Bohol | Loboc and Loay River Cruise and Floating Restaurant

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The Loboc River Cruise and Floating Restaurant is one of the unique experiences offered in Bohol. The dock is located in Loboc town proper which is an hour ride from Tagbilaran City by public transport and around 45 minutes by private transportation. A visit to Loboc is always included in Bohol's countryside tours but the actual floating restaurant that you hop on to depends on which one your tour guide/travel agent brings you to. If you know a specific floating restaurant that you want to visit, you can request your tour guide/travel agent to bring you there.

The one that we have visited is Rio Verde Floating Resto which is not located in Loboc but in the adjacent town of Loay. But even if the floating restaurant is in Loay, tourists still call it Loboc Floating Restaurant since that's what it has been called for years. Some of the tour guides say that Loay is actually better in terms of food offerings and is less crowded than Loboc. But of course, you have to see and experience it for yourself. The two other famous floating restaurants, both located in Loboc, are  Village Floating Resto & Cruises and Loboc Riverwatch Floating Resto.

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One of the river cruises of Rio Verde Floating Resto in Loay (Photo © iHeartPH 2017)

You have the option to do a full countryside tour with the Chocolate Hills and all other major tourist destinations in Bohol or you can choose to only go to Loboc Floating Restaurant. Here are some of the ways to arrange for this tour:
  • Arrange with your hotel. You can approach the receptionist in your hotel and ask if they are able to arrange a countryside tour for you. Most hotels should be able to do so.
  • Contact a travel agency. If the price being charged by your hotel is out of your budget, you can contact an independent travel agency directly instead. There are several agencies around Tagbilaran City or Panglao Island. You can also join and check out the travel companies in DIY Travel Philippines Facebook Page.
  • Contact a van driver or tour guide. If this is what you prefer, I highly recommend Kuya John. He is a van driver slash tour guide (but more of a van driver really) who can take you around Bohol. His number is (+63) 916 176 5683.
  • Reserve via Klook. If there is only 1 or 2 of you in this trip, it would be cheaper if you book through Klook. You have 2 options with Klook. First option is to book only the cruise with no hotel transfer, which is the cheapest option at only P620. This is actually P30 cheaper than if you will book directly at the cruise/floating restaurant. Second option is a cruise reservation with private transfer and price depends on the number of travelers. If you would like this arrangement, you can visit Klook here: Loboc River Cruise in Bohol
  • Do-It-Yourself. If you would like to go by public transport, you can go to Dao Integrated Bus Terminal from any point in Bohol and look for van/bus/jeepney that can take you to Loboc or Loay town proper, whichever you prefer. Ask the driver to drop you off near the entrance of the dock of the floating restaurants and should be a few minutes walk.


Once you get to the dock, you can enter the establishment and take pictures of the river and the floating restaurants. You have the option to just sightsee at the dock but you will be missing a lot if you don't take the trip down the river. The whole trip takes about an hour. I have a poor sense of time so it might have been more, might have been less. LOL! All I could remember was it took me the whole trip to finish my meal and I do eat very slowly, which my mother was not very happy about ever since I was a kid. 

If you are taking the full countryside tour, it would be ideal to arrange your schedule and make sure that you arrive in Loboc or Loay for lunch. If you arrive at exactly 12:00 noon, expect the place to be crowded. If you had late breakfast or don't mind pushing your lunch to a later time in the afternoon, you should be able to skip the crowd and enjoy the scenery with less tourists. Make sure to tell and agree with your tour guide or driver your desired schedule.

If you prefer to have lunch somewhere else, that should be up to you but I don't think tourists are allowed to ride the floating restaurant without paying for the buffet.


The costs and the inclusions of the buffet are in the photos below. However, the photos I have here were taken during our trip in 2017. As of February 2020, the price of the high-end buffet is P750 per person and the regular buffet is P650 per person. The difference between the regular and the high-end meal from what I could remember was the lechon kawali and a few more dishes which the regular buffet did not have. For example, for the soup, you will be served corn soup with the regular meal but for the high-end buffet, you'll have tinolang manok. The type of boat also differs between the high-end and the regular buffet. The photos below are obviously outdated so if you would like to inquire, feel free to contact Rio Verde Floating Resto directly:



Personally, there was nothing special about the food. If they had nothing else to offer except food, I would rather eat in Bohol Bee Farm or Lantaw. But cruising along the river is something that you shouldn't miss. The view is spectacular - the turquoise-colored river slowly running downstream (or wherever it may be going) against a backdrop of green trees and blue sky, which looks just like a desktop wallpaper. All floating restaurants also provide their own live music onboard with very entertaining Boholano musicians. Sometimes, the musicians/entertainers would even hold open mics and invite guests to sing on stage. And this is something that I've always been proud of as a Boholana -- a lot of people from Bohol love to sing and they do so very well.


The boat will also pass by a tribal village of Aestas. The guests are given 15 minutes to stay and take photos with the tribesmen and tribeswomen. Couldn't go down because I was still eating but I took some photos from the boat.
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