Day trip to Maravilla beach in Tabuelan, Cebu

When I started having the "travel itch", I promised myself that I will be exploring Cebu first. I've been to numerous places—historical landmarks, mountains, man-made attractions—here in Cebu but nothing beats the satisfaction I get spending a day at the beach. There's no doubt that Cebu has many beautiful beaches and assuming that you know I'm a beach person, I think I just might update my "Cebu Bucket List" to a more specific one like "Cebu Beach Bucket List". That doesn't sound right but, whatever. I know you get it. Haha. I've been to a lot of beaches here already but I still have a lot more to explore. And last month, I finally had another beach resort ticked off my bucket list: Maravilla Beach Resort in Tabuelan, Cebu.




I have my cousin for a beach buddy and when I texted her where she's going on Independence Day, she said she's going to Maravilla Beach with her friends. I invited myself to go with them but in the end, it was only the two of us who went. Haha.

At the North Bus Terminal, we took a non-aircon bus going to Tuburan. We told the bus conductor to drop us off at Tabuelan and paid Php 117 each. Travel time took around 3 hours. We were dropped off at Tabuelan Terminal and from there, we took a habal-habal going to Maravilla Beach Resort and paid Php 50 each. While on our way, the habal-habal driver asked where we're going and we just told him that we want to go the beach resort where the famous wooden Maravilla sign is. Kuya driver said we have two options: to stay at a private resort where our belongings will be safe or to stay at the public resort where safety is a huge concern. Of course, we opted for the first one.



He took us to 3M Rental Station and thanked Kuya for the suggestion. We rented a table and two chairs for Php 350. The staff at the rental station also waived the fees for toilet use since we're only staying for a few hours. We settled our things, touched up, and went for the photoshoot. Haha. Before we left our table, we left our important things at the station's sari-sari store for safekeeping. This is what Kuya driver told us when he suggested the place since we wouldn't have this "benefit" if we went to the public beach. So thank you again, Kuya!



So we strolled along the shore and then we found the famous wooden sign! Haha! We just had this silly thought that our trip to Maravilla wouldn't be complete without actually seeing the sign. So hurray, we did it!



We brought our own food and drinks to make sure we had something to eat. The blogs I read said you can buy at the public market (same location where the bus terminal is) but if you want to avoid the hassle of looking around for food, bring your own instead.



The tide was really really low that time so I suggest you check the tide times first before heading to Maravilla so you can enjoy the beach more. Around 2:30PM we left the resort, hailed a habal-habal, and went back to the bus terminal. Luckily, a bus bound for Cebu City was already there. We hopped on the bus and went home.



Maravilla Beach is nice but don't expect too much especially with the overly edited photos you can see online. My cousin and I unanimously agreed that we won't be coming back there anytime sooner. We'd much rather go to the white sand beaches in Badian or Moalboal.

Posted in Travel Guides