Hotel Review: Marina del Sol, Busuanga, Coron, Philippines

On the easternmost island of the Palawan archipelago sits Coron, a semi-rural municipality that is far less popular than the tourist hotspot of El Nido. With much of the same charm but fewer visitors, Coron could be a good spot for you to visit. But how about Marina del Sol in Busuanga? Here’s my review.

Location

Marina del Sol Resort & Yacht Club, to give the fall name, is a small resort located 27km or thirty minutes from the main town of Coron and fifty minutes from the island’s airport. It is a rural location with little in the surrounding area beyond natural beauty of rainforests and sea.

 

The location is both its biggest selling point and drawback. It is a truly beautiful and stunning location with little development making it feel like a less discovered destination of the Philippines. That remoteness did also mean that you were confined almost exclusively to the resort or to use their facilities, such as their preferred bangka (boat) or minibus services. The latter cost PHP 3000 to places like Coron, making it very expensive to go further afield. Despite Google Maps saying otherwise, there were no karinderya (cafeteria) or sari-sari stores within a 15 minute walk in either direction.

The rooms

Marina del Sol feature four different room types:

• Sea View Villa with Pavilion (30sqm) from PHP 7490 - one bedroom villa featuring outdoor lounge beds and have a higher vantage point

• Sea View Cottage (30sqm) from PHP 6490 - one bedroom

• Sea View Casita (30sqm) from PHP 12,000 - two bedrooms and sunset bayview balcony

• Sea View Room (30sqm) with King or Twin beds but with ‘inner sea view’

We stayed in the Sea View cottage for two nights during our stay. The cottage is split into two main areas, the air conditioned bedroom and then the bathroom area with indoor lounger.

This resort is not particularly good for those who struggle with steps, which are required to just get to the cottage itself.

In the bedroom area, there is a king size bed with liberal use of Philippine style wood carvings. Free bottled water is provided daily.

A chaise longues can be found next to the window which is a good feature that isn’t particularly comfortable to sit on.

In between the bedroom and bathroom is a small wardrobe which is integrated into the wall. You won’t fit much more than a couple days worth of clothes in here because of the lack of hangers.

The bathroom has an outdoor feel to it with the meshed windows with wooden slats and rough surfaces on the walls. There is plentiful running hot water, which isn’t always a given in a resort like this, with the space being cleaned well.

I liked the lounger area but it did feel a bit out of place in a bathroom. There is no blind on the window, although it isn’t particularly needed with little boat traffic on the water nor any opposing properties.

Most people will want to disconnect while on their trip here, which is entirely possible with no in-room WiFi access points at this property. You can get a limited 4G signal on Smart, which is fast enough to stream video, and minimal connectivity on Globe (enough for online messaging).

The resort amenities

Upon arrival at the resort, you’ll be greeted with two members of staff at an open plan reception area. You won’t need to come here often unless you are heading out of the resort as most of the employees are working in the restaurant bar area. As with almost all the resort, there are beautiful views of the bay on both sides.

Walking about two minutes around the resort will bring you to the aforementioned restaurant cafe. Thanks to the resort’s remoteness, this will be where you’ll eat all your meals during the stay. As with the rest of the resort’s shared areas, the restaurant is open to the elements with a heavy use of woods and bamboo to blend with local design.

Depending on your package, you may have breakfast included as part of the price. The quality of the food is decent and is pretty tasty with local Filipino favourites available including tapsilog and bangus (milk fish) as well as western options including pancakes. No espresso based drinks are available but they will prepare fresh cafetiere coffee which is far preferable to Nescafe.

Dinner and lunch is not included, but there is a menu available to order from. The menu is extensive with a wide variety of items available to order from, although I would probably recommend you opt for local options for higher quality. At the time of the stay, I felt the prices were a bit expensive however, on reflection, they are representative of the additional trouble it takes to transport the produce to a remote location. Eating here is going to be far cheaper than getting a minibus to the closest town and then buying a meal. Quality of the food was as good as breakfast.

A small swimming pool can be found just below the restaurant with a selection of sun loungers to relax at.

Few people used the pool during the stay. Instead, many guests head out on a bangka, at extra charge, to go snorkelling or scuba diving. This area is well renowned for these activities with excellent diving spots to explore such as Kyokuzan Maru World War II shipwreck. Even if you only opt to go snorkelling you will still see a wealth of biodiversity while exploring the areas while the seas are far less busy than nearby El Nido tourist spots. While we had a great day trip on the bangka, it did break down twice…

Conclusion

While the price is on the higher end for rural Philippines, Marina del Sol offers a great combination of a disconnected environment, stunning location and access to some of the most beautiful natural wonders of the archipelago. The primary attraction is the lack of tourism in Busuanga and Coron Island, particularly in comparison to El Nido and Puerto Princesa.

Forty-eight hours was enough time for me, though. The disconnected nature of the resort didn’t bother me and neither did the lovely surroundings, instead the lack of food options in the area was the biggest issue. I’m certainly not expecting a dearth of restaurants, but I was surprised at there being no local food outlets nearby. Usually there’s at least a small family run outlet, often in somebody’s front room - but here there was nothing.

So yes, certainly consider Marina del Sol as part of a wider itinerary around Palawan. It will be an excellent opportunity to disconnect from the world and forget what is going on in the rest of your life.