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Cebu City is the capital of Cebu province in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines, on the east coast of Cebu Island, and it is famous as the site of the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines, with Magellan's Cross, the Santo Nino Basilica and the Sinulog festival. About 965,000 people live in the city.
Magellan's expedition reached Cebu in April 1521 and planted a cross here, and in 1565 Miguel Lopez de Legazpi founded the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines around Fort San Pedro. The old Chinese quarter of Parian kept some of the oldest houses in the country, such as the Yap-San Diego House and Casa Gorordo.
Today Cebu City is the main domestic shipping port of the Philippines and the most populous city in the Visayas. Visitors walk from the cross and the basilica to the fort and the cathedral, explore the Parian museums, climb to the Taoist Temple and the Temple of Leah in the hills, and join the huge Sinulog parade every January.
Magellan's Cross in Cebu City is a cross planted by Ferdinand Magellan's expedition when it reached Cebu in April 1521, kept in an octagonal coral-stone pavilion of 1834 beside the basilica. It is a National Cultural Treasure, closed since the 2025 earthquake, though people may still pray outside.
The Basilica del Santo Nino in Cebu City was founded in 1565 by the Augustinians where the image of the Child Jesus, given by Magellan in 1521, was found again. It is called the oldest church in the Philippines, its present building dates from 1740, and it became a minor basilica in 1965.
Fort San Pedro in Cebu City stands by the port at Plaza Independencia and grew from the wooden fort that Legazpi's men built, the core of the first Spanish settlement in the country. The stone gate is dated 1738, and the oldest triangular bastion fort in the Philippines now has a garden inside.
The Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral in Cebu City is the seat of the Archdiocese of Cebu and is dedicated to Saint Vitalis of Milan. Its squat walls and carved facade with griffins and the Spanish royal arms survived the bombing of World War II, and the rest was rebuilt in the 1950s.
The Casa Gorordo Museum in Cebu City is a house with a tiled roof built in the 1850s in the old Parian district and home of Juan Gorordo, the first Filipino bishop of Cebu. It escaped damage in World War II and opened in December 1983 as Cebu's first public museum of its kind.
The Yap-San Diego Ancestral House in Cebu City was built between 1675 and 1700 by the Chinese merchant Juan Yap in the Parian quarter. Made of coral stone and wood, it is one of the oldest Chinese houses outside China, and since 2008 visitors can see its garden and old artefacts.
The Heritage of Cebu Monument in Cebu City is a large sculpture in the Parian district by Eduardo Castrillo, built from 1997 to 2000 in concrete, bronze, brass and steel. Its scenes run from the Battle of Mactan in 1521 to the beatification of the Cebuano martyr Pedro Calungsod.
Museo Sugbo in Cebu City is the provincial museum of Cebu, housed in the coral-stone Carcel de Cebu, a jail designed in 1869 that held revolutionaries and guerrillas. It opened in 2008, and the complex also holds branches of the National Museum and the Museum of Philippine Political History.
Plaza Independencia in Cebu City is a square from the Spanish era beside Fort San Pedro, once known as Plaza de Armas and Plaza Libertad. It has a fountain and monuments to Legazpi, the chronicler Antonio Pigafetta and President Ramon Magsaysay, close to the old port.
The Cebu Taoist Temple in Cebu City was built in 1972 by the Chinese Filipino community in Beverly Hills, 110 metres above the sea. Its gate copies the Great Wall of China, devotees climb 81 steps to light joss sticks, and its balconies give a wide view over downtown Cebu.
The Temple of Leah in Cebu City is a Roman-style temple on a hill in Busay, built by Teodorico Adarna for his late wife Leah and opened in 2012. Its 24 chambers hold her collection of antiques, Chinese jars and books, with a 2.74-metre bronze statue of her inside.
The Sinulog festival in Cebu City is held on the third Sunday of January in honour of the Santo Nino, and it is one of the biggest festivals in the Philippines. Dancers move forward and back to drums like a river current, and the 2026 festival drew over 5.2 million people.
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Calabarzon, Philippines
National Capital Region, Philippines
Western Visayas, Philippines
Davao Region, Philippines
Eastern Visayas, Philippines
Cordillera Administrative Region, Philippines
Calabarzon, Philippines
National Capital Region, Philippines
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