For a number of reasons, any writing about Banaue has to begin with an explanation of actually getting there, because it’s a decent journey from Manila and if you get it wrong, you could end up on the wrong side of nowhere… Fortunately I made another post about the bus to Banaue, so I recommend you check out that if you need info on getting there.

Now we can get to the good stuff.

Like I implied in the title, the thing you hear most about Banaue is the splendor of the Banaue rice terraces, but what we found after going there was that Banaue is a beautiful and fascinating town, rice terraces or not!

As I wrote elsewhere, the town is basically a stretch of road along a mountain trail, within which there are other little networks of streets that go up and down the mountain that the town sits on. This brings me to my first point, and tip for Banaue.

You’ll go everywhere in Banaue by trike ride. The little motorbikes with their two seater passenger carriages line the streets in the main part of town and are willing to take you pretty much anywhere around the tiny town you could wish to go. The tip here is:

BANAUE TIP: Don’t plan on walking anywhere in Banaue past where you can see ahead. The roads are all very windy and go up and down the mountain continuously. This makes it both 1. easy to get lost and 2. a serious hike, mostly up hill, where ever you choose to walk in Banaue. If you’re fit and ready, go for it, but just be remember these words as you embark on your journey.

What’s To Do In Banaue?

Here are a few things other than rice terraces that can bring great joy in Banaue.

1. Walk (I know I just said not too, but this part is worth it… AND you can get a trike here if you want) down the road to the village part of Banaue and check out some of the local houses. There are kids playing in the street, houses perched on jutting edges of mountain side, and local animals scampering between houses in search of their next scrap of food. There’s also a cool little bridge over a babbling brook that we didn’t get a chance to walk, but that looked awesome.

Most of the things you do in Banaue you’ll walk UPWARD up the hills from the main hotel area, so this downwards walk is one different road but you won’t miss it.

2. Check out the local shops

Around Banaue there are a multitude of little shops for souvenirs, like wood carvings the locals have made, and the ubiquitous “penis” fertility statues, but there’s also some interesting little grocery stores, as well as spots for clothes, and more. You’ll surely find the shops a treat for the senses; certainly charming and full of character.

3. The Sunday Markets

This one we found completely by accident but on Sunday morning this elaborate street market emerges from nowhere on the main thoroughfare of Banaue. There’s all kinds of local foods and beverages, not one of which I recognized. Stroll around and chat to the local vendors, try some weird and wonderful local treats, and enjoy them at one of the many vantage points looking over the terraces.

Of Course…

Of course there’s the cool “terrace” related stuff to do as well, but I thought I’d mention a couple of the Banaue’s little treats that you can partake of outside of the popular attraction.

Banaue is a quiet, sleepy little town but one who’s offerings you simply must take in, in their entirety.

Author: Andrew Hansen

We did a LOT of research on this trip, both online and asking various locals around Manila about getting to Banaue and we never seemed to get a clear picture of what we needed to do to get there. So having made the journey I’ve put together some of the most important points you need to take note of if you’re considering doing the same…

First things first…

The cost is really cheap so you don’t need to worry about getting the best deal. We paid $18 each return… for a 9 hour trip. Ahhh how we love PI

You need to take the bus from a small station in Manila. The most reliable we found was “Autobus” BUT what we realized only after getting there is that the advertised bus terminal thats listed on the websites has actually MOVED. It took us one crazy taxi trip across town in the middle of a busy Manila night including a couple of near death experiences, a yelling match with our taxi driver, and a last minute trike ride to a different street by a random local to actually FIND the real bus terminal.

So here’s the address as listed:

Auto Bus Terminal: España Blvd corner G. Tolentino St., Manila. The bus leaves at 10 PM daily and arrives at about 7AM.

The time it leaves is right but the rest is not. Have the taxi driver take you to that area and just leave in plenty of time to get out and ask locals where the NEW “Autobus” terminal is. I wish we’d written down the street name for you but we were so rushed and frantic that we didn’t have the peace of mind to do so.

