Cordova Guide (2026): 10,000 Roses, Sandbars & CCLEX

TL;DR: Cordova is the small municipality at the southern tip of Mactan, and the CCLEX toll bridge turned it from an hour-plus detour into a 15-20 minute drive from Cebu City (toll about ₱100-107, US$1.70-1.85, for a car). Come for the 10,000 Roses Cafe (₱20 entrance), the Day-as sandbar, a mangrove boardwalk, and genuinely good seafood at Lantaw, which picked up a Michelin Guide Select mention in 2026. It’s an easy half-day add-on to a Cebu City or Mactan itinerary, not a multi-day base. Verified July 2026.

Cordova used to be the town people skipped. It sits on the quiet southern tip of Mactan Island, past the resorts and the airport, and for years the only way in was a long loop through Lapu-Lapu City traffic. That changed in 2022 with the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX), an 8.9-kilometer bridge that drops you from Cebu City’s South Road Properties straight into Cordova in about fifteen minutes. Suddenly a fishing town known mostly to locals for its mangroves and boat landings had a reason to show up on a tourist’s map.

This guide covers what’s actually worth the CCLEX toll: the 10,000 Roses Cafe, the Day-as sandbar and its swimmable shallows, Lantern Park, the mangrove eco-park, and where to eat seafood without paying resort prices. It’s written for a half-day or full-day trip out of Cebu City or Mactan, not as a place to base a whole vacation.

Cordova at a Glance

What	Cost (2026)	Notes
CCLEX toll, car (one-way)	~₱100-107 (~US$1.70-1.85)	Class 1 rate; confirm posted rate at tollbooth
10,000 Roses Cafe entrance	₱20/person + ₱30 parking	Separate from food/drink orders
Day-as sandbar / Bantayan Bay access	~₱10-20/person (varies by spot)	Floating cottages ₱3,500-5,000/day extra
Lantaw Floating Restaurant	Mains ₱200-600	Michelin Guide Select 2026
Nalusuan Island day entrance	~₱200/person	Boat charter to the island is separate
Boat rental, island hopping (whole boat)	₱3,000-5,500	Regular to large boat, no meal included

Prices are per-person unless noted, converted at ₱58 ≈ US$1. Confirm current rates locally before you go — small operators change prices without notice. Verified July 2026.

How Has CCLEX Changed the Way You Get to Cordova?

It cut the drive from over an hour to about 15-20 minutes. Before CCLEX opened in 2022, reaching Cordova meant driving the long way around Mactan through Lapu-Lapu City. Now the bridge connects directly from South Road Properties in Cebu City, so a trip that used to eat half your morning is a short hop.

The toll for a regular car (Class 1) sits around ₱100-107 one-way after the rate adjustments that took effect through 2025, up from the original ₱90 opening rate. Motorcycles pay less, trucks and buses more. Grab cars and taxis can take the bridge too, and there’s a pedestrian and bike lane if you’re feeling ambitious, though most visitors will want a car, Grab, or a habal-habal from Lapu-Lapu City for the actual sightseeing once you’re there — Cordova’s attractions are spread out along the coast, not walkable to each other.

Is 10,000 Roses Cafe Worth the Hype?

For a 30-45 minute photo stop, yes — for a destination on its own, not really. 10,000 Roses Cafe is a small garden of artificial roses made from recycled PET bottles, each with an embedded LED, set beside a cafe in the Day-as tourism strip next to Lantaw restaurant. At night the whole garden glows.

Entrance is ₱20 per person, with ₱30 for parking, both separate from anything you order at the cafe. It’s open from around 10:30 AM to 10 PM, but the garden’s whole appeal is the lighting, so aim to arrive between 5:30 and 7:30 PM to catch sunset fading into the LED glow. Go earlier in the day and you’re mostly looking at plastic flowers in daylight — pretty, but it’s not the same photo everyone’s posting.

Where Do You Swim — the Day-as Sandbar and Cordova’s Beaches?

The Day-as sandbar is the closest swim spot to the roses and Lantaw, but check the tide before you plan around it. Cordova’s coastline exposes stretches of sand and shallow flats at low tide right along the Day-as strip, and locals wade and swim there depending on conditions. Some managed sections nearby, like Bantayan Bay in Poblacion, charge a small environmental fee — roughly free for young kids up to ₱20 for adults — with floating cottages available for a few thousand pesos a day if you want shade and a table.

If you want a proper beach day rather than a tidal sandbar, boat out to Nalusuan Island or Gilutongan Island — both are marine sanctuaries off Cordova’s coast with clearer water and better snorkeling than the mainland shore. Whole-boat rentals from Cordova run roughly ₱3,000 for a small boat up to ₱5,500 for a large one, split among your group, and Nalusuan’s day entrance is about ₱200 per person on top of that. See our guide to Cordova’s beaches and sandbars for the full rundown of which stretch suits what kind of trip.

What Is Lantern Park Cordova?

