CCLEX Bridge Visitor Guide: Tolls, Walking & Photo Spots (2026)

TL;DR: CCLEX is the Philippines’ longest bridge — 8.9 km linking Cebu City’s SRP to Cordova, Mactan. Cars pay a ₱107 (US$1.85) toll; walking or biking the dedicated side lane is free, daytime only (check CCLEX’s Facebook for current hours). Pair the crossing with 10,000 Roses Cafe and Lantaw in Cordova.

Prices in Philippine Peso with US dollar equivalents. ₱58 ≈ US$1, July 2026.

Most bridges are infrastructure. The Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway — CCLEX to everyone here — turned into an attraction the day it opened in April 2022, when locals immediately started stopping mid-span for selfies (to management’s alarm). It’s easy to see why: 8.9 kilometers of elegant cable-stayed bridge sweeping over the Mactan Channel, twin 145-meter pylons topped with crosses echoing Magellan’s, and views back across the water to the Cebu City skyline. It’s the longest bridge in the Philippines, and unusually for a toll road, you’re allowed to experience it on foot or by bike — free.

This guide treats CCLEX as a visitor experience rather than a commute: what it costs to cross, exactly how the walking and biking access works (there’s confusion online about this — we’ll set it straight), where the photo spots are, and how to build a half-day around it on the Cordova side.

What Is CCLEX and Why Visit It?

CCLEX is an 8.9-kilometer tolled expressway and bridge connecting Cebu City’s South Road Properties (SRP) to the town of Cordova on Mactan Island — the third link across the Mactan Channel after the two older, chronically jammed bridges through Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu. It opened to motorists on April 30, 2022, and holds the titles of longest bridge, longest sea-crossing, and longest cable-stayed bridge in the country, with a 390-meter main span hung from 145-meter twin pylons.

For travelers it earns a visit three ways: as the scenic, faster route between the airport/Mactan resorts and Cebu City’s south side; as a free walking, running, or cycling route with open-sea views you can’t get anywhere else in Cebu; and as a photo subject in its own right, especially lit up after dark. It also anchors a neat half-day: cross to Cordova, do the waterfront cluster there, and come back for sunset on the SRP side.

How Much Is the CCLEX Toll in 2026?

A regular car pays ₱107 one-way. The full current rates, in effect since October 1, 2025 after the toll adjustment approved by the toll regulator in mid-2025:

Verified July 2026. Rates rose roughly 11–19% over the 2022 opening rates; motorcycles below 110cc are not allowed on the expressway.

If you’re in a Grab or taxi, the toll is added to your fare — factor roughly ₱107 each way into any Cordova or airport-to-SRP trip quote.

Can You Walk or Bike Across CCLEX?

Yes — and for free. This is the thing many visitors (and some outdated articles) get wrong, so here’s the precise picture: since June 2, 2023, CCLEX has operated a dedicated pedestrian-and-bike lane, about 1.5 meters wide, running along both sides of the bridge, physically separated from vehicle traffic. You do not pay a toll to use it. What you can’t do is walk or cycle on the vehicle carriageway itself, or stop a car mid-span for photos — that’s prohibited, and it’s exactly the behavior the operator built the walkway to channel safely.

The practical rules, consistent across the operator’s advisories: the lane runs one-way (you enter on one side, exit the other — no U-turns mid-bridge), proper athletic shoes are required, and skateboards, kick scooters, roller blades, pets, alcohol, drones, kites, and fishing rods are all banned. Take the wind seriously — you’re well over a hundred feet above open water on the main span, and it blows.

The one detail we can’t pin down in print: operating hours keep changing. Sources across 2023–2025 report windows from roughly 5–6 AM opening to mid-afternoon (around 3:30 PM) or early-evening cutoffs, and the operator posts ad hoc schedule changes. Check the official CCLEX Facebook page (@CCLEXexpressway) the same day you plan to go — and go early morning anyway, when it’s cool, clear, and you’ll share the lane with Cebu’s runners rather than midday sun. Serious runners can also target the organized events: CCLEX features in the Cebu Marathon route and hosts triathlon bike legs, when the whole roadway — not just the side lane — opens to athletes.

