Loboc River & Floating Restaurant

Bohol, Philippines Travel Guide

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Loboc River & Floating Restaurant

Overview: When in Bohol, do what the tourists do. Take a cruise and have lunch on a Floating Restaurant on the Loboc River. The Loboc River is also known as the Green River because of its algae tinted color. The cruise will take you from the rive bank near the Loboc Church to Busay Falls. The river is lined with overhanging, dense trees and foliage children often play in the water.

You have a couple of choices as far as boats go. There are the small bancas – small boat – which cost around P400 – P450.

The other and more fun option is taking the much larger, Floating Restaurant. It’s made up of a couple of bancas or pontoons with a large wooden platform on top, serving at the deck. A small boat in the back attaches to the floating restaurant and pushes it along the river.

It’s well worth the few dollars (and trouble getting to it if you are in a wheelchair) that’s charged for lunch and the cruise. Even though the cruises and floating restaurants are purely tourist attractions, you still feel a sense of authentic adventure. The boats are simply crafted, and the river, trees and experience in general make it feel like you’re in a Mark Twain novel.

The lunch is surprisingly ample and varied. Foodies would love it. Not knowing what to expect at the Loboc Floating Restaurant, the staff brought out two dishes, then two and three more until the entire table had a procession of exotic Filipino dishes and delicousies. Of the grilled entrees, my favorite was the smoked, barbequed fish surprisingly and I am not even a big fish eater. The variety of rice cakes and other desserts were tasty morsels as well.

There are day cruises and night cruises. If you are driven there as part of a day trip, you will be asked if you’d like to pay for the driver to have lunch.

Location: Loboc is located near the south end of Bohol and the river cruises and floating restaurants are near the Laoay Bridge and close to the Loboc Church. Talk to a driver at the Tagbilaran Port about the Loboc Floating Restaurant.

Cost: P350 for the meal, P500 for a cruise and meal

Accessibility: The Loboc Floating Restaurant itself is wheelchair accessible as the wooden platforms are flat. However, teaching the floating restaurant boats is very difficult. The route is definitely not wheelchair accessible with rugged steps and a small bridge to cross along a path to reach the boats. Then, there is the gap between the boat and land itself. You will definitely need a friend and/or help from the staff.

Steps: many

Getting There: Cab it