Quad-biking through the Bohol Chocolate hills

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
7
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
2
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
8
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
6
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
2
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
9
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
75 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
101st/454
Top 30%
continent
Asia
country
Philippines
Length of time
1 day or less
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$90 ($50-$70 in 2016 prices)
Time of year visited
May
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Jungle Local villages Quad-biking
All Tags
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐

Summary

The Chocolate Hills are 1,776 grassy hills in the centre of Bohol Island that turn brown during the dry season, hence the name, and look a hell of a lot like the hills in Super Mario on the Super Nintendo.  They’re nice to look at, but you’ll probably be a bit bored of them after a look from the view point and quick wander around near them.  Instead, to make this more fun, and to go more towards that Super Mario vibe, ride around them in quad bikes with a guide – way more fun and transforms the experience.

 

Some tips:

 

  • Rent a taxi for the Chocolate Hills Loop – it’s easy to follow the Loop from Tagbilaran or Pangloa area.  To give yourself more independence, and to generally avoid the mass-tourism tours, rent a taxi and make your own way round
  • The Quad Biking – there will be people offering quad biking near the entrance to the Chocolate Hills main viewpoint.  Expect to be away for an hour or so
  • Make sure on the Chocolate Hills loop to visit the Tarsier Sanctuary where you can see the smallest, and very delicate, primates
  • Stay on Pangalao Island – Tagbilaran didn’t look too appealing.  We splurged a bit and stayed at the South Palms Resort, which was great and would recommend
  • If staying on Panglao Island, make sure to do some diving or snorkelling at Balicasag Island, just 6km to the west of Pangalao.  Some gorgeous tropical reefs there and more info in this post Diving off Balicasag Island
  • Getting to Bohol from Cebu City is relatively straightforward, but its not a bad idea to ask your hotel / hostel to help you with getting the ferry tickets you want

Highlights

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#1 The quad-biking itself, great fun

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#2 The view across the 1,776 Chocolate Hills from the lookout point

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#3 Getting the chance to zip through some of the nearby villages and generally get out into the tracks

Experiences nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

Other Local Villages Experiences

Sailing the Komodo Islands in November
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Hiking and zip-lining in the Colca Canyon
⭐⭐⭐

Hiking the Lost City Trek
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Exploring Northern Burma by boat and train from Myitkyina to Mandalay
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Hiking Hadrian’s Wall
⭐⭐

Hanging out with the Masai in the Masai Mara
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Hiking up to the former utopia of Livingstonia from Lake Malawi
⭐⭐

Wine tasting around Pinhao in the Duoro Valley
⭐⭐⭐

Sapa – taking a motorbike around the mountain scenery and hilltop villages
⭐⭐⭐

Boat trips, beaches and exploring the caves around Havar Island
⭐⭐⭐

Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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