Where Are the Best CCLEX Photo Spots?

The best land-based shots are from the Cordova side, in Barangay Day-as, where a compact waterfront cluster faces the bridge. Lantaw Floating Native Restaurant puts you at a table on stilts over the water with the bridge and Cebu skyline behind your sutukil dinner. A few steps away, the Mangrove Propagation and Information Center — built by the bridge operator with the Cordova LGU — has a second-floor deck built for birdwatching over the mangroves that doubles as an elevated bridge viewpoint. On the Cebu City side, Il Corso’s waterfront at SRP looks across the channel at the bridge, and pairs naturally with the new Cebu Lighthouse for a sunset double-header.

From the bridge itself, the pedestrian lane is the photo spot — mid-span at golden hour, city on one side, Mactan on the other. Back in 2023 the operator announced plans for dedicated “bisita center” photo stops along the alignment precisely because people kept stopping cars for TikToks; CCLEC president Allan Alfon explained at the time, “We have to strike a balance between public relations and public safety but eventually we really have to enforce more on the safety because it is risky to continue to allow people to just stop anywhere along the alignment.” We couldn’t confirm those photo stops are operating as of 2026 — treat the walkway and the Cordova waterfront as your reliable options.

What Should You Pair With a CCLEX Visit?

Cross to Cordova and everything worth doing sits within a few minutes of the bridge landing. The classic combo, all in or near Barangay Day-as:

10,000 Roses Cafe (₱20 / US$0.35 entry) — the field of LED roses that glows on at dusk, right beside the water. Lantaw Floating Native Restaurant — dinner over the water facing the bridge; arrive before sunset for the light. The Mangrove Center — a quick, free-to-cheap eco stop with that second-floor view. Then recross the bridge after dark, when CCLEX is lit — arguably the best view of all is from the bridge itself at night in a car. Round it out on the SRP side with Il Corso and the SRP waterfront. If you’d rather do it all in one organized sweep, Cebu city and Mactan day tours on Klook increasingly route via CCLEX — check the itinerary notes.

Is Crossing CCLEX Worth It? (The Honest Take)

As a drive: yes, almost without qualification — ₱107 to skip the Mandaue traffic grind and get the best moving view in Metro Cebu is one of the easier calls in this guidebook. As a walk: worth it for runners, cyclists, and bridge nerds, with honest caveats. It’s 8.9 km one-way with zero shade, the wind is real, the hours are restrictive and changeable, and the one-way rule means you need a plan for getting back (a Grab from the far side, realistically). It’s an experience, not a stroll.

And as a “sight” in the checklist sense — if your Cebu time is short, Temple of Leah, Tops Lookout, and the south’s waterfalls outrank a bridge, however handsome. CCLEX works best not as a destination but as the connective tissue of a Cordova-SRP half-day: roses, floating dinner, lit-up bridge home. Do it that way and it’s a genuinely great evening.

Final Word

CCLEX is that rare piece of infrastructure that’s worth your time on purpose: ₱107 (US$1.85) to drive the Philippines’ longest bridge, or free to walk or bike its dedicated lane — daytime only, one-way, check the operator’s Facebook for hours. Build it into a Cordova evening with 10,000 Roses Cafe and Lantaw, or an SRP sunset with the Cebu Lighthouse at Il Corso, and you’ve turned a toll crossing into one of Metro Cebu’s better half-days.

Sources

• CCLEX official site (CCLEC) (operator announcements, pedestrian lane and events)
• BusinessWorld — Regulator approves adjusted toll rates for CCLEX (June 2025)
• Cebu Daily News — Pedestrians, cyclists free to use CCLEX
• Inquirer — Space for TikTok selfies readied at Cebu’s third bridge (May 2023) (Alfon quote)
• Toll rates and access rules verified July 2026; pedestrian-lane hours change — confirm on CCLEX’s official Facebook before visiting.