Island Garden Resort in Pangubatan

I’m trying to understand how this resort can keep dozens of employees working around the clock when it seems empty and dilapidated. It was overpriced to a ridiculous degree, and I saw no guests during the whole month of August. They’re asking over ₱10,000 for the smallest, most basic rooms. That seems to explain why it’s never once been full.

The beach was the best of the hotels I visited, and snorkeling there in the morning at high tide was great. The water was deep enough, with a proper coral reef at the end of the resort’s platform. Lunch was good too. I stayed one night, though the resort left a lot to be desired. Wi-Fi was painfully slow at times even on the beach, where it worked best, and there was none in the rooms. My mattress and pillows weren’t comfortable, and I found a hole in the bed. It was the kind of massage parlor bed with a face hole for back massages.

A quiet spot where you can hear your own thoughts, with kind, friendly staff and delicious food. The room price is a little high, but everything else was wonderful. We’ll definitely come back.

The beach is really beautiful, and that’s why I’d still give this place four stars despite the hassles. The road there is paved, but the stairs from the main road down to the resort are exhausting. Going down was manageable, but we had to stop for about 30 minutes on the way back up to catch our breath. Pack light. The room was meant for two but had only a single bed, so we had to sleep sideways to fit. The wall fan wasn’t working when we arrived; they brought another one right away when we asked, probably because they already knew about it. Staff were around and service was fine, but food choices were limited to Silog dishes, depending on availability. We had to go to nearby resorts to eat.