travel time round trip. You go out on a small boat with a guy who sticks close and keeps time then paddles you back in.

As of January 2018, the reefs are awesome. Lots of fish and corals and variety, but I wonder how long this will be the case based on how poorly the reefs and tourists are treated. Stomping on the reef kills the coral, and no coral means no fish.

Oh and the dolphin watching is also deplorable. The boats all see the dolphins then they scream and charge towards them with their boats, recklessly about to chip up the dolphins with their motors.

The virgin island part of the tour is another tourist trap. You get there and there’s a bunch of locals haggling you to buy this, buy that for 5x the rate. For example, we bought banana Turon for 2 pesos on the side of the road but the lady wanted 20 on virgin island. The seafood they are selling is overpriced and who knows how old or fresh? There’s no refrigeration and guess what... they wash the dishes you eat off in the shallow sea water. It’s really gross.

Anyways, after taking this tour, I feel terrible bc I paid into these poor environmental practices, not knowing this is how it is. You decide if you want to feel this guilt and shame or skip it and go to another place. It doesn’t matter who you pay to take you there, all the tour operators on Alona Beach offer the same trip and terrible treatment. I’m including the guy’s info we bought our tour from so you can avoid him.
Written January 29, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

John K
5 contributions
Dec 2016 • Couples
The people on shore, don't ever talk to them. they are in the business of lying and scamming you. On shore one of the guys stated that for everything from snorkeling gear, to entrance fee, to seeing the turtles, and the reefs were a total of 1400 for 2 people. i said no then another guy said 1200, then another one lowered the price. to 900. we agreed to 900 pesos. he brought us to the boat captain and they spoke for about 3-4 minutes and then we went about on our journey.

Once we arrived and after paying 900 pesos for the turtles, environmental fee, snorkeling rental, the reefs, and the boat trip.

The captain said u need to pay for the environmental fee, snorkeling, the reefs, and the turtles. AGAIN!!!!

I was enraged and i said i paid for everything and he said that wasnt the agreement with me. it was just the boat trip.

I argued with him and i said on land we had an agreement. He said he doesnt know the guy that we had an agreement with but we had a video recording of him talking to him as if they are friends.

In the end the people on the island and the captain said we wouldnt be able to go to any of the sites or get any equipment unless we paid 1000 more pesos!

In the end we werent going anywhere so we talked our way down to 800 pesos.

I really hate being lied to. I absolutely hate it.
Written December 24, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Twan_Kersten
Singapore, Singapore82 contributions
Dec 2017 • Family
We were approached on the beach for a tour. Price for a private boat for 4 was 1800 peso. Then there was 250 pp for snorkeling with fishes and another 250 pp for snorkeling with turtles. We decided not to go “hunt” for dolphins and left after the crowds at 9am from Alona. The tour operator /canvasser Jun Jun Arbasto wanted payment of all fees at the beach in advance. So we paid 3800 peso. That was a mistake..... don’t pay anything but the boat fee in advance!
However as we got to the island we did not get a small boat to bring us to the turtle area. We had to swim against very strong currents and saw no turtles. Boat captain slept on boat and only when we complained said he would pick us up at a further spot. We then went to another area where there is a nice drop off. Luckily we saw a turtle there. This time we swam to the beach and walked back to avoid swimming against the current. The captain then tried not to go to Virgin Island asking us if we wanted to go back. Obviously the answer was no. He then said just 30 min as we arrived at the island. By this time we ignored him.... Hope you have a better time by learning from our mistake: don’t pay the additional fees in advance! And avoid the canvassers shown in these photos!
Written December 29, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

shemin61
Singapore, Singapore757 contributions
Oct 2015 • Couples
We had a day trip itinerary, hotel pickup by boat at 6am to watch dolphins, Balicasag island to snorkel with the turtles and marine reef, lunch, followed by virgin island then back to hotel. This package was 5000peso for 2 pax with a private boat (only my partner and I). It includes the lunch and all other entrance fees.

1) Dolphin watching is really dependent on your luck. There were at least 20 boats “chasing” after the dolphins. We managed to spot some dolphins and got it in video. Bring binoculars if it can help you see at least 50-100 metres away. We didn’t have any, but don’t expect the dolphins to do a big jump out of the water like what you see in movies. It’s really just a spilt second that you will see a fin and the body of the dolphin. Our friendly boatmen would try their best to race near a dolphin and tell you whenever they spot dolphins.

2) Balicasag island, we changed into our snorkeling gear and life vest and headed to the right side of the beach which is the turtle snorkeling area. You will board a small boat for 2 pax and the boatman will paddle out in the crystal clear waters for about 10 minutes before you get into the water. Once he spots a turtle, he will point out to you. He will swim and drag the boat along to find places where turtles congregate. Total we saw 5 big turtles, some were nesting and some were just swimming past us. Great experience! Too bad we don’t have underwater camera.

3) Then back on the boat, we headed to the left side of the beach. There was a marine reef. I skipped this part as I was feeling unwell since we set off in the morning and my partner went ahead. He described this place to be beautiful and you get to snorkel and see the reefs and marine fishes.

4) Then we had lunch. There were barbeque prawns, fish, chicken drumsticks, vegetables, rice and fruits. It was too much food for 2 pax, we asked our two boatmen to join us but they declined. Perhaps there are other boatmen around, thus they are not supposed to join guests to eat. We asked the stall owner to pack some of the food so that we can take away, but we passed it to our boatmen after we left balicasag island.

5) Then we headed to Virgin island, it is like a sandbar kind of place. It is a gorgeous place to take pictures. Refer to my review of Virgin island.

While my partner was away at the marine reef snorkeling. I had the chance to speak to our boatmen. He was really sincere & down to earth then I realized as the captain of the boat he is paid 200peso and co-captain 150peso for a day.

This gave me time to reflect why the boatmen are not drinking or eating from the time they pick us up at our hotel at 6am till 1pm lunch. Just to get the ratio of things, a 1 liter bottle drinking water is 40peso. It finally dawn on me how much the tour agency is earning minus the lunch package, petrol and entrance fees. We gave our boatmen a small tip. No, I’m not insisting this is a must, but it’s really up to individual.
Written November 13, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Showing results 1-10 of 263
Is this your Tripadvisor listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim your listing

Balicasag Reef (Balicasag Island) - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go

Frequently Asked Questions about Balicasag Reef

We recommend booking Balicasag Reef tours ahead of time to secure your spot. If you book with Tripadvisor, you can cancel up to 24 hours before your tour starts for a full refund. See all 5 Balicasag Reef tours on Tripadvisor

According to Tripadvisor travelers, these are the best ways to experience Balicasag Reef: See all Balicasag Reef experiences on Tripadvisor



Balicasag Reef Information

Excellent Reviews218
Very Good Reviews125
Balicasag Reef Photos540