Between the mountains and the sea

The best of central Cebu

Caliah Homes sits in Balamban, the town at the center of Cebu where the highlands roll down to the Tañon Strait. It's a real, working town, not a resort strip: the public market and the mall are five minutes from our gate, the beach is ten, and the Transcentral Highway starts climbing just behind town. Mornings are cool enough for coffee on the balcony; evenings end with the sun dropping behind Negros island and Mt. Kanlaon across the water.

Balamban is also the shipbuilding capital of the Philippines — Tsuneishi builds ocean-going ships just up the road — which is why the town has proper roads, banks, pharmacies, and good places to eat. You'll share it with engineers on assignment, families on staycation, and travelers crossing the island. Cebu City is about an hour and a half away, the airport about three.

We keep two homes here, and comfort is the whole point: proper beds with fresh linens, cold AC and Wi-Fi in every room, hot showers, kitchens you can actually cook in, and a fridge in each apartelle room. The property is gated, with security cameras all around — the kind of place where you come and go without a second thought. The holiday house suits families and barkadas; the apartelle's four private rooms suit solo travelers, couples, and working guests.