Cebu/Lapu-Lapu

Try the Sports Bars of which there seem to be a few in Lapu Lapu although I have never been in one there.  Back in May/June I was staying in Cebu City and went into a Sports Bar called Billy's which was near my hotel and not far from the Ayala Mall. Plenty of Ex Pats in there from all around the world UK/US/Germany/Denmark/Australia/etc. Plenty of sports shown on the big screens, free pool table, decent food, good service and a good atmosphere. The bar was not in the girlie bar district and easy to make friends over a drink and game of pool.

Your location description is too vague to know for sure but if I guess, maybe you will be staying somewhere in Marigondon. There are plenty of places to eat and socialize near there, but I would nail down the location before committing.

@pnwcyclist

Yes I believe that is the area, asi said I've never been there so help would be welcome, thank you.

I have never lived on Lapu2 but my GF (who has) assures me there are places near there to eat and socialize.. but they may be mostly Filipino restaurants (vs western).

I have however eaten at a few of the restaurants in Plantation Bay, as well as Shangri-La , and they are excellent, albeit  expensive. So maybe look for a resort in your price range (vs an airbnb) that is closer to restaurants and has some onsite - most of them are located to the east and north of the airport.

So many wonderful locations to live in the Phills and for many can depend on what the better half wants/needs. Choices I suppose. Just b careful where you land.

Cheers, Steve..

CEBU:  much good has been shown... but the experience is less.

Sept-Nov 2024 I was there..   and as Cebu's Tallest sky scraper residential tower, I thought it would be a wonderful experience.

In turn, I leased 3 condos in succession; each had 2 breeds of roaches, ants, etc.  the tower is simply 'swomped' with roaches!!.. they appear in your condo kitchen counter, and if you are not careful end up in your luggage and packed home.

The pool, i tried several times.   The problem is local children (some residents) poop in the pool every other week, so they have to shut it down for 2-3 days.   I never got a chance to do some laps.   No health oversight of swimmers.  Ugh...

Cebu officials have accomplished many Great good things.  Regulations and so on are more reliable including business processes overall.   but the developers insist on turning a 10s of millions property development into a slum too often; they charge community fees, but fail to maintain facilities correctly.   

We've taken Cebu off our 'investment' list.

NOTE:  We did a side project to contact many bible churches in the city.  We hired 4 men to visit each church with a packet to introduce ourselves and our charitable missions work (part of our company policies to do these)...   Two of the men stole the money and never did the work, and dead ZERO of the churches ever replied to us.   Our visit 5 months later yielded the same lack of 'christian welcome'.  Sad.

@tim2missions

In turn, I leased 3 condos in succession; each had 2 breeds of roaches, ants, etc.  the tower is simply 'swomped' with roaches!!..

Not a very pleasant experience for you Tim. I've said it before on this Forum and I will say it again. Today's newly built condos in the Philippines are tomorrows tenement blocks.  Of course this can replicate itself in developed countries too but is particularly pronounced in frontier(the Philippines has recently been downgraded from an emerging economy to a 'frontier' economy  - by me ) economies like the Philippines. Throw in appalling build quality and this just compounds the problem.

I note that you leased 3 condos in succession. Was this in the same building? Did you get your deposit back? (normally 2 months rent up front)

Its a salutary lesson in why its always best to rent rather than invest in a substandard product where currently there is a surfeit of supply and probably will be for years to come.