Sights

Butterfly Sanctuary
One of the first places Cebu residents will take visiting relatives is the Butterfly Sanctuary, west of the downtown area. It's hardly a place you'd expect butterflies to hang around, but hang around they do - from branches and leaves all over the garden of Julian Jumalon's home. You will receive a lecture and tour showing you butterflies in various stages of their lifecycle, and butterfly collections and artworks made from damaged butterfly wings - even a presidential portrait!
off Macopa St, 3km W of Downtown
W of Cebu City
To get there, catch a jeepney from N Bacalso Ave, which turns into Cebu South Rd, and hop off at Macopa St (after the second pedestrian overpass). Walk up Macopa St, and take the first left after Basak Elementary School. The sanctuary is on the corner at the end of this street.
tel: 261 6884

Fort San Pedro
Built in 1565 by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, conqueror of the Philippines, Fort San Pedro has served as an army garrison, a rebel stronghold, a prison camp and the city zoo. These days, it's in retirement as a peaceful, walled garden and handsomely crumbling ruin. A perfect retreat from the chaos and madness of downtown Cebu, it also has public toilets.
Osmeña Blvd
Downtown

Taoist Temple
Perched high in the northern hills overlooking the city, the Taoist Temple is a symbol of the city's large and prosperous ethnic Chinese population. It's not one for temple aficionados; the architecture is functional and austere by Chinese standards. Nevertheless the trip here, past the gated mansions of exclusive Beverly Hills, is a good excuse to see how Cebu's wealthier citizens live, and the views over the city are noteworthy.
4km N of Cebu City
Beverly Hills

Basilica Minore del Santo Niño
This holiest of churches is a real survivor. Built in 1565 and burnt down three times, it was rebuilt in its present form in 1737. Perhaps it owes its incendiary past to the perennial bonfire of candles in its courtyard, stoked by an endless procession of pilgrims and other worshippers. The object of their veneration is a Flemish image of the infant Jesus, sequestered in a chapel to the left of the altar.
Osmeña Blvd
Downtown

Magellan's Cross
Magellan's cross? Wouldn't you be if you'd sailed all the way from Europe only to die in a soggy heap on the island of Mactan? Ferdinand's Catholic legacy, a large wooden cross, is housed in a stone rotunda (built in 1841) across from Cebu City Hall. The crucifix on show here apparently contains a few splinters from a cross Magellan planted on the shores of Cebu in 1521.
opposite Cebu City Hall
Downtown

Casa Gorordo Museum
Downtown, in a quiet residential area, the Casa Gorordo Museum is one of the hidden gems of Cebu City. Originally a private home, it was built in the 1850s and purchased by the Gorordos, one of Cebu's leading families. The lower part of the house has walls of Mactan coral stone. The stunning upper-storey living quarters are pure Philippine hardwood, held together not with nails but with wooden pegs.
35 L Jaena St
Downtown
tel: 255 5630