Cebu City rewards travellers who skip the taxi and eat where the jeepney drivers eat. Three days of free churches and hilltop viewpoints, ₱15 puso rice, dawn fish markets and rides that cost eight pesos from end to end of the city.
The mother church of Cebu, rebuilt after WWII bombing but keeping its coral-stone facade and detached belfry. Entry is free, doors open 06:00-18:00 daily, and the shaded courtyard off Mabini Street costs nothing to sit in.
Cebu's oldest public square, laid out under the Spanish and shaded by huge acacias, with the Malacañang sa Sugbo pavilion on one side. Open 24 hours, no gate fee, and dozens of free benches facing the harbour breeze.
A hillside temple built in 1972 by Cebu's Chinese community: 81 steps, painted dragon gates and a terrace with an unbroken skyline view. Entry is free, open 08:00-17:00, and nobody charges for the photo spots.
The city's roundabout park wrapped around a 1912 fountain, free and lit all night, where locals walk laps after work and vendors sell buko juice for ₱15. In January the Sinulog stages go up here with no ticket booth.
The dried-fish market where Cebuanos stock up on danggit, pusit and chorizo de Cebu by the kilo. A 100g pack of danggit runs ₱80-120 and vendors hand out samples first. Busiest 06:00-10:00, winds down by 18:00.
Squat on a plastic stool and eat with your hands: ginabot, lumpia and longganisa piled on a shared tray with hanging puso rice, ₱10-20 a piece. Stalls open from dawn along Escario Street and ₱60 leaves you full.
The rawest seafood scene in the Visayas: tuna, blue crab and squid landed before dawn and sold by the kilo straight off the boats. A kilo of bangus goes for about ₱180, and nearby stalls will grill it for you for ₱50.
A Friday-to-Sunday night food market running 17:00-02:00 with sixty-plus stalls: grilled tuna panga, sisig, Korean corn dogs and halo-halo, most plates ₱80-150. Entry is free and the long tables are communal.
A Roman-styled mausoleum built in 2012 by businessman Teodorico Adarna for his late wife Leah, with 24 columns, brass lions and a ridge-top view of the whole city. Entry ₱120, open 06:00-23:00 every day.
A circular concrete viewing deck at 600m with the full arc of Cebu, the Mactan channel and the mountains behind. Entry ₱100 and the gate never closes, so the same ticket buys either a hazy noon or a city of lights.
Terraced beds of celosia, sunflowers and marigolds at 700m, grown for the Sinulog season and nicknamed Cebu's Little Amsterdam. Around ₱60 per garden, open 06:00-18:00; several neighbouring farms charge the same.
The Edge Coaster tilts you off the 38th floor on outward-leaning rails, and the Sky Walk sends you around the open ledge in a harness. Ride packages start near ₱250; the viewing deck on its own is about ₱150.