The bus trip to Banaue is 9 hours through the night. It was a tad draining because the bus wasn’t the best, the air conditioning was incessant and too cold, and the seats reclined juuuust enough for you to THINK you might be able to get comfortable before crushing your dreams of any form of decent sleep.

Another tip, don’t even try to get the back seat so you can lie right down, it won’t help. The back seat is reserved for the driver to sleep after he rotates with another driver half way through the trip. We found this out after being kicked out of our comfortable sleeping position after mistakenly thinking that the back seat was a free for all.

But don’t let me discourage you, this is all part of the experience, and when you get to Banaue it’ll be hard to argue that the trip wasn’t worth every minute of it.

When you’re leaving Banaue to come back to Manila things are much easier. You go to the one terminal in Banaue where you entered and await the bus that by memory leaves twice daily, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.

Now go forth and enjoy the beauty of Banaue equipped with these tips.

Hope you enjoyed!

Author: Andrew Hansen

It was our first real adventure holiday as a couple so there were definitely testing moments but what we learned about ourselves, our relationship and travel in general has definitely led us to the travel lifestyle we now live!

While in the Philippines we visited several island and enjoyed VERY different experiences from “roughing it” in the mountains to pure luxury on a private island resort.

We’ve put together a collection of blog posts on our Philippines trip to help you on your own Filipino adventure!

Follow the links below to read our stories about Philippines travel – the good, the bad and the AMAZING!

Batad

The Batad Rice Terraces – Oh The Beauty

Banaue

The Sanafe Lodge Banaue – Our Stay And Review
Our Review of the Banaue Rice Terraces, Philippines

Manila

Citadel Inn, Philippines – Our Blatantly Honest Review

Club Paradise, Palawan

Club Paradise Palawan – Everything We Know
All Our Club Paradise Pictures
Our Reviews of Club Paradise, Palawan Philippines
How To Get To Club Paradise – Addendum
Club Paradise Palawan – How To Get There

Philippines Travel Photos

Travel Photos

Author: Elysia Brooker

Amongst other reasons, the effort it takes to get there, namely, the 9 hour bus ride from Manila, means you want to get your trip right, and know what you’re getting yourself into.

This post isn’t about the whole of the Banaue adventure, but specifically the rice terraces. If you’re going there to see them, you need to know what it is you stand to see.

Your first view of the rice terraces will be, if you stayed awake on the bus trip, as you’re winding your way through the mountains to the Banaue bus stop. These ones are just scattered and not as extensive as up the road, but it gives you a taste of the beauty before it clobbers you over the head later in the trip.

Next, depending on where you stay at Banaue (we recommend the Sanafe Lodge) you’ll have a view of some terraces from the main town area, likely from the balcony of your accomodation.

The mountains and valleys of Banaue are smaller and more intricate so the terraces here are in smaller patches than at say Batad and don’t seem to stretch quite as far, but you’ll definitely get a decent view of them from your inn’s balcony.

But to get the best view of the rice terraces at Banaue, you need to take a short tour. We asked a trike driver to take us up to some of the lookouts, (cost about 300 pesos) but if you’re fit, you could have walked up the mountain trail and seem the good lookout points without spending any money. Getting to the lookout points is easy.

There’s only one road going into and out of Banaue, and to get to the lookout points you just follow this road through the township in the opposite direction to the way you came IN on that road. Make sense?

It’s at these lookout points that you get the best views of the terraces in Banaue, like the photo here. There’s little tourist stops along the way to check out some of the locally carved woodworks and of course the ever present wooden backscratching devices.

The view at the highest lookout they take you to is fantastic. There’s a little picnic table there that you can sit at and just appreciate the view all the way down the valley, with terraces on either side. There’s even a little staircase where you can walk down and amongst the terraces if you want. Just make sure you only walk along the stony edges, and don’t step into the wet body of the terrace: it ruins the rice growing AND you’re likely to end up with a handful of leeches on you if you do.

