- Dumaguete and Tagbilaran

Dumaguete and Tagbilaran

The two cities are similar in many ways. Both are smaller cities. Dumaguete has about 134,000 residents; Tagbilaran has about 105,000. Both are provincial capitals, Dumaguete of Negros Oriental, and Tagbilaran of Bohol.

Both have many foreign expats living nearby. In Tagbilaran, many live on nearby Panglao Island. In Dumaguete many foreigners live in Valencia in the mountains or in Dauin or other towns nearby.

Both have a lot of tourist attractions nearby. Dumaguete has the mountains and waterfalls and Apo Island and Siquijor Island and Rizal Boulevard and many other attractions. Tagbilaran has the Chocolate Hills, tarsiers and nature preserves, river cruises, Panglao Island with Alona Beach and eight other beautiful beaches with white sand, coconut trees, and amazing clear water, and many other attractions.

The Island of Bohol
Tagbilaran is in the lower left, beside Panglao

And both have several malls and large shopping centers. Dumaguete has a large Robinson's and City Mall along with HyperMart and Lee’s Plaza. Tagbilaran has an even larger independent three story Island City Mall (commonly called ICM) and downtown Bohol Quality Mall (commonly known as BQ), the five story Alturas Mall, and the new Alta Citta Mall.

ICM - the largest mall in Tagbilaran

Neither city has very many taxis; Dumaguete has almost none. Both cities have many tricycles, but the tricycles in Dumaguete are bigger. Designed for four passengers, they sometimes hold six or seven, while the ones in Tagbilaran can barely hold three. Each of the several thousand tricycles in Tagbilaran has a different Bible verse painted on the back.

Typical tricycle in Tagbilaran

Both cities have jeepneys for transportation between barangays and communities, but Tagbilaran has more.

Neither city has stop signs or yield signs, but the traffic flow in Tagbilaran is significantly better, partly because there are actually a few traffic lights downtown. I would venture to say that the biggest problem with living in Dumaguete is the traffic congestion downtown. It is a nightmare all day long, especially at rush hour.

Dumaguete has beautiful resorts nearby for freshwater hot and cool swimming. It also has a few beaches, but they are not very attractive and are not developed the way Americans would expect. The nearest nice beaches are a few miles offshore in Siquijor Island.

Bohol also has nice freshwater swimming in resorts, but there are also a number of beautiful beaches conveniently located on Panglao Island easily reachable by car, tricycle, or taxi since it is connected to Tagbilaran City by bridges.

Panglao is just off the coast of Bohol Island
connected by two bridges

A secluded beach on Panglao

Dumaluan Beach on Panglao
(I haven't included any pictures of Alona Beach,
the most famous and most developed beach
on Panglao)

By the way, foreigners, whether they be Asian, European, Australian, or American, usually wear conventional swimwear for swimming whether at a beach or resort. On the other hand, most Filipinos just wear everyday clothes, perhaps shorts and a tee shirt, to swim.

J L Slides Resort in Tagbilaran

We live beside a major highway so it’s possible to catch a tricycle or a jeepney directly into town. Just stand out beside the road and wait for one to come by. It costs less than 10 pesos (20 cents) per person for a jeepney and 30 pesos or less for a tricycle. A jeepney follows a certain route so you have to know where it is going (it’s printed on the side of the jeepney), and get off somewhere on that route. A tricycle will take you wherever the driver agrees to take you. So you must talk before you board. We can also take the car, but the problem is finding a place to park downtown. Parking is almost always available at ICM, the biggest mall, since it is not downtown.

Sometimes we just like to get out, so we often take an excursion with the car. Bohol has nice roads so we can explore the countryside and smaller towns on our own.

Our New Home

Like in Dumaguete, we are living in a modern 3 bedroom 2 bath townhouse two or three kilometers from the middle of town paying a few thousand pesos per month less than we did in Dumaguete. It is a quiet neighborhood 50 meters from the highway.

We are thankful for our new home.