There and back.

White Island is a bare, uninhabited horseshoe sandbar a 10-minute bangka ride out, with Mt. Hibok-Hibok and Mt. Vulcan framing your photos; Mantigue adds a forested islet with a protected snorkeling sanctuary. Catch the 5am sunrise boat to have the sandbar to yourself — there's zero shade, so bring your own.

CDO is the only city in the Philippines offering whitewater rafting year-round, with around 59 rapids spread across a 48-km river. Beginners take the lower run (about 17 rapids); thrill-seekers tackle the longer middle section or the technical upper course. Local's tip: book an IRF-certified outfit like Kagay Outdoors, and aim for the rainy months (roughly Jun–Nov) if you want the river at full roar.

CDO's signature dish is sinuglaw — grilled pork belly tossed into citrusy fish kinilaw, soured with wild Mindanao fruits like tabon-tabon — and Cucina Higala on Capistrano St. is the city's pioneer for Northern Mindanao heritage cuisine, set in an old Spanish-style house. Order the sinuglaw and the sizzling binaki (steamed sweet-corn cake from Bukidnon). Open daily, roughly 11am–9pm.

A community clam-breeding sanctuary at Cantaan run by the Cantaan Centennial Multi-Purpose Cooperative, growing around 2,000 giant clams (7 of the world's 9 species) before reseeding the reef. Entrance is just P25 for the educational tour; pay an extra ~P150 to snorkel over the clams on the natural reef, and pair it with the white sandbar right beside it.

Volcano-fed pools at the foot of Mt. Hibok-Hibok — a steady 38–40°C of sulfur-rich mineral water under a canopy of jungle trees and moss-covered rock. Local's tip: go after dark, when the water feels hotter against the cool night air, the day-trippers are gone, and it's the perfect wind-down after a sweaty island loop. Keep soaks short — the water runs hot.