After this, you make your way back down to the town.

Overall, I think it’s important to point out that the Banaue rice terraces are beautiful, but they’re not AS special as when you get up to the Batad rice terraces. You just can’t see as many or from as nice a view as you can at Batad, so make sure you’re ready for that when you get there. I think if we’d ONLY been able to see the terraces at Banaue, we’d have been disappointed. When you get up to Batad, you’ll know what I mean

Author: Andrew Hansen

I’ve written about Banaue elsewhere, but I wanted to take this post to make a special post and review of the place we stayed at in Banaue, the Sanafe Lodge.

There were a decent number of choices for accomodation at Banaue so you might find it difficult to make a decision.

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, Banaue is a much bigger town than it’s little brother next door, Batad. There’s a lot of houses scattered along mountain trails, plenty of little stores selling souvenirs and clothing, and, as we discovered after it sprung up from nowhere right outside Sanafe Lodge on the Sunday morning, a thriving little weekend market!

The positioning of our accommodation at Banaue was important, because the town is spread out along a pretty decent sized stretch of mountain road, and one end is closer to where you come in on the bus, and the other end is closer to where you need to go to get on to Batad and also to the places where you see more of the Rice Terraces.

The Sanafe Lodge is perfect because it’s right about in the middle of those two points. It’s also a great spot because it’s right in the middle of a little area with a bunch of those little souvenir shops and also some interesting old buildings.

We had a really short trike ride down from the bus stop to the lodge, and checked into Sanafe.

The place is run by a lovely little couple, who were frequently seen sitting inside at the communal table, making these little decorations to hang around the place for what seemed to be some upcoming festivity.

Our room at the lodge was cute. We got two beds with good mattresses, the room was nice and clean, and also had a shower that you could get to output hot water (as opposed to Batad which as I’ve written, had no such luxury ) with a little playing around. When you’re hiking around mountain trails all day, the warm shower is something you’re thankful for.

You could also use the internet at the lodge computer for a really small fee, and unlike other places we found in the Philippines, the internet wasn’t too bad.

The food at the lodge was reasonable too, although we did have a funny experience when ordering the “special sandwich”… it had one thin slice of what we think was chicken but placed vertically on only the left third of the slice of bread, before being topped with what we think was mayonnaise. I’m sure it was a little mistake from the chef but I ate it up and laughed about it later.

What we loved about the lodge was a great balcony it had that you could sit out and enjoy a “San Mig” at (the local beer). It had a nice view down into the valley. You can’t see TOO many rice terraces here (not as many as at Batad) but the view is great, mountainscapes, a little bridge stretching across a ravine, and a long view down the valley between two mountain ridges.

The price at Sanafe Lodge was about $20 a night. I believe there was some slightly cheaper options at Banaue but for the central location, the hospitality of our hosts and the killer view, we certainly weren’t upset at paying $40 for our two night stay.

We can recommend Sanafe Lodge if you’re looking for a short stay at Banaue. If you have any questions, feel free to let us know!

Author: Andrew Hansen

And it’s not just the Batad Rice Terraces that are the highlight, it’s everything about the place, from when you arrive to when you leave. In this post I wanted to give you a rundown on the 2 days we spent at Batad in the hope that you can get there and enjoy it as much as we did…

So Batad is a relatively tiny town in the mountains of Northern Luzon in the Philippines. It’s big brother next door, Banaue is the one you hear more about around Manila, as Batad is a little harder to get to. That said, I tell you now if you make it all the way up to Banaue from Manila, and don’t go the little extra to see Batad… I will find you… and bad things will happen.

I’ll leave the “getting there” for another post and we’ll kick this off from when we got down the mountain trail into the entrance to the place they call Batad.

Batad is basically an enormous… valley… for lack of a better word, situated between 4 mountain peaks. The valley however is like a big dish, of which the sides are completely rice terraces!