It’s a smaller local park in Cordova, best treated as a quick add-on rather than a planned destination. Lantern Park doesn’t have the same online footprint as the roses cafe yet — operating hours and any entrance fee aren’t consistently published, which usually means it’s either newer or more of a local barangay spot than a fully commercialized attraction. If you’re already in the Day-as area for the roses and dinner at Lantaw, it’s worth swinging by, but don’t build a special trip around it until you’ve confirmed current details with locals or the municipal tourism office.

Is the Mangrove Eco-Park Worth a Stop?

Yes, if you want to see a side of Cordova that isn’t Instagram bait. Cordova has roughly 100 hectares of mangrove forest along its coast, and the Day-as Boardwalk and Marine Park, along with a Mangrove Propagation and Information Center, let you walk out over the mangroves rather than just seeing them from a boat. It’s quiet, educational, and a nice contrast to the roses garden’s manufactured glow — this is the actual ecosystem the town’s fishing economy depends on. It won’t take more than 30-45 minutes, so it slots naturally between the roses cafe and lunch.

Where Do You Eat Seafood in Cordova?

Lantaw Floating Native Restaurant is the name everyone knows, and it earned it. Built out over the water in Barangay Day-as, Lantaw serves Filipino seafood and grill classics — crispy pata, tuna panga (the jaw, a local favorite), buttered shrimp, and grilled tanigue (Spanish mackerel) — with a sunset view over the water. It picked up a Michelin Guide Select mention for the Philippines in 2026, which is a real step up from just being a solid tourist restaurant. Mains generally run ₱200-600; go for the sunset seating if you can time it.

For something cheaper and more local, Entoy’s Bakasihan at Kampay Beach in Barangay Buagsong is a no-frills spot known for linarang na bakasi — eel soup — for around ₱30 a bowl. It’s not for everyone, but it’s the kind of place that tells you more about how Cordova actually eats than a Michelin mention does.

Where Should You Stay?

Most people don’t stay in Cordova — they stay in Mactan or Cebu City and treat this as a day trip, which makes sense now that CCLEX has cut the drive to 15-20 minutes. If you’d rather sleep close to the water here, Solea Mactan Resort on Wahing Street has sea-view rooms and family pools, and Nalusuan Island Resort puts you directly on the marine sanctuary — though you’re committing to a boat ride for anything you need from the mainland. Budget travelers sometimes use Villa Asela Garden Resort for a day-use pool visit (around ₱50 adult / ₱40 child entrance) rather than an overnight stay.

Compare Mactan-area hotels and resorts on Agoda if you want a proper base near Cordova without the boat commute.

How Do You Plan the Day?

Start early if you want to fit in island hopping — Gilutongan and Nalusuan are best in calm morning water. A realistic order: mangrove boardwalk first (before the heat), then the Day-as sandbar for a swim if the tide cooperates, 10,000 Roses Cafe timed for late afternoon into sunset, and Lantaw for dinner right after, since it’s next door. If you’re not diving into island hopping, the whole loop fits comfortably into a half-day, leaving you time to also hit Mactan’s beaches or head back into Cebu City the same evening.

The Honest Take

Cordova is a genuine good news story for Cebu tourism — CCLEX did what it promised, and a town that used to be a long detour is now a legitimate half-day trip. But keep your expectations calibrated: the 10,000 Roses Cafe is a photo stop, not a landmark, and it’s crowded with the same Instagram-chasing crowd you’ll find at similar spots across the Philippines. Lantern Park is thin enough on public information that it’s clearly still finding its footing as an attraction. The real draw here is Lantaw’s food and the mangroves and marine sanctuaries that made Cordova a fishing town worth protecting in the first place — that’s the part that’s actually earned its reputation, Michelin mention included.

Best time to go is late afternoon into evening, both for the roses’ lighting and to avoid the worst of the midday heat on the boardwalk. Skip it entirely if you’re only in Cebu for a day or two and haven’t hit the Cebu City heritage core yet — Cordova is a worthwhile extra, not a top priority for a first-timer’s short list.

Combine It With the Rest of Mactan

Cordova sits at the southern end of the same island as the Mactan Shrine and Mactan’s resort strip, so it pairs naturally with a broader Mactan Island day. If you’re weighing it against other short trips out of the city, our best day trips from Cebu City guide lines up the alternatives, and our dedicated look at 10,000 Roses Cafe goes deeper on that one stop if it’s your main reason for the trip.

For a quick detour back in Cebu City itself, the edge coaster and skywalk at Sky Experience Adventure, Crown Regency Hotel’s rooftop attraction near Fuente Osmeña, makes a good bookend before or after your Cordova day. Search Cebu tours and activities on Klook to line up boat trips to Nalusuan or Gilutongan in advance.

Sources

• 10,000 Roses Cebu — official site (entrance fee, hours)
• Lantaw Native Restaurant — official site (menu, Michelin mention)
• Sugbo.ph — attractions and 2025 Cordova itinerary guide (resort and attraction details)
• Sugbo.ph — 5 attractions in Cordova (entrance fees, Nalusuan pricing)
• AutoIndustriya — CCLEX toll rates and Cebu Daily News — CCLEX toll hike (toll rate history)
• Nalusuan Island Resort pricing and Villa Asela Garden Resort rates per Sugbo.ph reporting; confirm current rates directly before booking. Verified July 2026.