It showcases local art and culture via furniture, paintings and sculptures and other items that you will find around the resort. The resort also offers 6 types of room accommodations, with seaview balconies.

Peak season rates range from P5,000 to P21,000 per night. These rates include breakfast and transfers. Kids aged 11 years old and below can stay with their parents for free.

Aside from the usual Bohol tours (e.g. Chocolate Hills, Loboc River) that one can take at the other resorts too, at Amarela, you can also do a trip to the butterfly garden and you can also go on a firefly tour.

To view photos of Amarela Resort, you can visit their website at www.amarelaresort.com

At Eskaya, you can enjoy a white sand beach, an infinity pool, various sports activities and facilities, a spa, and tours to popular spots in Bohol.

Balais and villas at Eskaya are huge — measuring anywhere from 90 to 200 square meters per unit. Some come with their own private swimming pool and whirlpool. The villas likewise have their own DVD player, iPod speaker, among other amenities.

The rates are quite high. For peak periods, villas go for USD 475 to USD 2,200 a night — for two people per villa. This rate includes transfers and breakfast.

To know more about the resort, you may visit their website at www.eskayabeach.com

Based on newspaper articles, they are offering the following promotional packages this May 2007 (Note: It is best to contact them directly to inquire when the promo is applicable before booking):

Deluxe Rooms: P3,500 for a 3-day 2-night stay, with breakfast for 2
Pool Villas: P7,000 for a 3-day 2-night stay, with breakfast for 2

The above rates are introductory rates, I guess, to encourage people to try the resort out. Each oceanview and gardenview villa has its own private pool and jacuzzi.

Published rates range from USD 160 to USD 350 a night, depending on the type of accommodation chosen. The rate includes breakfast for 2, transfers, and children 12 years and below can stay in the room with their parents for free.

Amorita Resort offers tour packages around Bohol, has an infinity swimming pool, and according to its website, has a wellness spa under construction.

You can visit their website at www.amoritaresort.com

Considering that the resort has opened, it would have been better if they could put in actual photos of the rooms and facilities instead of architectural rendering photos only.

Still, given the relatively steep regular rates, it is a good idea to try out the resort given its reasonable (or is it relatively low?) promo packages while it is still new.

The resort offers 7 types of rooms and suites, all with balconies with a view of the sea. Depending on the accommodation type chosen, nightly rates range from USD 110 to USD 700.

Being one of the newer resorts in Bohol, Flushing Meadows is still pursuing Phase 2 of its development. By the end of 2006, it targets to have more facilities available and these include: conference and banquet areas, a spa, and more rooms.

To learn more about the resort, you can visit their website, www.flushingmeadows.com.ph

The owner likewise tends an exotic garden. Five types of accommodations are offered, all fan-cooled. Rates are very reasonable, ranging from about USD 16 to USD 25 a night. Depending on the type of accommodation chosen, 1 to 4 people can fit. You may also have a garden view or a beach view.

You can take off to do the usual Bohol excursions (e.g. Chocolate Hills, Loboc River cruise) from this resort.

To learn more about the place, you can visit www.laestrella.ph

The short answer: If you want your children to have a fun time in a resort in Bohol, choose the Panglao Island Nature Resort and book the Seaview Bungalow (upper level).

Marcel writes: “I would like to ask your opinion and recommendation which among the 2 resort is preferable considering the SERVICE, FOOD, ACCOMMODATION and FACILITIES (kid-friendly). My kids do enjoy both swimming pools and beach.

I find the facilities, beach and pool of the Panglao Island Nature Resort better than those of Alona Palm Beach.

At Alona Palm, there’s an area for table tennis. The same thing can be found in Panglao, but Panglao also has an Xbox console (although the games are quite limited).

The pool of Alona is a straighforward, no-frills pool, while Panglao Island Resort has 4 pools. Two of those are shallow and have bubble jets, so your kids will have fun in those. If they get tired of the small bubbly pools, they can have fun in the 4.5-feet deep pool.

Panglao has an infinity pool which creates the illusion that the pool merges with the sea, depending on the angle of your camera. You’ll most likely have nicer photos at the Panglao pool than at the Alona pool.

Panglao offers a view of the sunset, while Alona Palm beach offers a view of the sunrise.

The sand of the Panglao Island Resort beach looks cleaner than that of Alona Palm. The beach is quieter and more private, while the Alona Palm beach is open to more people, some of whom are enterprising boat men who *regularly* offer you banca rides and dolphin watching sorties. Regularly, as in every time you set foot on the beach.

You have more space to build sandcastles at the Alona Palm beach, though.