If you don’t know what a rice terrace it, here goes. Basically hundreds of years ago, the farmers in this area were faced with a conundrum. They wanted to grow rice, but weren’t blessed with any nice flat land on which to do so. So what they did was to effectively build “stairs” into the side of mountains, each flat level of which represented kilometers of land where they could grow the rice they had to! What resulted was thousands of these little “stairs” that combine to make one of the most breathtaking mountainscapes you’re ever likely to see.

If my description didn’t do it for you, just check the pic below.

Anyway, so we come into Batad, pass by a small table of men who are collecting a little entry tax of some kind, while simultaneously spit roasting an enormous pig for lunch.

We walk down a steep set of stairs into the front door of our accommodation at “The Hillside Inn”. There’s not really a check in process, (after all there’s no electricity) so we throw our bags down and head for the old inn’s valley facing balcony.

The site we see is one I’ll never forget:

I felt such a feeling of peacefulness come over me that I didn’t want to do anything but sit on this balcony for the afternoon, sip some lemonade (there’s not many beverage options) and listen to the local owner strumming away on his guitar.

The afternoon winds down as you watch the sun gradually disappearing behind one of the grandiose mountains. Next it’s time for dinner.

The food there is nothing special, it’s only special because it’s all cooked there by the lovely family who run the inn. For the circumstances there’s actually a pretty decent sized menu. We enjoyed some simple fried rice with chicken which definitely hit the spot after the big hike we’d had through the hills to get to the renowned terraces.

The next day we woke up with some energy again and were ready to explore everything else Batad had to offer.

Before we proceed I should make you aware of what Batad and The Hillside Inn is so there’s no confusion.

This is a TINY mountain village. There are no cars, minimal electricity, the shower is a big barrel of cold water with a scoop, and the toilets flush by you pouring water into them manually.

If any of that bothers you, skip Batad. OR open your mind just a tiiiiny bit and allow yourself to experience it for what it is. If you do, I PROMISE you won’t regret it.

So, the first thing we decided to do for the day was to take a walk along the terraces. A young man from the inn offered to take us for a small tip.

The walk is a challenging one. You walk up and down mountain paths, across the edge of terraces, up stairs, through little farmers huts, and more.

The walk goes through the terraces and down to a nearby waterfall!

A word of warning. The walk takes about an hour but it’s PRETTY strenuous. Going down, particularly nearing the waterfall it gets into a pretty steep decline with these big steps that can be tricky to navigate. But that’s nothing compared to making the same walk BACK… we’ll get to that later.

When you come to the waterfall you’re sweaty and MORE than ready for a swim. It’s a magical site to see this when you come around the final curve…

You can easily kill a few hours here swimming around in falls as the current pushes you back to the shore, or sunning yourself on the rocks like a regular lizard.

There’s a whole little rocky river segment that you can explore down here too, hopping from one rock to the next and taking in that sweet misty waterfall air.

Finally the time came to leave and begin the trek back to the inn. I say trek this time because it’s pretty hectic. Poor Elysia was feeling it on the old legs, but I won’t pretend that I was fit enough to have taken it without a couple of groans either. Some of the steps down near the water fall are like half a meter high per step. You literally climb them rather than walking them.

At last it’s back to your room at the inn. You thank the guide (who basically RUNS the whole way without raising a sweat) and hit your room for a well deserved afternoon nap.

Overall we spent 2 days in Batad, and as we reflected back, this was about the perfect amount of time. We were able to see what we wanted to see there, relax long enough to take in the serenity of the place without becoming bored, and leave with only the fondest of memories.

In my opinion the Batad rice terraces simply defy explanation. It’s one of those things that you just have to see in order to appreciate their sheer size and grandeur, not to mention this epic feat of olden day farming innovation.

I recommend any trip to the Philippines include a stay at Batad, even if it’s just a couple of days like we did. The Hillside Inn is also definitely the place to stay. At $15 a night you can’t really go wrong, and people will say the nearby Simon’s Inn is better because it has a slightly bigger menu (and some pizza’s that we tried and thought were half decent) but the positioning of the Hillside Inn makes it the definite winner.

