mytravelbugbite

On our first full day in the Philippines we woke fairly early to catch a plane from Manila to Tagbilaran on the island of Bohol. On arrival none of us could find any public transport to get us to our accommodation and because there were 4 of us it worked out cheaper anyway just to jump in a taxi to our Airbnb. We were staying in the Palm View residences in Panglao just a short walk from Alona beach. The apartment was spacious with 2 separate bedrooms and clean, the main negative being the local roosters who kept up their racket all night. The weather was not the greatest whilst we were in Bohol which meant the unheated pool was not as inviting as it would have been if it were hot but it was a great size.

We walked down towards the beach area to have a look around and find some lunch. The beach itself was nice enough but quite dirty in places and many of the restaurants along the front were not open, those that were seemed very touristy. After a stroll up and down the shoreline we settled upon The Buzzz Café. The produce served here includes ingredients from the famous Bohol Bee farm. The menu is very health based but the food in the end was actually slightly disappointing for us. The restaurant was over the shop and despite not being wowed by the food we were still able to get nice views over the beach for top rate people watching.

The town of Alona beach is fairly small and sleepy, maybe we were just there out of season, so after a bit more wandering around we stocked up on a few items from the store, Fraser got himself an extremely cheap but pretty good haircut from a hut at the side of the road and we headed back to our apartment to chill, play some card games and try to get over our jet lag.

I wasn’t overly impressed with Alona Beach. Maybe the inclement weather dampened my outlook on it, or perhaps the jet lag meant I wasn’t at my peak but it just wasn’t my favourite place I’ve been to. I didn’t come to Bohol particularly for here though so I just hoped that the next day when we explored the island a bit more would increase my enjoyment.

Have you been to Alona Beach? Did you love it there or were you slightly disappointed by how touristy it was?