Road Tripping to Simala Parish Church, Cebu
Simala Parish Church gives a Disney castle-like vibe with its high towers, grand corridors, and decorative design.
The grand monastery may not be the oldest or the holiest in Cebu – that’ll have to be in Cebu City. But I can attest it is one of the most beautiful churches in Cebu.
We visited Simala Parish Church, also known as the Monastery of the Holy Eucharist, out of curiosity after a morning of canyoneering to Kawasan in Moalboal. How should we spend the second half of the day?
With a motorbike we rented for our entire stay in Moalboal, we decided to take a road trip to the castle church.
I visited Cebu and Simala Parish Church in April 2024. This post contains affiliate links that cost nothing to you but support my blog! It may also be updated periodically. Cheers!
Significance of Simala Parish Church
If you haven’t known yet from the colourful paintings on jeepneys and trucks and the decorations in certain shops during your travels in the Philippines, this country is devout Roman Catholic.
Any place of worship is worth a visit for the serenity, history, and details within. What more with a church of such size like Simala.
This episode reminded me of my visit to one of the holiest monasteries in Vietnam during my trip from Phong Nha to Hue.
It was mentioned that the church first started gaining traction as a popular pilgrimage site in 1997.
Many theories try to explain its popularity.
One revealed that a replica statue of the Virgin Mary was seen shedding tears of blood on her assumption day.
Another plausible one suggests that the Marian monks who built the church on a supposedly forever-barren hill planted trees that flourished within the church’s compound.
And another pointed out that worshippers living around the church during a deadly dengue plague healed after praying in the church.
Miraculous stories like these flourished. More worshippers came. Those who had their prayers answered left behind mementoes in the church, inspiring more devotees. You can find these behind glass shelves in a relatively large dedicated area within the church, as we’ll discuss in a later section.
Getting There
From Cebu
Many tours structure a trip to Simala Parish Church with other attractions along the way to make for a comprehensive day trip.
Otherwise, you could rent a car or call for a private chauffeur to cover the 55 km or at least 2 hours journey south from Cebu City.
You may be able to do this using public transport to save money. But that would have taken too much time and effort to justify the cost saving, which I strongly do not recommend.
But if you insist, first take a Ceres bus or van from the South Cebu Bus Terminal bound for Oslob or Liloan – basically the south of Cebu. Inform the conductor of your intention to get off at Simala. This would take around two hours and I reckon at least P100. From there, get a habal-habal or trike to your destination. This would cost another P30 at least.
Getting back to Cebu City might require a bit more waiting – and attention to hail the bus – from the drop-off point for the Ceres Bus bound for Cebu City.
From Oslob
Since the public bus mentioned above travels to Oslob. You could apply the reversal if coming from Oslob, and later continue your travels up north to Cebu City.
From Moalboal
I haven’t encountered any tours to Simala Parish Church from Moalboal – a town primarily geared towards adventurous water activities and beaches. Given the demographics and objectives of the crowd in Moalboal, it is kind of expected.
Your choice is to either rent a car, find a chauffeur, negotiate with a habal-habal, or do it yourself on a scooter.
We picked the latter and travelled on our rented motor across Cebu island from the west coast to the east coast via Ylaya Road.
My Journey from Moalboal
Here’s a section to dump my rambles about our journey to Simala.
After a delicious complimentary lunch of fried chicken and rice from canyoneering to kawasan, we rode back to Moalboal and made a coffee stop in a nondescript cafe.
Then it was cutting across Cebu island via Ylaya Road, on meandering roads, through towns and schools. Farms and vegetable plantations flanked both sides of the road at times, with a sporadic chicken or dog making a sudden dash and giving us quite a fright.
Finding the small route, named Mama Mary Sanctuary Road, from Ylaya Road was a challenge. We rerouted several times until we found the entrance, which was partially blocked by a huge truck. Then again, travelling down this route was unnerving and made us doubt the journey that Google recommended as the fastest route.
How could this be the fastest route when it was full of stones, similar to the route to our secluded accommodation in Bohol?
The motor danced and bounced for the remaining journey, with my partner/ driver constantly holding – or you could say reining – the beast. Yes, the motor seemed to have a life of its own!
The narrow pebble route passed through a small village where children amid kite flying looked at us bemusedly – foreigners in bright clothes, helmets and elephant pants struggling on their wheezing motor.
We soon left the village behind and went through a series of ups and downs under the shade of towering trees, but mostly ascending up the hill where Simala Parish Church is.
I believe we passed through the entrance of one or two fancy lodgings as we neared the church.
Then the trees gave way to houses, and the dancing gravel roads became nicely brushed cemented ones. Someone did a good job touring this route with the Google Maps camera attached to them. You can view the condition of this journey on Google Maps.
We parked our motor by the side of the church for free and were immediately surrounded by women selling rosary beads and flowers for Mama Mary. It was 5.30 PM by then. Time for sunset.
