It was seven in the evening. While some kids were having dinner at home, our son Akira was busy swimming and playing with his newfound friend at the beach. Though there was a language barrier, they had fun playing. For almost two hours, the fine, white sands of Quinale Beach in Anda, Bohol became their playground, and nobody seemed to get tired.
I like this kind of life. I wish we could stay at the beach every day.
It was in June of 2024, the start of my annual school break, when our backpacking trip commenced. We spent 22 days in Central Visayas, going around Bohol, Siquijor, Dumaguete, and Cebu. We then flew to Japan and spent 11 days in Takayama, Furukawa, and Nagoya. These were the months leading to our son’s first time to attend a formal school, so we called this trip #PreKinderTrip2024.
Christian and I went to Anda in 2014 for the first time. It was a media trip where we went around Bohol with some travel blogger friends. During this trip, we got a glimpse of the beautiful sands of Quinale. Sadly, we were there for just a few hours, so I told myself that I would come back here again.
Ten years later, we went back to Anda as a married couple with a four-year-old son in tow. The beach was the same as I remembered it to be—almost deserted, clean, powdery, fine, and blindingly white.
How to get there
Coming from Manila, we took a 37-hour 2GO Travel passenger ship to Tagbilaran, Bohol. From there, we took a tricycle that brought us to Dao Bus Terminal (₱100 for the three of us).
We then took a non-air conditioned bus to the town of Anda and paid ₱185 each. It took almost three hours to reach Anda. We paid the mandatory ₱30 (per head) environmental fee imposed by the town, before going straight to our accommodation on foot.
Where to Stay
There are several accommodation choices in Anda but we specifically wanted to stay at a beachfront resort along Quinale Beach, and on a weekday, so that the resorts weren’t as busy. After checking Google Maps and inquiring about rates, we finally chose to stay at Anda de Boracay Beach Resort for its beachfront location and proximity to the town center and bus stop.
We paid ₱1,000 per night for our room, where we enjoyed a great view of the beach from our terrace. The room was simple, with a double-size bed, air conditioning, and a private toilet and shower.
The resort also offers beachfront cottages for daytrippers. They have a pool, videoke machine, mini store, and restaurant.
Where to Eat
We ate at the nearby eateries, restaurants, and bakeries during our four-day stay. For ₱100, you can enjoy a decent rice meal from the eateries at the public market.
Going Around
Our usual day routine would be having our breakfast of local bread with coffee on one of the cottages along the shore. We were always in awe of the clear turquoise water and blue sky. Waking up with this panoramic view of a tropical paradise is always a pleasure.
We’d usually spend the morning walking on the beach, frolicking in the sand, and swimming in the waters. After eating lunch, we’d go back to the beach and play on the sand until sundown. We never got bored with this routine. It was always great to see the locals enjoying the beauty of their town. I was envious at times!
Attractions
Quinale Beach is a public beach and if you’re not a local, you need to pay for the environmental fee to use it, regardless of how many days you’d be staying in Anda. Keep the official receipt with you at all times and simply present when someone asks you for it.
The Anda Municipal Hall, Police Station, Fire Station, and Tourism Office, among others, are remarkably located along the stretch of Quinale Beach. This is probably the most useful town layout.
In the afternoons, when the sea level would begin to recede at low tide, Akira would lay out his sand toys and pretend to be on a treasure hunt. At times, some kids would join him. He made friends easily.
Then, we would have dinner somewhere, then go back to our room and talk about our day before bedtime.
One day, we decided to walk our way to Cabagnow Pool Cave, around two kilometers from Quinale Beach. This cave pool came to life because of sinkholes that transformed into natural pits because of the soft and porous nature of the limestones that surround the town of Anda. The water from the mountains seeps through these openings before flowing into the seas, thus creating cave pools.
There’s a fee of ₱50 per person, which includes swimming in the pool. The pool is approximately 12 to 25 feet deep, depending on which spot you swim in. There’s a ladder, which you can use to climb up and down the pool, though you can also opt to dive from its mouth. We didn’t get the chance to swim in the cave pool, as the cave pool was closed at that time. Heavy rains the night before our visit caused the water inside the pool to turn murky.
Instead, we walked 150 meters away from Cabagnow Cave Pool to check out Talisay Beach.
There were a few families enjoying get-togethers at the beach. The place was quieter compared to Quinale Beach, and there was a lot of debris from the rain the night before. It seemed more like a fisherman’s wharf, with many boats docked on the shore.
Our stay proved that Anda in Bohol is a must-see town in the Philippines for its chalky white-sand beaches, quaint town center along the shore of Quinale Beach, and interesting limestones.
