La Salangane Caalan Beach Villa

We’d booked and fully paid for two rooms in November, but when we arrived on January 1st, they said only one was available. The owner was the rudest person we met on the whole trip. Her answer to their mistake was to suggest we sleep on the floor. We arrived around 8:00 p.m. and found another guest still in our room. Because of another mistake on their side, we had to wait while she packed her things just to see the room. Getting there was awful too: the hotel can’t be reached at night because of the tides, so we had to walk for 20 minutes through water with all our suitcases. Everything got wet, we were exhausted, and we still didn’t have the rooms we’d paid for months earlier. There were two couples in our group, so we insisted they find a second room in town. El Nido had very limited availability. When they finally found somewhere, we had to pay for that room again and cover our own transport. The whole experience was a disaster and caused enormous stress, ruining what should have been a special start to the year. I strongly recommend booking elsewhere.

The place has gorgeous grounds and views, and Alejandro the groundskeeper is the nicest guy. It’s quiet but still walkable to El Nido proper, with cute dogs, large rooms and the option to cook for yourself. I stayed 14 days and had good times as well as some really bad ones. It could be a true 5/5 if management put some effort into keeping it up. Getting around can be awkward with the tides, though manageable. The WiFi is bad, and power goes out during your stay. Roosters are very loud each morning, which isn’t the hotel’s fault, but the dogs woke us barking at 3 am several times. If you look closely, the room isn’t very clean, like behind the cabinets. The worst part was a toilet that leaked badly for four days and flooded the bathroom. Towels didn’t solve it, and using the bathroom meant splashing around. When the power is out, you can’t use the shower or toilet, and outages can last a long time, leaving you unable to clean yourself properly. On our last day, the power was out all day. We were told it could come back at any time, but by 8 pm they said there’d be no power and moved us to a hotel in town. We packed in the dark and walked most of the way because of high tide. When we arrived, we found they’d put us in a crummy bunk bed room that probably cost a small fraction of what I paid for my room at la salangane. They offered no reimbursement. I’d urge you to look elsewhere.

It’s a peaceful, pretty quiet spot about a 7-10 minute walk from the town center, shops and restaurants. My wife and I enjoyed the upstairs sitting area outside our room, with its great views. We saved money by making dinner there a night or two. You can ask the host to arrange a ride if you’d rather not walk. The host is very kind and helpful, but you do have to ask for the gas for your room when you arrive, or you won’t be able to cook.

The groundskeeper was great, even unclogging the toilet after my wife put some work in, lol. It’s an easy walk to town center, with convenience stores about five minutes away for drinks and snacks, and a short tuk tuk ride to the market and airport. Our unit didn’t have a bidet, which would’ve been useful since toilet paper can’t be flushed. The rooms could use some improvement. The beach there isn’t really for swimming, though there are a few nearby. We were confused about check-in because there are two LA Salangane locations. Still, we had a good experience. 👍