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Cebu does not have any subway, rail system or monorail, but there are still plenty of ways of getting around. The most common form of inner-city transport, the jeepney, is covered in a special feature, The Jeeps of Cebu, and driving your own car is covered under Driving in Life in Cebu.
By default, the term "rent-a-car" refers to chauffeur-driven cars, although "self-drive" cars are available. Buses and V-hires ply the routes from Cebu City to provincial destinations within Cebu Island.
Then there is the matter of getting off the island and travelling to other parts of the country. Thanks to its extensive transportation links, Cebu is, in fact, the ideal hub for exploring the Philippines.
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Cebuanos don't walk. If they can afford it, they'll drive, even for very short distances - such as 50 feet - and if they can't, they'll take a tricycle or trisikad. I suppose this is because the tropical sunshine beats down relentlessly and walking can become an ordeal.
If you do insist on walking, watch your step. Even in the rare cases where they do exist, sidewalks are badly maintained. If the Philippine legal system were the same as that of the US, lawyers would be having a field day.
The other thing to be aware of when walking is that pedestrians have no rights whatsoever. Any form of wheeled transport has precedence over you, and you must scramble out of the way, even if you are already half-way across the street and the approaching car started pulling out of a parking space after you started crossing the street.
The kinder drivers will honk at you madly, warning you of their approach, if you are silly enough to stray into their path. In the rare instances where pedestrian lights do exist, be extra careful when crossing the street when the light is green, because drivers have learned that this is a good time for running over many pedestrians at once.
Pedestrian crossings do exist, but it seems that their only function is to double the score drivers get if they run over someone. On the very rare occasions that a vehicle will actually stop at a zebra crossing - driven by a foreigner fresh off the boat, most probably - the pedestrians will eye the car suspiciously and patiently wait for it to get going again.
Lastly, note that, even if you are meekly slinking along the edge of the road, you will still be honked at incessantly - concerned drivers of jeeps and taxis will try to get your attention, even slowing right down to a crawl, hoping to save you from your strange experiment in perambulation.
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TRICYCLES AWAIT CUSTOMERS IN THE RAIN
 GETTING TO CEBU
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Here's a quick note about getting to Cebu from your part of the world. Try to avoid flying in via Manila, which is Hell on Earth. There are direct flights to Mactan International Airport from numerous international destinations. In most cases, the most pleasant, hassle-free, quickest, cheapest, and easiest way of getting to Cebu is to fly in via Singapore or Hong Kong. Both airports are relatively pleasant places to while away the time between flights, and there are daily connections from both cities to Cebu.
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ONLINE GUIDES
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