Hermit's Cove — Attraction in Cebu

The place is actually really nice, view is amazing and picturesque however if you want to stay overnight (on a tent) you’ll pay an entrance fee of 200pesos that is 6PM to 7AM the next day hence, if you arrived earlier than 6PM you’ll pay another 100pesos for the day use and with that, if you went over 7AM and would want to swim you’ll have to extend and pay another 100pesos for the day use (kind of our fault to expect that we can stay up to 12PM since it was the usual time for check out, but then we were not informed). If you rent a room, for an overnight stay too and arrived earlier than the time of your check in, you’ll also gonna pay another 100pesos for the day use (this is frustrating because most beaches and resorts that we’ve been to never actually required us to pay an entrance fee if we have a room for an overnight stay, and would just let us stay in a cottage until the room is ready for occupancy, now just imagine there’s 15people you need to pay for, for an entrance fee, cottages are free for day use btw but too small for a 15+ people, you can get another cottage but most of the time you can’t get 2 close ones, so if want a table you’ll need to rent it na) moreover, they do not accept room reservations - first come first serve - needless to say, the room is not yet settled up (roof was leaking) so you’ll have to wait. Actually if that is their policy, well then sure but the lack of transparency about the fees not to mention some of the staffs are “not so nice” in approaching and informing us, opening our room without knocking, and staffs having different rules and instructions is definitely infuriating because hello? We went here to unwind. Water for showers and restrooms is also a problem, for a room of 8 people you’ll only gonna be given 2drums of water (not full) to do your business for the next 24hrs. If your water run out you’ll gonna pay 5pesos per bucket/pail. The place is a public beach, if we were to compare it to other ones up north and its neighboring beaches, hermit’s cove is too expensive for a public beach. This review is subjective based on our experience but you can get the gist of it. Thus, if you wanna stay there I advice to just arrived at the specified time to avoid extra fees and maybe put that patience in...

𝐂𝐨𝐯𝐞: 𝐀 𝐇𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐆𝐞𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬, 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬!

𝐇𝐞𝐲 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞! 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐲 𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐚 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐥 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬, 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐩-𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮!

𝐀𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐈 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥-𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐬. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐱, 𝐬𝐨𝐚𝐤 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬.

𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐚. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐚 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐈𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐡 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐲. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐣𝐮𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥.

𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡, 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐟𝐟 𝐚𝐭 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐬, 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐤𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟.

𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐜𝐨-𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬, 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞, 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲.

𝐈𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬, 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐣𝐮𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐱 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬, 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝, 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥.

𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐞! 🌴🌊🏖️

Note: This review is based on my personal experience and opinion. Your...

First of all -- I'd like to say, do not believe when people tell you 20 pesos entrance fee and don't believe the beautiful pictures you see online. This place is sooooo far away from the main road -- the road is sooo rough and quite a long way away from the main road. This place is very disappointing because of how far you travel to get there and how bumpy the ride is. It is now 100PHP per head entrance fee and you will be assigned a cottage with a few chairs (the cottage is a tight squeeze with no electric outlet). No alcohol (so they say) but the people next to our cottage were drinking - the staff didn't say anything. You will pay 5 pesos per bucket of water you use. There are 82 steps to go down to the beach area and it is a steep climb going home and if you brought things/supplies, you might die climbing up. The staff is friendly and they do help you get your things to and from the beach but it is a lot of trouble if you have kids and you don't know what to expect. The staff will cook for you at a charge -- i think 100+per kilo of meat that you will let them cook. There were probably 10 scrawny dogs hanging around waiting for your food to fall. The staff tries to scare them off but they are so used to people and just want to eat that they don't move too far away. Waterwise? No way. During low tide, it will reach your knees at the deepest part. The beach is so small but you're only allowed to swim in certain areas. They put Styrofoam balls to mark areas where you can swim because beyond it apparently is not safe? If we were there during high tide, we probably would have a different opinion. Bottom line: I don't recommend this place if it's low tide. Check tide online before planning your trip. Take disposable things and light things with you because climbing up will kill you. I won't recommend to older people. Kids, teenagers who are going there for the white sand, the sand is white alright, but not worth the hype. Hope this...