Corella: Home of the Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary

Corella is a first-class municipality covering roughly 54 square kilometres of lowland and gentle hills in Bohol’s northwestern interior, about 8 kilometres from Tagbilaran City via the Tagbilaran–Carmen highway. For most travellers it’s a scheduled stop rather than an overnight destination — the Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary draws day-trippers on their way to the Chocolate Hills — but the town itself has a quiet agricultural character that rewards a slower pace.

The tarsier (Carlito syrichta) is the municipality’s defining asset and its main tourism driver. The Philippine Tarsier Foundation operates a sanctuary near Barangay Canapnapan where the animals live semi-wild in secondary forest rather than in cages, allowing closer, less stressful observation than roadside exhibits. Entry fees and merchandise sales feed back into habitat protection and breeding programmes. Beyond the sanctuary, Corella produces copra, rice, and root crops; the town centre is compact, with a public market and a church facing the plaza in the pattern typical of Spanish-era Bohol municipalities.

Geography

Corella sits on gently rolling terrain between the coastal lowlands near Tagbilaran and the karst interior, bordered by Tagbilaran City to the south, Sikatuna to the north, and Cortes to the west. Key barangays include Canapnapan, site of the tarsier sanctuary, and the poblacion cluster along the highway. There is no coastline; the landscape is secondary forest, coconut groves, and small paddy fields.

History

Corella was established as a separate municipality in 1861, having previously formed part of Baclayon’s jurisdiction. Spanish colonial records show the settlement was administered by Augustinian Recollect missionaries, who built the original stone church. During the Philippine–American War, Bohol saw sustained guerrilla resistance, and Corella’s interior barangays served as supply and retreat routes for local fighters; the municipality was formally incorporated under the Commonwealth’s 1939 local government reorganisation. The tarsier sanctuary itself was established in the 1990s through the combined effort of the Philippine Tarsier Foundation and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, protecting a forest corridor that logging and agricultural clearing had reduced.

Culture and religion

Corella’s fiesta, on May 15, honours San Isidro Labrador — an agricultural patron reflecting the community’s farming identity. Cebuano is the everyday language; Filipino and basic English are used in commercial and tourist contexts. Residents maintain a tradition of community labour (bayanihan) during planting and harvest.

Local taste

The public market sells fresh kakanin — puto and bibingka — on weekday mornings, and vendors near the sanctuary entrance sell puso (hanging rice) with grilled pork, the standard traveller snack along the Tagbilaran–Carmen corridor. Roadside carinderias on the highway serve sinigang and pinakbet for roughly ₱60–80 a plate.

Getting there

From Tagbilaran’s Dao terminal, jeepneys and vans heading toward Carmen or Bilar pass through Corella; travel time is 20–30 minutes depending on traffic. The sanctuary turnoff at Barangay Canapnapan is signposted on the highway, with a short tricycle ride from the junction costing around ₱20. Most organised Bohol day tours from Tagbilaran include a sanctuary stop on the morning leg before continuing north.

What to see and do

• Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary (Canapnapan) — a forested trail where tarsiers cling to saplings at eye level; entry ₱80 for foreign visitors, ₱50 for Filipinos, flash-free photography allowed.
• Corella Church (St. Isidore the Farmer Parish) — a modest colonial-era stone church on the town plaza, incorporating 19th-century masonry.
• Roadside fruit stalls — seasonal jackfruit, lansones (October–November), and rambutan sold by weight along the highway.
• Birdwatching — the secondary forest around the sanctuary supports Philippine tarictic hornbills, white-eared brown doves, and various sunbird species.

Travel tips

Corella works best folded into a wider Bohol circuit: visit the sanctuary in the morning, when tarsiers are least active mid-day, then continue to the Chocolate Hills, Loboc River, or Baclayon Church. Overnight accommodation is limited; most travellers stay in Tagbilaran or Loboc. The sanctuary opens 08:00 and closes 17:00 — avoid loud noise and flash photography, since tarsiers are nocturnal and sensitive to light and sound. The highway can be congested with tour vans on weekends between 09:00 and 11:00.

Other places to consider

• Sikatuna — bordering to the north, sharing the tarsier-and-biodiversity conservation corridor.
• Cortes — the neighbouring coastal municipality to the west.
• Baclayon — for the province’s oldest stone church, on the same day-tour circuit.
• Loboc — the river cruise town, a common pairing with the sanctuary visit.
• Tagbilaran City — the provincial capital, 8 kilometres south.

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Sanctuary fees, hours, and route detail reflect publicly available information as of 2026-07-16. Confirm before travel. bohol-philippines.com earns a commission on bookings made through partner links at no cost to you.