We have carried out high-resolution angle-resolved and resonant photoemission spectroscopy ͑RPES͒ on heavy-fermion superconductors Ce 2 CoIn 8 and Ce 2 RhIn 8 to study the electronic band structure and the nature of the Ce 4f electrons. We have experimentally determined the valence-band structure and compared them with the full-potential linear augmented plane-wave band calculations. We found that both compounds have quasitwo-dimensional cylindrical Fermi surfaces centered at the M͑A͒ point in the Brillouin zone, which may be an essential parameter for the development of the superconductivity. Comparison with the band calculations based on the itinerant and localized models suggests that the Ce 4f electrons are essentially localized in both compounds at a measured temperature of 40 K. RPES results have confirmed the localized character of the Ce 4f electrons in both compounds, with a relatively stronger localized nature in Ce 2 RhIn 8 than in Ce 2 CoIn 8 . This difference in the strength of localized character well explains the difference in the magnetic properties between the two compounds.