If you’re planning a trip to Batad, I envy you. Get ready for a special experience and enjoy the ride!

Author: Andrew Hansen

Metro Manila is the bustling commercial centre of the Philippines and home to over 11 million people! The main travel gateway to the region, Manila will most likely be your first stop when flying into the Philippines. We flew into Manila from Malaysia into a small airport outside of the city and then caught a bus for about $10 AUD into a depot in Manila. From there it was a short taxi ride – where we had our first encounter with a taxi driver blatantly ripping us off – and we were there!

We had chosen to stay at a small motel called Citadel Inn in the Makati area of the city. I thoroughly recommend the Makati area especially if you haven’t traveled in Asia before as it was by far the nicest part of Manila we came across in our trip. Makati is full of accommodation options (to suit all budgets) and close to all the malls, tourist sites and transport depots you would need for your stay!

Now I’m not going to bull**** you, Citadel Inn was no Hilton but it was cheap, central and everything we needed for our stay! I’ve put together a few pointers you should know before choosing Citadel Inn as your accommodation while in Manila.

Discovering The Neon Glow

One surprising discovery we came across on our first night at Citadel Inn was that its located smack bang in the middle of the Makati red light district.

How did we not notice this?

WELL we’d had a brief look around during the day but had soon after collapsed for an afternoon nap and by the time we both got out the door it was dark again – and by dark I mean the streets were lit with a neon glow! Suddenly what had appeared to be restaurants and bars were places called “High Heels”, “Cheekie”, “Love Machine” and there were some rather interesting characters strolling the streets!

This really did not affect our experience with Citadel Inn at all and unless you have young children traveling with you I’m sure it would be the same for you! The ladies on the street didn’t bother us other than a flirty hello each night and to be honest I almost felt safer there because there were always people around – staying on a dark and empty Manila street would have been quite intimidating at night!

Its Not Luxury But It Ain’t Bad

The rooms at Citadel Inn Philippines were not 5 star but we had several different rooms during our different stints there and each was clean and tidy and perfect for what we needed – a place to rest our heads! Your basic room at Citadel Inn has a decent Queen size bed, small fridge, sink, some cutlery and crockery, TV and a bathroom with toilet and shower.

There is wireless internet availability in the rooms but you will need to purchase an internet card from the front desk. I can’t remember exactly how much these were but I believe it was around $7 per 24 hours – not cheap by Filipino standards but it was pretty fast and reliable.

There are function rooms, a swimming pool, business center as well as both room and laundry services. The laundry service isn’t cheap but room service is really reasonable and when you’re back from a whole day of sight seeing it is GREAT!

My only warning about the room would be that the water pressure isn’t great and the ladies might find it a bit frustrating when washing their long hair but that was a small issue that was far outweighed by the price and location.

There are studio, 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom options at Citadel Inn but we personally only ever stayed in the studio room which was plenty big enough for the two of us!

You Won’t Have To Part With Much Dosh

One of the main things that attracted us to Citadel Inn Philippines was the low price point. This was our first long overseas trip and being that it was 5 weeks long in total we were conscious of our budget!

Room prices start at around $40 USD per night for a studio room and approximately $50 for a 1 bedroom suite – please keep in mind rates vary depending on what time of year you’re visiting!

Again I must stress that while Citadel Inn is by no means fancy, for the price and the central location we couldn’t complain at all!

There is also a rooftop restaurant/cafe which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner for a cheap price and has a great view over Metro Manila. The food’s not gourmet but we loved starting off each day with the American breakfast of pancakes with bacon and their delicious strawberry milkshakes (this worked out to only about $5 each USD).

Hope you’ve found this review of Citadel Inn Philippines helpful and please feel free to submit any questions in the comment box below – we’re happy to help!

