Cebu, officially the Province of Cebu, is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas (Region VII) region, and consists of a main island and 167 smaller surrounding islands, which include Mactan, Bantayan, Malapascua, Olango and the Camotes Islands.

Its capital and largest city is Cebu City, nicknamed "the Queen City of the South", the oldest city and first capital of the Philippines, which is politically independent from the provincial government.

The highly urbanized cities of Cebu, Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue are independent cities not under provincial supervision, yet are often grouped with the province for geographical and statistical purposes.

The Cebu Metropolitan Area or Metro Cebu is the second largest metropolitan area in the Philippines (after Metro Manila) with Cebu City as the main center of commerce, trade, education and industry in the Visayas. 

Metro Cebu comprises seven cities (Carcar, Cebu City, Danao, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, Naga, Talisay) and six municipalities (Compostela, Consolacion, Cordova, Liloan, Minglanilla, San Fernando), with Cebu City serving as the metropolitan area's central core.

Being one of the most developed provinces in the Philippines, in just a decade it has transformed into a global hub for business processing services, tourism, shipping, furniture-making, and heavy industry. 

Mactan–Cebu International Airport, located on Mactan Island, is the second busiest airport in the Philippines. It serves as the main gateway to domestic and international routes to or from Cebu City and other islands in the Visayas region.

Cebu City has the country's busiest port which serves as the main hub for ferry travel anywhere in the Visayas and also has some boats to Manila and Mindanao.

Cebu is located to the east of Negros, to the west of Leyte and Bohol islands. The province's land area is 4,944 square kilometers (1,909 sq mi), or when the independent cities are included for geographical purposes, the total area is 5,342 square kilometers (2,063 sq mi).

Cebu's central location, proximity to an unusually exotic tourist destination, ready access to a diversity of plant, animal and geological wonders within the island, and remoteness from earthquake and typhoon activity are some of the special attributes of Cebu.

The climate of Cebu is tropical. There are 2 seasons in Cebu − the dry and wet season. It is dry and sunny most of the year with some occasional rains during the months of June to December. The province of Cebu normally gets typhoons once a year or none.

The Cebuano language is spoken in Cebu, which is also spoken in the rest of Central Visayas and most parts of Eastern Visayas, as well as most provinces of Mindanao.

Total population of Cebu province including the three (3) highly urbanized cities is 5,151,274 based on the 2020 census.

Cebu Province population, without the three highly urbanized cities, is 3,325,385. 

Cebu City has a population of is 964,169

Lapu-Lapu City has a population of 497,604

Mandaue City has population of 364,116.