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Bohol Province
Balicasag Island
Places to visit in Balicasag Island
Balicasag Reef
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Balicasag Reef

See all things to do
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Balicasag Reef
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The area
Best nearby
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Attractions
3 within 10 kms
Virgin Island
1,131
Islands
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28
Islands
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See what travellers are saying
  • JPManogura
    Panglao Island, Philippines20 contributions
    Balicasag Island 🥰
    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 🥰
    Visited February 2022
    Travelled with family
    Written 14 January 2023
  • 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 9 February 2023
  • Biffro
    London, United Kingdom1,165 contributions
    Beautiful reef teeming with life
    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.
    Visited April 2023
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 5 May 2023
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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
Biffro
London, UK1,165 contributions
Beautiful reef teeming with life
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 5 May 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.
Footprints158353
Coimbra, Portugal6 contributions
Wonderful day at Balicasag Island!
Sep 2022
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!
Written 9 February 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.
JPManogura
Panglao Island, Philippines20 contributions
Balicasag Island 🥰
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 15 January 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.
Kuyarenneil
1 contribution
A must to do while in Bohol
Jul 2022 • Family
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.
Written 26 July 2022
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.
Theboy1980
Norwich, UK31 contributions
Tourist trap
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 26 February 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.
Edwin Tee
Quezon City, Philippines114 contributions
Fish Sanctuary and Pawikan
Feb 2020
Nice place to experience feeding the fishes. Various colorful fishes will come to you. Both big and small fishes will approach you. Get also to see the pawikan or giant turtles. We were lucky to see 3 today. One of the 3 surface to catch a breath.
Written 24 February 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.
sherwok
Norwich, UK53 contributions
Ask before you buy
Feb 2020 • Family
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
Written 20 February 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
Very Disappointing
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 8 February 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.
Kiril G
4 contributions
Balicasag Snorkeling and turtle
Jan 2020 • Friends
Balicasag reef is wonderful place for snorkeling,one of the best I have seen.On Pamilacan you can take a boat to Balicasag it's not expensive if you are a group of people we were 7 people and pay 610php per person.The people from the boat will say you that you need to pay 250php for snorkeling or watching turtles but you don't.On south-east side of the island are the turtles.On north west is snorkeling in front of the Balicasag island Diving Resort.The beach is not good for staying but in the water is like heaven.
Written 4 January 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
Singapore679 contributions
Marine Sanctuary for Green Sea Turtles
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 1 January 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.
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Balicasag Reef (Balicasag Island) - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos) - Tripadvisor

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