For more info about Citadel Inn Makati you should definitely check out their website: www.citadel-inn-makati.com

Author: Elysia Brooker

Here’s what you can find on our blog, I think it should be everything you need to know and all from our personal experience on the island

How To Get To Club Paradise Palawan: So first, you can find all the information on how you actually have to get to the resort here. This includes the transport, some of our tips on reducing the cost and your level of stress so you can relax and enjoy your holiday.

Club Paradise Palawan Pictures – This is some of our coolest photos from the trip to CP including at least one of all the important elements of the island and the resort. Things like the beaches, the bar, the beautiful clear water, the sand, the island hopping adventure, and more.

Club Paradise Palawan Reviews – This is the most valuable thing we’ve put together on Club Paradise. This is our comprehensive review of each thing we did while we’re there. Whether you need info on how the food is, how the accomodation and rooms are, what tours are available, how much it’ll cost you and whether or not you should go. Most importantly it contains all the little things you need to look out for while you’re there. Don’t worry it’s nothing too scary, but we definitely have some tips to pass on to make sure your trip is everything you’ve dreamed of.

Of course if you have any questions about Club Paradise, feel free to drop us a comment and ask. We’ll be more than happy to answer.

I hope you enjoy your trip!

Author: Andrew Hansen

Hi there, Elysia here!

As Andrew’s already told you, we had the most AMAZING time at Club Paradise in Palawan. Staying at Club Paradise was 5 nights of pure island paradise that we’ll remember forever!

The island is so secluded and so quiet that you can walk around the resort without ever passing another guest – except for at dinner when everyone seems to creep out of their secret, beach hiding places and join in the restaurant!

I’ve put together a collection of our Club Paradise Palawan Pictures for all our blog readers to enjoy!

Our first look of Club Paradise, Palawan

The beautiful beach at Club Paradise, Palawan

Lounging around the pool at Club Paradise, Palawan

Our amazing villa at Club Paradise, Palawan

Island Hopping Tour at Club Paradise, Palawan

Island Hopping Tour at Club Paradise, Palawan

Beautiful villa at Club Paradise, Palawan

The beach at Club Paradise, Palawan

Sunset at Club Paradise, Palawan

There are just a FEW of our photos from our amazing stay at Club Paradise, Palawan! I thoroughly recommend this beautiful resort for any couple or family looking for a fun but relaxing island getaway!

Remember, you can click here see a couple more photos and our full complete Club Paradise reviews.

Author: Elysia Brooker

Overall, the experience we had at Club Paradise was…

A sampling of true Paradise. I know that sounds like a cliche, but the relaxation and enjoyment we had over the 5 days we spent there was, in the truest sense, nothing short of bliss.

So we arrived from the little boat to the shores of Clulb Paradise and were greeted by a band of island guitarists. (if you need it you can see how to get to Club Paradise Palawan here) We actually became good friends with these guys because over our time there we requested a thousand songs at dinner and had chats about how Elysia looked like Britney Spears LOL!

You have a little cocktail and listen to the “welcome song” after which the guides explain to you the rules of the resort and other housekeeping issues.

After that, you’re free to do whatever you want. I thought I might give little overviews of all the things you might want to do while you’re there…

First, the beaches of the actual island itself…

That’s the first thing we did, get our towels and jump into that azure bright blue water!

There’s plenty of open beach front right around the island, with the main parts at the front and to one side, while the other side of the island has the little mountain and another shore front which is more rocky and weedy and better for snorkeling than swimming.

The water is beautifully warm, there’s no big tide, and there’s no predators or nasty things to watch out for… However:

BE CAREFUL OF:

Elysia did mention getting bitten by some, albeit pretty harmless little sea lice in the water there. It’s not a big deal, you’ll just get some little spots. I was fine as my body hair seemed to protect me from them (gross but I had to say it) but Elysia with her silky smooth legs was a bit of a target.

I should say she didn’t find it THAT bad, and it’s pretty common for tropical islands (Elysia said they found the same in Fiji) so don’t get too worried about it, but I thought I should point it out anyway.

