Sirao Flower Garden, Cebu – What You Need To Know!

When we were looking on Instagram at the Cebu hashtag, one of the most popular photos caught our eye. Thankfully, the location was turned on and we were able to see it had been taken at Sirao Flower Garden.

We’d actually never seen Sirao Flower Garden on a list of things to do in Cebu City up until that point. However, a singular photo made this flower farm one of our priorities when visiting the city.

Located 40 minutes from the centre of Cebu City, up in the mountains this small flower fam started when a couple began planting flowers to be harvest and sold on All Souls day.

Once the couple noticed the flowers were attracting visitors they decided not to cut them down at all. Instead, they grew more colourful flowers and began adding photogenic decorations.

Today Sirago Flower Garden is open daily from 6.30 am until 6.00 pm and attracts hundreds of visitors looking to admire the flowers and take the perfect photo.

How To Get To Sirago Flower Garden

Unfamiliar with Habal-Habals we decided to opt for a Grab (S.E. Asia’s take on Uber) and went on a five-hour mountain tour which can be booked from the Grab mobile application.

The tour cost us 2,250 PHP for an air-conditioned taxi (which actually turned out to be a van that could have seated 12).

We paid more than the cost of a Habal-Habal for sure, but being picked up from right outside our accommodation in Cebu and driven to the Flower Garden and other popular tourist attractions in the mountains of Cebu city over five hours seemed like a good investment for us.

Alternatively, if you do want the more authentic route, you’ll want to head to JY Square Mall which is located around one mile from Cebu I.T. Park.

From there you can take a Habal-Habal to Sirao Flower Garden and other popular tourist attractions in the area. The journey takes around 45 minutes and is a significant climb. Therefore if you’re travelling as a pair (or more) you’ll probably want an Habal-Habal each.

There’s no set price for a Habal-Habal, and sadly the more of a ‘tourist’ you look, the more the drivers will try and charge.

That said, I’ve seen the majority of people pay between 300 PHP to 500 PHP for a round trip from the mall to the Sirao Flower Garden and Temple of Leah.

You can easily haggle with the drivers to get the price lower if you believe you’re being overcharged based on the prices we’ve highlighted above.

Entry Cost

Entry into the original Sirago Flower Garden costs 100 PHP per person. There’s no time limit for how long you can stay – It’s a good job as Helen and I spent upwards of one and a half hours taking pictures. Entry into the Sirao Pictorial Garden and Camping Site located just next door costs 60 PHP per person.

While some of the architectural designs for photos are similar, some are unique. So, if you have the time, and the passion, I would encourage you to visit both – especially as you don’t have to travel between the two.

Guide To Sirago Flower Garden

There are two flower gardens in Siraro, the first is the original Sirao Flower Garden which is the one we visited and the one we’ll be focusing on during this guide.

The second is the Pictorial Garden and Camping Site which opened in 2018 and is located just next door. It has both similar and additional photo ops along with a swimming pool.

Sirago Flower Garden is nicknamed Little Amsterdam and honestly, it’s easy to see why. Inside the 8,000 square metre grounds, you’ll be surrounded by picturesque flowers and incredible decorations that are perfect for photos.

While there are food and drinks vendors just footsteps from the entrance of the Sirago Flower Garden you are not permitted to bring food or drinks inside. There is however a small shop inside the windmill that sells souvenirs and ice-cold drinks (20 PHP for a bottle of water).

We visited during January, and according to our driver, that’s one of the worst times to visit as only the field flowers are in bloom. Should you visit during the summer months (June through to September) the gardens will be much more colorful.

Once inside we found that to be true, we could see that many flowers were in the process of trying to grow and the team behind Sirago Flower Gardens were using the time to renovate and update small parts of the grounds.

We arrived at the gardens at around 10.00am, after visiting the Taoist Temple. The park was busy, but certainly not as busy as it was 30 minutes later when we went to queue for what I believe to be the main attraction at the gardens, the giant hands.

If we had gone straight down to those upon our arrival we’d have queued less than five minutes, however as we wandered down, grabbing a drink, taking photos, we instead queued for around fifteen minutes.

Where To Eat Near Sirago Flower Garden

Just outside Sirago Flower Garden, you’ll find a number of food stalls selling drinks and snacks. However, we (along with many other tourists we saw at Sirago Flower Garden) went to Cebu Tops Restaurant.

Cebu Tops Restaurant is a 15-minute drive from Sirago Flower Garden and provides an incredible panoramic view of the city while dining on a range of local dishes.

We arrived around 11.30 am and managed to get a table for two right at the edge overlooking the city. However, by the time we left just 45 minutes later, there were no tables and people were waiting in reception to be seated.

Considering the location and popularity with tourists, we figured that Cebu Tops Restaurant would be exorbitantly priced. That wasn’t the case, in fact, it was on par with other restaurants we ate at in Cebu city.