Metro Cebu is comprised of Mactan, Cebu City proper, Mandaue City, and Talisay City. Here is a brief description of some of the landmarks in Metro Cebu commonly used as points of reference, by Cebuanos on an everyday basis, and throughout this site.
Mactan
Mactan is a flat island connected to the main island of Cebu by two bridges, the two-lane Old Bridge and the four-lane Marcelo Fernan Bridge (also called the New Bridge), which, at 1,237 meters, is the longest center span extradosed cable-stayed bridge in the word (whatever that means). The four-lane UN Avenue connecting the Fernan bridge to the North-South highway used to be the only place you can speed in Cebu, but we now have - believe it or not - a six-lane expressway in the south.
Mactan is home to Mactan International Airport, where you'll probably be arriving, MEPZA, a light industrial zone home to numerous multinational factories, and a large number of beach resorts and diveshops. While the Mactan Channel has taken been over by industry, good diving is to be had in Hilutungan Channel, on the other side of Mactan.
Lapu-Lapu City is located on Mactan, and the historic site where the epynomous Cebuano chieftan felled Portuguese navigator Magellan is commemorated with a monument, called the Mactan Shrine. Although Cebuanos tend to be devout Catholics and Magellan was one of those who brought Christianity to Cebu, Lapu-Lapu is nonetheless revered as Cebu's greatest hero.
Cebu City
Mandaue
Mandaue City is the most industrial city in the Philippines, and it shows. It's full of factories with nothing noteworthy to see, although you might want to check out a few of the furniture factories (Cebu exports world class furniture). At the boundary between Cebu City stretches A S Fortuna, a wide avenue home to a large number of barbecue restaurants and party spots such as NASA, Slabadu, and Camp Z. These are covered in the Nightlife section.
Towards the south of Cebu City is a depressening lower-income urban sprawl, stretching ever farther from the city center. It now encompasses Pardo, Talisay, Minglanella and Naga. The traffic along the south road is bad, though it has improved since the opening of the South Coastal Highway.
