I have been in Cebu for more then a year and have yet to find anything that is even remotely threatening.
Cebu is the second largest city in the Philippines and yes there are some rougher barangay but you will know them when you see them and the local Filipinos will warn you about them.
Safety in Cebu is really what you make of it if you treat it like you would any other “big” city then you will be fine.
The only real danger here is learning to slow down and listen, sometimes speaking to the taxi driver or the security guards can be a lesson in active listening. It is a separate country and even if English is spoken by 90% of the people it is not a native tongue.
Another item is it is a “touchy” country especially for Americans. The Cebuano culture and even Philippine in general is a very honest and comfortable with touching. They hold hands touch you on the shoulder, shake hands and hold on longer then that which is comfortable to someone from the US. This only done in kindness and the strong sense of family the Visian culture has. The first time you see a younger person approach an elder family member and bow and touch the elders hand to the younger’s forehead it may seem shocking but it is the way to covey respect.
One tip that I always do is keep a 100 peso note hidden on your person so that no matter what you can hail a taxi and get to where you need to go be it home or to the hospital. Speaking of which the hospital and medical services in Cebu are really good and very inexpensive.
Just after I came to Cebu I caught a horrible cough and was really expecting that I caught pneumonia. So I went into a local clinic received an examination by a doctor and and a chest x-ray and the total bill was 380 peso’s or less then $10 US.
The only expensive part was the 4 different medications but even then the total bill was 1100 peso’s (about $25 US).
So is Cebu Safe absolutely I would recommend that anyone spend a short vacation in the “Queen City” and visit the great local beach resorts with their white sands and great diving and “Get Cebu’d” like I did.
