Private flights to Panglao, Bohol

Panglao is Bohol's beach island, joined to the mainland by two short bridges, and its airport is one of the newest in the country, built right on the island a quarter of an hour from Alona Beach. The Chocolate Hills, the tarsier sanctuary and the Loboc river are a day trip inland. What the airport does not have is a scheduled link to the places most travellers pair it with: no airline flies from Cebu, from Siargao or from anywhere in Palawan.

That is exactly where the priced legs on this site go. From Mactan a light aircraft takes about 25 minutes, against a taxi to the pier, two hours on the fast ferry and a road transfer. From Siargao it is about 80 minutes for a straight line no airline or ferry covers. From El Nido and Puerto Princesa it is roughly two hours across the Sulu Sea, on a five-seat Stationair, instead of a full day connecting through Manila.

Every price is for the whole aircraft, live in pesos and dollars, and a booking is a request the operator confirms, usually within hours, with nothing charged until they do. Dive gear and luggage fly in the cabin with you, and a private arrival means walking from the aircraft to a waiting van rather than joining the terminal queue.

Why fly to Panglao

The case for flying to Panglao is the itinerary. Bohol sits in the middle of the islands people most want to combine, El Nido and Coron to the west, Siargao to the east, Siquijor and Camiguin to the south, and every one of those combinations is a connection through Manila or Cebu by airline. A direct charter turns a lost travel day into a morning, and split across a group of four or five the per-person premium shrinks quickly.

The case for the ferry is the Cebu leg for a solo traveller or a couple on a budget: it is a well-run crossing and costs a fraction of an aircraft. For Palawan and Siargao there is no ferry at all, so the real choice is a charter or a day through Manila, and it is worth checking the empty legs page before deciding.