1) The Chocolate Hills. When you reach the top, even if you turn 360 degrees, you’ll see the hills! Plus of course the rice fields in between the hills. It’s very windy too! So, wearing skirts is not advised! According to the guides there are at least 1,260 hills, but there are more spreading through the towns of Carmen, Sagbayan and Batuan, covering an area of about 50 square kilometers.

2) The Sagbayan Peak. Sagbayan Peak is another way to view the Chocolate Hills, which are about 75 km from Tagbilaran City and 18 km from the complex. The viewing from this resort is from the deck of a raised edge, just like in the complex, which gives you an unbarred view of the Chocolate Hills – plus the sea off Cebu City, of the province of Cebu!

3) The 4 Legend. Filipinos love legends and stories; and there are at least 4 legends that have been shared with me about the Chocolate Hills:

4) From the two feuding giants who forgot to clean up their mess;

5) The town that is plagued by the giant carabao leaving behind a mount of feces, and the feces dried and shaped to this Chocolate hills;

6) The greedy giant – so-called Miguel – that eats anything and everything in his path, who fell in love and decided to lose weight for the girl, and defecated everything he ate and obviously formed into these hills (do you see a theme developing?);

7) And lastly, the romantic legend of a giant named Arogo, who was really powerful and young. He fell in love with a simple mortal, Aloya, who sadly died. So Arogo was in so much pain that he couldn’t stop crying… and his tears formed into the Chocolate Hills.

8) Chocolate Milk Hills? These cone-shaped or dome-shaped hills are actually made of green grass-covered limestone, but the grass will turn brown (like chocolate) in the dry season, which is where the name Chocolate Hills came from.  Due to the earthquake they had recently, some of the hills cracked (and even the complex suffered some cracking) and revealed the inside of the Chocolate Hills, discovering that they should actually be the Milk Chocolate Hills – because they are white inside.

9) Stairway to Heaven Cardio. Going up to the complex, you’ll already see the hills but to really appreciate the view it’s best to climb up these stairs to the top. There are a total of 214 steps to climb before you get the best view, so that’s why I don’t call it a stairway to heaven, but a stairway for a good cardio. It’s totally free to use the complex but if you’re bringing a car, you’ll have to pay for the parking.