Chocolate Hills
Twelve hundred near-identical conical hills that all turn brown at the same time.
Duration
1 hr – 1 hr 30 min
Best time
At sunrise, February to May
Open
Every day
Entry price
To confirm
The Chocolate Hills are about twelve hundred limestone mounds spread over fifty square kilometres in central Bohol, thirty to a hundred and twenty metres high and nearly all the same conical shape. They are karst: old coral reefs uplifted then eaten out by rain.
They are grass-covered rather than wooded, so at the end of the dry season, between February and May, the grass scorches and the hills all turn brown at once — hence the name. The rest of the year they are green, and the photograph everyone knows does not exist.
Getting there
Main viewpoint at Carmen, in the centre of the island, fifty-five kilometres from Tagbilaran. An hour and a half by road or scooter.
What the price covers
viewpoint entry fee, rate to be checked on site
Rules on site
The Carmen viewpoint means a climb of two hundred and fourteen unshaded steps. A second viewpoint at Sagbayan is quieter but the view is more distant.