If you get the Seaview bungalow at Panglao, you’ll be treated to a fantastic view of the sea because the bungalow has large windows (yes, even in the bathrooms). Everywhere you turn, you’ll most likely see the sea and sky.

The unit we stayed in at Alona was mostly walls, although it did have a nice veranda which offers a view composed 80% of other villas, and 20% ocean.

Our kids enjoyed the Panglao Seaview bungalow because it has a jacuzzi. They also liked watching the large schools of fish that lazily swam beneath the balcony. We were only about 30 feet above the water, so the kids watched the fish even at night, either from the balcony or through the floor-to-ceiling bathroom windows.

(Note: There’s a similar unit below our “bungalow”, but it is the upper bungalow that has a jacuzzi.)

There are some bright lamps near the shoreline which illuminate the sandy walking area at night. During high tide, this walking area under the balcony of the Panglao Seaview bungalow gets transformed into a clear swimming pool for both fish and people.

If you get tired of looking at that, simply shift your gaze outward to the sea, beyond the feeble fringes of the lamplight’s reach, and you will be mesmerized by the rhythmic waves dancing towards the shore. The lamps make the sea look like a relaxingly hypnotic series of emerald ribbons floating towards the bottom of your bungalow.

Add to that a strong and cold March wind swirling around your ears and the breaking surf whispering all around you, and you will lose your sense of time and place.

Now where was I? Oh, right…

Food, Food

The dessert at Alona Palm was more kid-friendly, because they served Italian ice cream gelato. Since it was quite novel, the kids enjoyed it a lot.

The food at Alona Palm is prepared by a European, and his version of adobo is different from the usual Pinoy adobo.

All in all, both Alona and Panglao serve equally good meals, although I enjoyed the variety of Panglao’s breakfast buffet more–interestingly filling, but not overwhelming. I’m biased because I prefer Filipino cooking, so the fried crispy danggit with garlic-filled vinegar brought Panglao closer to my heart and tummy.

If I could bring my kids only once to Bohol, I would bring them to the Panglao Island Resort (Seaview Bungalow, upper unit, #1105-A). Here’s what the view to the west looks like:

 
Related Pages:

Bohol 2005 Travelogue
Alona Palm Beach, Chocolate Hills, Loboc river

Bohol 2006 Travelogue
Panglao Island Nature Resort, Bohol Bee Farm, Loboc Children’s Choir

We inquired in January 2006 for a trip in March 2006 and we could not get a booking for the dates that we wanted. We ended up going to Panglao Island Nature Resort although that also turned out quite well. Inquiring via e-mail is efficient at the Ananyana. You are sure to have a reply in a day or so. They are likewise very courteous and even offered for us to visit the place for a look see when we told them that we were already booking with Panglao Island Nature Resort.

From the photos in their website, The Ananyana seems to have a very good beach and you can also enjoy their pool, avail of their spa services (looks like they have quite a spa!), and let your kids go horseback riding. They also offer the usual Bohol tours so if you haven’t been to Bohol yet, that should be something worth taking.

To learn more about the spa resort (or is it resort spa?), visit their website at http://www.ananyana.com

Alona Palm is about 30 minutes from the airport. Their rooms are very spacious. Food is good although the choices are quite limited (if you are staying for several days) and more European than Filipino in taste as they have a foreign chef.

They can help you arrange your Bohol tours. You can enjoy the beach as Alona Beach (named after movie star Alona Alegre, I think, who used to frequent the place if am not mistaken) is a stretch of white sand where you have several resorts located one after the other. Just like Boracay though, as you stay on the beach, you will be bothered from time to time by individuals offering their wares or boating services, among others. If you get tired of the beach, there’s always the pool.

For details on our Alona Palm Beach Resort and Restaurant experience, please visit viloria.com

You can also visit: www.alonapalmbeach.com and check out the resort’s website.

What can one do when in Bohol? It would be good to go on a tour of the famous landmarks in Bohol. You can go visit the following: Blood Compact site; historical churches like: Baclayon, Dauis, and Loboc; the Chocolate Hills (it is amazing how many such hills appeared all in one place); take the Loboc River Cruise; visit the home of former President Carlos P. Garcia which is now mini-museum; see the tarsiers too. We visited Bohol in 2004 and there are still a few things which we have not been able to do or places which we have not yet been to. There’s the Bohol Bee Farm, Miravilla Seafood Restaurant, Hinagdanan Cave, whale and dolphin-watching in Pamilacan Island. We’ll do those things soon and share with you our experiences subsequently.

For details on what we did in Bohol in 2004, please visit our Bohol website.