The Philippines is one of the most beautiful countries in the world and there are so many beaches and islands to visit.
Palawan and Coron and two essential places you must add to your Philippines and if you really want to treat yourself, Club Paradise is an amazing location to stay.
We travelled to Club Paradise a few years ago and we were more than excited to get the opportunity to share a full Club Paradise Palawan Review about our experience there to everyone who would listen!
Overall, the experience we had at Club Paradise was…
A sampling of true Paradise. I know that sounds like a cliche, but the relaxation and enjoyment we had over the 5 days we spent there was, in the truest sense, nothing short of bliss.
So we arrived from the little boat to the shores of Club Paradise and were greeted by a band of island guitarists. We actually became good friends with these guys because over our time there we requested a thousand songs at dinner and had chats about random things!
You have a little cocktail and listen to the “welcome song” after which the guides explain to you the rules of the resort and other housekeeping issues.
After that, you’re free to do whatever you want. I thought I might give little overviews of all the things you might want to do while you’re there…
First, the beaches of the actual island itself…
That’s the first thing we did, get our towels and jump into that azure bright blue water!
There’s plenty of open beach front right around the island, with the main parts at the front and to one side, while the other side of the island has the little mountain and another shore front which is more rocky and weedy and better for snorkeling than swimming.
The water is beautifully warm, there’s no big tide, and there’s no predators or nasty things to watch out for…
However, be careful of:
Getting bitten by some, albeit pretty harmless little sea lice in the water there. It’s not a big deal, you’ll just get some little spots. I was fine as my body hair seemed to protect me from them (gross but I had to say it) but Gabi with her silky smooth legs was a bit of a target.
I should say she didn’t find it THAT bad, and it’s pretty common for tropical islands (Gabi said they found the same in Fiji) so don’t get too worried about it, but I thought I should point it out anyway.
The Beach Rooms
The rooms at the resort were definitely AMAZING. There was a few different levels of room that dictated where they were positioned, but we had the lowest level room and found it absolutely fine, in quality and positioning on the beach.
That room was right at the beachfront, we had the little hammock at the front of it, and inside it was more than spacious (especially the ENORMOUS king size bed).
At the end of the day, my tip is to not bother with the more expensive rooms as you’ll spend most of your time away from them and even if your room’s not on the beach front, you’ll get PLENTY of time to spend on beach front over the course of your trip – even privately if you want, you just have to go at the right time 🙂
One tiiiiny thing I had a little grumble to Gabi about is that the water that you get out of the taps there… this goes for shower and taps… is actually slightly salted. I guess it’s for sanitation purposes and I’d rather it than every day Manila water but in the shower, and to clean my teeth, it was a bit gross.
Meals And Eating
We weren’t sure how the food was going to be when we arrived but it didn’t take long to realize that the quality was very high.
We had some of the most tender lamb roast for dinner Gabi and I had ever tasted – melt in your mouth kinda lamb, mmmmm.
After 5 days it does get a tiny bit repetitive but because the food is so good you can look past it.
Perhaps the best part of the meals and eating time through is the guitarist band’s entertainment.
I am a big classical guitar fan so I might be biased but the nights sitting at the deck with a beautiful meal, the sea breeze caressing your face, listening to the harmony of 3 classical guitars playing your favorite melodies is a memory I’ll cherish forever. They come round to your table to take requests too!
When we got there we didn’t realize that the meals actually AREN’T included in the price of most packages. It’s something like $30 a day for meals, just so you know 🙂 We found it worth the price overall, though compared to Philippine standards, a little expensive (only what you can expect for an island resort).
The Island Activities
We were able to take advantage of snorkelling, and the island hopping tour, though there’s plenty more on offer.
Snorkelling, even right off the shore was REALLY cool. There’s a big variety of fish to see and some interesting corals too.
The island hopping was beautiful as well. A little boat takes you on a trip to one of the little islands where you can set up an umbrella and just chill out, ALL ALONE… just you alone on this little island, totally secluded… that was another treasured memory. You stay there for about 2 hours where you can also go snorkeling or eat a little lunch they pack for you.
Recommended:
The lunch they pack isn’t too big or TOO crash hot, so we recommend you take a bag with a little extra food in it too. Oh and WATER! You’ll need it in the sun.
The Bar
The bar and games room was the perfect place to relax your sun drenched body as well as ply it with liquor after a hard day.
The cocktails are reasonably cheap and there’s a decent selection. There’s a table tennis table, billiards table and dart board.
It’s also really cool to grab a drink and take it out to the beach, particularly around sunset. You can get some incredible photos of that.
Pricing
We just got average rates, nothing too special.
Since Club Paradise is owned by foreigners (Germans I believe), the prices there for most things (drinks included) aren’t your super cheap south east asian prices. Having said that we didn’t feel like the amount we paid was excessive, and was pretty much in line with what you’d pay at similar resorts in the Philippines, BUT actually cheaper than rates at the similar resort in Palawan El Nido.
The other thing is you can pretty much take it as you want it. If you want plenty of tours you can pay for them, plenty of drinks you can pay for them, and so on. But even if you can only do the basics, we’re sure you’ll still find it great value and relatively inexpensive.
Conclusion
Again, our trip to Club Paradise gave us some of the fondest memories of our lives; times we’ll treasure forever.
We’ve already made the commitment that we must return there at least once in our lives.
All things considered we can wholeheartedly recommend Club Paradise to couples, individuals or families as a vital part of any Philippines holiday.
How To Get To Club Paradise Palawan
When you’re looking at how to get to Club Paradise Palawan, you can plan and book each part of the trip yourself (like flight one part, interim travel one part, and accommodation at Club Paradise in one part) or you could go through a travel agent (there’s plenty around the major cities) that will basically make all the plans for you.
When they book it for you, the flight to the Busuanga airport will be included, there’ll be a tour operator waiting once you get to the tiny little airport, you’ll get straight on the jeepney, then straight on the boat. You won’t have to think too much.
I mean, you can piece it together yourself if you’re really on a budget but we personally advise against it. In terms of time, it takes about an hour to get from Manila to Busuanga.
The jeep through the country to get to the shoreline is about 20 minutes, then the boat ride over to Dimakya is about half an hour, but it’s very pretty; goes past another couple of little islands and lots of that crystal blue water etc.
That’s all for this time, just wanted to make sure I’d made that one tip clear so that if you’re wondering “how to get to club paradise” because you’re thinking of booking it all in parts, you might reconsider.
If you do want to book directly and travel here, check out Club Paradise on Booking.com.