Attire
Cebu is hot and the thought of wearing long restrictive pants feels dreadful.
But that’s exactly what’s required to respectfully visit a place of worship – there are security guards at the entrance to check your attire and bag.
I’ve always dressed towards the conservative side during my travels and wore light airy shirts and elephant pants. As such, my attire has never been an issue for sudden visits of such a nature.
Bring a shawl to cover your knees and shoulders if you’re wearing shorts or sleeveless shirts. You won’t want to be caught in the wrong attire after travelling an hour or two to visit Simala from Cebu or Moalboal.
Best Time to Visit
Simala Parish Church is open every day, and the best time is undoubtedly the weekdays and early in the morning or late in the evening.
We visited Simala at 5.30 PM on a Friday and were practically the only dozen visitors in the compound. The religious shops within were closing.
The church opens as early as 6 AM, with masses held daily at 12 pm, and also at 3 pm on the weekends.
Within Simala Parish Church
Security Check
The security check counter is the first station to clear before you can enter the church.
Shorts? Sleeveless shirts?
Sorry. No go.
Make sure you’re properly dressed with knees and shoulders covered. They are strict with attire! My partner wore shorts, and put on another pair of baggy pants – that’s mine – before entering.
I Love MamaMary Sign
The castle church was still a work in progress when we were there. We saw scaffolds on the perimeter that could only be explained as an expansion of the compound.
Just before we climbed the steps leading to a magnificent turret, we took photos with the MamaMary sign overlooking the central garden and the main building.
The sight was truly a Disney castle moment that some visitors lament as unsuitable for a sacred place of worship. Good or bad, that’s up to you to decide!
Beside the steps was a gentle ramp. Simala Parish Church is wheelchair accessible for everyone (as long as you’re properly attired).
Garden
It was mentioned on other forums and websites that the garden was closed, and there should be a working fountain in the middle.
We didn’t attempt to access the garden since it didn’t look inviting, choosing to observe it from a vantage point instead. We saw no water spurting from the man-made lake.
A Giant Crown
As we strolled through the corridor leading to the turret, we passed through a giant crown that was recently erected during the pandemic in 2020.
A plaque underneath the crown mentioned that the 25 x 14 feet large crown was handcrafted by one of the pioneering monks of Lindogon as an offering and thanksgiving to Mama Mary.
Main Worship Hall
Music wafted through the doors of the main worship hall.
We dove in and sat at one of the benches, observing the colourful frescoes above head, and a woman arranging the fresh flowers at the altar – generally just enjoying the serenity and grandeur of a place of worship.
If I recall correctly, 8 columns of seats were tightly packed within the hall. The hall has a second level filled with seats too.
We were the only people seated in the hall that Friday evening.
Souvenir Shop and Candle Racks
The first thing we saw on the other end of the hall as we exited was a souvenir shop selling religious paraphernalia.
You could buy a coloured candle and stick it on the candle racks outside the shop. There are a variety of vibrant colours to choose from, and each colour probably signifies praying for different objectives. I’m too catholic-ignorant to discuss the meaning behind the colours, so the discussion stops here.
Mama Mary Worship Shrine
We wandered past the souvenir shop and came to face another security guard.
After leaving our shoes behind a railing as he instructed, we followed the railings up the narrow stairs to the most sacred part of the church – the Shrine of Virgin Mary.
Again, we were the only handful of people around. And with the place so large and hollow, devoid of people with faint tunes of the music coming from the worship hall, this episode gave me mild goosebumps.
Prayer Hall
We dutifully followed the railings and descended the steps from the shrine to the Prayer Room.
The Prayer Room was filled with countless displays of worshippers’ gratitude to the Virgin Mary. We saw report cards, graduation photos, wheelchairs and crutches. There were also many replicas and statues of the Virgin Mary on this level.
All these plus the ample space and lack of people strongly discouraged me from taking photos, partly out of respect – even though photo-taking is not prohibited – but mostly out of discomfort.
Exit
We left the church after touring through all the critical places. The sun has set by then, leaving behind a sky of dusty purplish-blue.
Our visit totalled up to 30 minutes.
Conclusion/ Rambles
The journey to and fro Simala Parish Church from Moalboal was exciting as we cruised through the road with its various challenges and witnessed the daily local life on our rented wheels.
No doubt, Simala is indeed grand from the size and intricate details that went behind its construction.
But it feels neither modern minimalist impressive, nor exudes the same grandeur as centuries-old churches like Basilica del Santo Nino in Cebu City. It was strangely too quiet, even though others complained of crowds and long queues. This led me to feel as though I was visiting a man-made attraction park instead of a church, perhaps like visiting the Buddhist-influenced sacred hill of Phnom Santuk in Cambodia. Phnom Santuk was equally quiet during my visit.
Then again, I’m not well-read on Catholicism, nor completely understand the importance of this church in the region.
Still, road-tripping and visiting Simala Parish Church was a wonderful experience.
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