Siargao and Bohol are the two islands most often paired on a Visayas-and-Mindanao itinerary, and for good reason. One is Cloud 9, the boardwalk and a surf culture that has outgrown its town; the other is Balicasag's wall, the Chocolate Hills and the calm water off Alona. They are also, as the crow flies, a little over an hour apart across the Bohol Sea. What they do not share is an airline. Sayak Airport on Siargao is served from Cebu, Manila and Clark; Bohol-Panglao International is served from Manila, Clark and abroad. No scheduled flight links them, and no ferry does either.
The scheduled routings
The usual answer is Cebu. Siargao to Mactan is about an hour on Cebu Pacific or Philippine Airlines, then a taxi across the bridge to the Cebu City pier, a two-hour fast ferry to Tagbilaran, and half an hour by road to Panglao. Each of the four segments has its own timetable and its own queue, and the whole thing reliably takes most of a day. Because there is no scheduled Cebu–Panglao flight, the ferry is not optional; the airport on Panglao does you no good if you arrive in Cebu.
The other answer is Manila: Siargao to NAIA (about two and a half hours), a connection, and Manila to Panglao (about an hour and twenty). That is seven to nine hours door to door and more than 1,300 kilometres of flying to cover a direct line of 250. It is reliable and bookable months out, and it is what most people do because nobody has told them there is a third option.
The direct flight
A chartered Cessna 172 flies the straight line: off Sayak's runway, south-west across the Surigao Strait and the Bohol Sea, and onto Panglao about 80 minutes later. It lands at the same international airport the Manila flights use, 15 to 20 minutes from Alona Beach. The price is for the whole aircraft, three seats, in both directions:
IAO TAG
Cessna 172 · up to 3 passengers · 54 kg luggage
Whole aircraft
₱120,000
$2,000
TAG IAO
Cessna 172 · up to 3 passengers · 54 kg luggage
Whole aircraft
₱120,000
$2,000
A booking is a request: choose the date, time and passenger count, the operator confirms availability, and only then does a payment link follow. Nothing is charged before confirmation. Against the Cebu routing the comparison for three people is one whole-aircraft price versus three airfares, three ferry tickets, taxis at both ends and a day; against Manila it is two fares each and a longer day still. The arithmetic is the same one worked through for Palawan to Bohol, on a shorter and cheaper leg.
Surf season, and the Cebu leg
From September to November the swell arrives at Cloud 9, the Siargao International Surfing Cup fills General Luna, and the scheduled seats from Cebu sell out weeks ahead or get cancelled when the weather closes in. That is the other time a private aircraft earns its keep on this island: Cebu to Siargao is priced on this site too, about 70 minutes in the air, and it is the difference between a surf trip that happens and one that waits for a seat.
CEB IAO
Cessna 172 · up to 3 passengers · 54 kg luggage
Whole aircraft
₱84,000
$1,400
The full Cebu network is listed with times and prices in the Cebu charter hub guide. Surfboards are the one thing to raise at booking: a shortboard fits some light aircraft with a seat down, a longboard generally needs a larger type, and the operator will tell you which.
Side by side
| Mode | Time | Cost basis | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airline via Cebu + ferry | Most of a day | One fare plus ferry and taxis | Siargao to Mactan, taxi to Cebu pier, two-hour fast ferry to Tagbilaran, road to Panglao. |
| Airline via Manila | 7–9 hours | Two fares, per seat | Siargao to NAIA, connection, Manila to Panglao. Flies more than 1,300 km to cover 250. |
| Private flight (Avian) | About 80 minutes | Per aircraft, live above | Any date, your departure time. Lands on Panglao, 15–20 minutes from Alona. |
| Ferry | — | — | No passenger service between Siargao and Bohol. |
Airline times are typical and depend on the connection; private-aircraft times are typical block times for light aircraft, confirmed at booking.
Bohol as the next stop, not the last
Panglao is the best-placed airport in the central Visayas for going on somewhere else: Cebu is 25 minutes away, Siquijor and Camiguin are each a short hop further round the arc, and all of them are priced. A Siargao trip that lands on Panglao can therefore be the first leg of the five-island Visayas circuit, with the longest crossing done first and every hop after it under an hour. And before you price any of it, check the empty-legs board: Cebu-based aircraft that deliver surfers to Siargao reposition home with empty seats, and one of those on the right date is a fraction of the charter price.