bohol's tourism is not so well developed, so hotel choices are limited. They seem to have the average and below standard, then the high standard - nothing in between. I stayed in 3 hotels - flushing meadow (next to bohol bee farm), Peacock Garden near tagbilaran and Regents Park (near Alona, but not beach front).
I don't like the Alona beachfront properties so much. The area is very crowded with a lot of small hotels. However, it could be a good area to station yourself if you plan to do a lot of island hopping.
Panglao Island has 2 halves - Panglao and Dauis. Bohol Bee Farm and Flushing Meadows are in Dauis. they are seafront properties on a cliff - so not much of sandy beaches. View is still nice, but if you are looking for sandy beach, bohol beach club has the longest stretch of private white sandy beach.
Peacock Garden has great views from a hill, very private and nice - but also very pricey.
the biggest expenses in bohol, other than the hotel and meals (meals are cheap) - is hiring a car and boat. you can expect to pay around 2500 pesos a day for a 7-person minivan including driver. boat hiring will depend on the size of the boat. hiring a boat enough for 14 ~16 persons is around 4000 pesos from early morning (5:30AM) to around 2 pm. one or two additional hour will set you back 3 or 4 hundreds pesos.a smaller boat will cost less. other expenses are cheap. going to loboc river cruise including a so-so buffet lunch is 350 pesos per person.
u need to plan for 2 hours going to ubay from alona. it is not because of the distance, but because of the road condition so the car cannot go fast. we went from catigbian where my helper lives, so the drive was a bit over an hour.
there is no need to make an appointment. you may want to email or call them ahead to find out more. the people were sooo friendly. they milk the buffalos in the morning and use the milk to make cheese and cake. they make cheese in the morning and bake cake in the afternoon. i talked them into allowing us to go in the kitchen to see what they do. unfortunately, the time for making cheese and baking were both over. milking demonstration is 3 pm. the staff outside will tell you that it is just a demo and you can't milk the buffalos. once you get there, just ask the people again. they will let you. to make sure you don't miss anything, best to call ahead.
if you want to see a real bee farm, you can call bohol bee farm and ask them if they let you visit their REAL bee farm. bohol bee farm is a tourist spot and they just set up a bit of everything to show the tourists. i think it is enough for young kids. their REAL bee farm is near catigbian, about an hour away.
actually, one of the reasons why we liked bohol so much was my daughter's homestay at my helper's place. the night we got there, they roasted a whole pig. the following day was my helper's nephew birthday. we saw them slaughtering one goat, one big pig and a couple of chickens. about 80 people turned up for the celebration. it was quite fun. the place is beautiful, tranquil, clean and nice. it is very different from the small farm properties in China.