The Beach Rooms

The rooms at the resort were definitely AWESOME. There was a few different levels of room that dictated where they were positioned, but we had the lowest level room and found it absolutely fine, in quality and positioning on the beach.

That room was right at the beachfront, we had the little hammock at the front of it, and inside it was more than spacious (especially the ENORMOUS king size bed).

At the end of the day, my tip is to not bother with the more expensive rooms as you’ll spend most of your time away from them and even if your room’s not on the beach front, you’ll get PLENTY of time to spend on beach front over the course of your trip – even privately if you want, you just have to go at the right time

BE CAREFUL OF:

One tiiiiny thing I had a little grumble to Elysia about is that the water that you get out of the taps there… this goes for shower and taps… is actually slightly salted. I guess it’s for sanitation purposes and I’d rather it than every day Manila water but in the shower, and to clean my teeth, it was a bit gross.

Meals And Eating

We weren’t sure how the food was going to be when we arrived but it didn’t take long to realize that the quality was very high.

We had some of the most tender lamb roast for dinner Elysia and I had ever tasted – melt in your mouth kinda lamb, mmmmm.

After 5 days it does get a tiny bit repetitive but because the food is so good you can look past it.

Perhaps the best part of the meals and eating time through is the guitarist band’s entertainment.

I am a big classical guitar fan so I might be biased but the nights sitting at the deck with a beautiful meal, the sea breeze caressing your face, listening to the harmony of 3 classical guitars playing your favorite melodies is a memory I’ll cherish forever. They come round to your table to take requests too!

WATCH FOR:

When we got there we didn’t realize that the meals actually AREN’T included in the price of most packages. It’s something like $30 a day for meals, just so you know We found it worth the price overall, though compared to Philippine standards, a little expensive (only what you can expect for an island resort)

The Island Activities

We were able to take advantage of Snorkelling, and the island hopping tour, though there’s plenty more on offer.

Snorkelling, even right off the shore was REALLY cool. There’s a big variety of fish to see and some interesting corals too.

The island hopping was beautiful as well. A little boat takes you on a trip to one of the little islands where you can set up an umbrella and just chill out, ALL ALONE… just you alone on this little island, totally secluded… that was another treasured memory. You stay there for about 2 hours where you can also go snorkeling or eat a little lunch they pack for you.

RECOMMENDED:

The lunch they pack isn’t too big or TOO crash hot, so we recommend you take a bag with a little extra food in it too. Oh and WATER! You’ll need it in the sun.

The Bar

The bar and games room was the perfect place to relax your sun drenched body as well as ply it with liquor after a hard day.

The cocktails are reasonably cheap and there’s a decent selection. There’s a table tennis table, billiards table and dart board.

It’s also really cool to grab a drink and take it out to the beach, particularly around sunset. Elysia and I got some killer photos of that.

NOTE: While we’re on other amenities: Don’t bother trying to get internet while you’re there. There’s a computer (no wifi) but it’s painfully slow and not good for much except a few emails if you’re desperate.

Pricing

We just got average rates, nothing too special.

Since Club Paradise is owned by foreigners (Germans I believe), the prices there for most things (drinks included) aren’t your super cheap south east asian prices. Having said that we didn’t feel like the amount we paid was excessive, and was pretty much in line with what you’d pay at similar resorts in the Philippines, BUT actually cheaper than rates at the similar resort in Palawan El Nido.

The other thing is you can pretty much take it as you want it. If you want plenty of tours you can pay for them, plenty of drinks you can pay for them, and so on. But even if you can only do the basics, we’re sure you’ll still find it great value and relatively inexpensive.

Conclusion

Again, our trip to Club Paradise gave us some of the fondest memories of our lives; times we’ll treasure forever.

We’ve already made the commitment that we must return there at least once in our lives.

All things considered we can wholeheartedly recommend Club Paradise to couples, individuals or families as a vital part of any Philippines holiday.

Author: Andrew Hansen