Best way to get to city center from Mactan-Cebu International Airport (CEB)
Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) is located about 15 km from Cebu city center on the Mactan Island
The best way to get in to the city from Cebu International Airpot is by taxi (or Grab taxi), because taxis are very cheap and you don't have to transfer. I would recommend taking the taxi even if you're on a very tight budget.
That being said, you also have the option of taking a very cheap bus that can get you to a mall close to the city center, from where you can get a taxi to your hotel. But you really won't save much money doing this. You'll save maybe like $1USD if you're not staying close to SM City Cebu
How to taxi from MCIA to the city:
There are two kinds of taxis you can choose from at the airport: yellow and white
Yellow taxis are airport-only taxis and they're more expensive
White taxis are regular city taxis and they're less expensive
Unlike Manila, there is way less scams going on with the white taxis, so I recommend taking a white taxi instead of the yellow one to save some money. But of course, for a complete peace of mind you can take the yellow taxi. Yellow taxis cost just 50-100 pesos ($1-$1.5USD) more than white taxis from the airport to the city
White taxis cost about 200 pesos to get to the city, which is about $4 USD. Yellow taxis cost 250-300 pesos to get to the city ($4.8-$5.8USD). Payment is by cash only, no cards are accepted
After you leave the luggage pickup area and exit the terminal building, turn right and keep walking for about 3-5 minutes. You will basically walk past the entire terminal building to its very end. Simply follow the overhead yellow signs for "Taxi & Bus Bay"
On your way, ignore touts who approach you offering taxi services
You will eventually see the line up of white and yellow taxis under a curved canopy area
Both white and yellow taxis should be metered. Make sure the meter is running before you get on. Do not pay more than 300-350 pesos for yellow taxi to get to the city, no matter what the driver says (I've heard people getting quoted 600 pesos and it's ridiculous)
Check out this video for a walk through:
How to take Grab taxi from MCIA to the city:
If you haven't hear of Grab, it's basically the Southeast Asian version of Uber. It's very popular in Philippines and I personally use it everyday in Manila because it's cheap, convenient and transparent
Grab is available in Cebu and you can take it from the airport to the city
The fare is very similar to white taxi, about 180-200 pesos ($3.5-$4 USD) to get from MCIA to the city
To use it, you need to download the app onto your phone, set up an account, and link a credit card. Basically the same as you'd set up Uber. I recommend setting it up before you come to the Philippines, because the app will send a verification code to your phone number to complete the setup, so you will need to be able to receive SMS text
When you're at MCIA, you can use the free wifi in the terminal to order a car. The app will tell you exactly which door you need to meet your driver at. The driver will likely message you through the app as well to coordinate the meeting point
That's it. The fare is pre-determined so you don't have to worry about being scammed. And if something comes up, you can always file a complaint with Grab, which from my experience is VERY responsive to customer complaints. They're a Singapore company after all with awesome customer service and fluent English speaking customer service reps
How to take the bus from MCIA to the city:
The last, and not the best, option to get to the city from MCIA is to take MyBus
The bus runs between the airport and SM City Cebu, a large mall located here
One-way fare is 40 peso per person (80 cents USD)
Runs between 7am to 10pm everyday, once every 20 minutes (bus going towards the airport from SM City Cebu runs between 6am to 9pm everyday, also once every 20 minutes)
The bus terminal at the airport is located in the same area as the white/yellow taxis. To get there you need to exit the terminal building, turn right and walk for 3-5 minutes. Simply follow the overhead yellow signs for "Taxi & Bus Bay". When you see the white taxis, the bus terminal will be on your left hand side. You should see the bus schedule and signs for MyBus
Buy ticket before getting on the bus. Payment is cash only
Bus takes 30-45 minutes to get to Cebu City, depending on traffic
Once you get to SM City Cebu, unless you're staying within walking distance of it, you will have to transfer to a taxi to take you to your hotel. This will cost you 100 to 150 pesos ($2-3USD). So as you can see there's almost no benefit to taking MyBus instead of taxi