Ahhhhhh in our last episode of “Let’s find some of the nicest beaches in the world on the cheap,” we were off exploring the Philippines island of Bohol. There, we caught a trike over the bridge to the touristy island of Panglau for a stay in Alona Beach (good but not great) and then went venturing off to find one iconic beach – with rows of palm trees with hammocks between each of them by perfect white sand.
We paid a pittance (about $1 or less if I remember right) of an entrance fee to gain access to the more local side of the beach at the Panglao DBR Grill. I then walked South (right) a bit until we reach it – the mecca of white sand beaches at the Bohol Beach Club.
It was just like in the photo – and better! Where was I? Everyone said this beach was called Dumaluan, but technically, I’ve seen it called Bolod Beach on the map. Anyways, the Bohol Beach Club is nestled in between Dumaluan Beach (and that good Panglao DBR Grill access point) and the South Palms Resort Panglao.
And as I mentioned in part one of this review, you do have to appease the security guards (dressed smartly in polo shirts and with walkie-talkies) that monitor the beach and other grounds. But I found that you can walk in and enjoy the beach and even the grounds at amenities at the Bohol Beach Club.
The first thing I did was find that picturesque grove of perfectly planted palm trees, which did have hammocks in between and picnic tables to sit at. While I could have passed out in a hammock and spent the day there, I then braved the tropical sun at the beach for a swim. The sand definitely was pure white, fine but not quite as powdery as the best of Boracay, but immaculately clean, as was the water. I’m sure they clean the beach in front of the Beach Club every morning, but this remote side of the island gets little or no debris and trash blowing in. There were some rocks when first walking into the water, and I spotted a sea urchin or two down the way (be careful stepping on those), but the ocean was gorgeous, too. Overall, I’d give it an A rating, and I don’t give those out lightly!
One of the best parts about this stretch of beach was that it was virtually uninhabited. I saw less than a dozen visitors and resort guests in total the whole time I was on the beach. (One of them was a fat Korean tourist trying who kept falling into the water as he tried to get into a kayak, which provided a wonderful twenty minutes of laughter.)
After a swim and lounging, I ventured inland to the grounds of the Bohol Beach Club, where there were well-spread out white-walled structures with nipa hut roofs, for the perfect authentic aesthetic but modern luxury. I walked past a gorgeous infinity pool and a poolside bar that was just opening and asked them where the restaurant was.
I found the large open-air restaurant and asked how much the breakfast costs. The smiling waitress told me that the breakfast buffet was 900 Pesos – just shy of $20. While it looked worth it, I’m exceedingly cheap, so that was out of the question and I was resigned to eating sand and drinking puddle water the rest of the day.
But she saved me by offering that I could order off the menu, instead, and I was ecstatic to see that a great breakfast only would run me about $7.
While eating my breakfast, I took in the spotlessly manicured grounds, and was thrilled to see they actually had bamboo-framed bicycles sitting all around the resort that you could jump on to get from one place to another!
I didn’t get to see inside the rooms, but later that day when I got home I did check them out online and they looked just as spacious, luxurious, and well-designed as the rest of the Bohol Beach Club. I also noticed that this 4-star resort went for about $264 a night.
Yowsers! In my next life, I’ll be a big baller and be able to drop that on one night of a hotel stay. (Maybe I’ll come back as a fat Korean kayaker?)
But in this life, I’ll stick to sneaking into the Bohol Beach Club and just enjoying the ocean and eating breakfast there! It’s good enough for me!
About Norm Schriever
Norm Schriever is a blogger, Amazon best-sellling author, cultural mad scientist, and enemy of the comfort zone. His work appears in the Huffington Post, Business.com, Good Morning America, The Anderson Cooper Show on CNN, NBC, MSN, Yahoo, Hotels.com, and media all around the world.
Norm grew up in Connecticut and graduated from the University of Connecticut, where he was never accused of overstudying. After expatriating to Costa Rica in 2011, he started traveling the world and documenting what he saw. He now lives in Southeast Asia, writing his heart out and working with local charities.
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