Santa Fe: Beaches, Handicrafts and Processions

Santa Fe brings together a distinctive coastal landscape, local handicrafts and religious processions. You can consider the destination from several perspectives when deciding on your trip: as a place with flat, white-sand beaches and shallow waters, as the home of Panuhug shell craft, and as the setting for Holy Week processions. If you are looking for a hotel in Santa Fe, you can begin planning by prioritizing what matters to you: the coastal landscape, getting there or culture.

Getting There by Bus and Ferry

Traveling to Santa Fe by public transport involves a bus ride from the Cebu North Bus Terminal to Hagnaya Port, followed by a ferry ride with Island Shipping or Super Shuttle to Santa Fe Port. Hagnaya is the transfer point between the bus and the ferry; the ferry continues to Santa Fe Port. This divides the journey into two legs: first the trip to the port, then the crossing. When planning your connection, keep the change of transport in Hagnaya in mind.

Operators and schedules may change. So check the latest information about the bus connection and the ferry operators named here before you leave. This will help you plan the two legs in the order they are taken on the way to Santa Fe.

Coast and Landscape

Santa Fe has flat beaches with white sand and shallow waters. These details give a more specific picture of the coast than the general term “beach”: they describe the shape of the beaches, the color of the sand and the water depth. If the landscape is also a factor in choosing your destination, you can compare these details with your expectations of a coastal place.

The coastal landscape is a distinct focus alongside Santa Fe’s cultural themes. It offers a different way of describing the place than Panuhug handicrafts or the Holy Week processions. You can therefore consider these interests separately when planning your trip, rather than combining them into a single theme.

Panuhug: Shell Craft in Santa Fe

Panuhug is a local craft in which colorful shells are strung together to make curtains, jewelry and elaborate souvenirs. One material and one process yield different results: from curtains and jewelry to items made as souvenirs. The craft can be understood through its specific elements—the shells, the stringing and the products that result.

Panuhug is presented in connection with the festival in Santa Fe. If you are interested in handicrafts as well as the coast, it is a distinct cultural point of interest for your trip. The different types of products also make clear that Panuhug does not refer to just one object, but encompasses various forms of shell craft.

Holy Week Processions

In the municipality of Santa Fe, elaborate carrozas (procession floats) carry antique, life-size religious figures during the Holy Week processions. The processions are described as centuries-old. The terms “antique” and “life-size” offer two distinct clues about the figures: their age and their scale. The carrozas are the floats that carry these figures in the procession.

The religious figures and floats differ markedly from Panuhug: the latter centers on colorful shells and items made from them, while the former features religious imagery as part of a procession. Together, the two themes show different cultural sides of Santa Fe, without being interchangeable. If you want to get to know the place through its culture, you can distinguish between local handicrafts and religious processions.

For a broader travel overview: Cebu.