Golden Monkey Beach Hotel — Hotel in El Nido

Booked this place as I wanted to be far from the hustle and bustle of El Nido town. The hotel is a 15-min walk away from the town. Starting from the town, you start walking through an alleyway, then through the Caalan beach, then a paved street, then a public cemetery, and then a small barangay. If you feel lazy and don't want to walk the stretch between town and the hotel, or vice versa, you can coordinate with them to have you picked up/dropped off using their service tricycle. We actually took advantage of this one day when the rain was pouring in Palawan.

The rooms are clean in my opinion and they definitely incorporated authentic Filipino design into them which I really love. If I remember correctly, the whole place was bought just recently and the new owner did renovations to almost everything. No wonder, most of the furniture looked new and the designs looked modern. They serve breakfast (either Philippine or European style) starting at 7 am but not lunch and dinner. Breakfast in the morning is nice as you are facing the beautiful scenery and waters of El Nido while eating. A picture from the Internet doesn't do justice! There are restaurants and convenience stores between the town and the hotel. Although, expect the prices to be higher than usual here as El Nido is considered a remote place. If you want to eat good food for lunch/dinner, El Nido town is the place to be.

The whole staff is friendly and approachable. I actually enjoyed talking to them. They go above and beyond to make sure you enjoy your stay with them. Housekeeping is consistent as we always come back to our rooms clean. If you need island tours, motorcycle rentals, and van transfers to Puerto Princesa, they can book them for you.

The only drawbacks I saw were first, our Wi-Fi connection tends to be spotty at times. This is just a heads-up to people who are working remotely. You may want to bring your own portable Wi-Fi here as this issue tends to happen anywhere in El Nido. Second, the water pressure in our room located on the third floor was lacking. Not sure what happened, but there are times water pressure isn't strong enough to even take a shower.

Big shoutout to Shay for upgrading our room. I accidentally booked two rooms each with two twin beds with no seaview for both rooms. My wife and I made a request to give us a room with a queen bed if it becomes available. Lo and behold, both rooms were upgraded with no additional charge, and to top it off, we now got rooms with seaview. If you are reading this Shay,...

My recent stay at Golden Monkey was nothing short of an absolute disaster. What was supposed to be a relaxing vacation on a beautiful island quickly turned into a series of frustrating and even dangerous experiences.

No Internet: Let's start with the most basic essential in today's world - internet access. Throughout my entire stay, there was absolutely no internet connection available. This completely disrupted my ability to stay connected with family and friends, and even plan basic activities. In essence, it felt like being cut off from the world.

Unprofessional & Dangerous Tour Guides: I booked a private island hopping tour through the hotel, excited to explore the surrounding beauty. However, what awaited me were unprofessional and frankly dangerous guides. During one instance, while enjoying the water, my friend unfortunately began to struggle and was in danger of drowning. To my absolute horror, the guides not only failed to provide any assistance but sat idly by and even laughed at the situation. This disregard for our safety was beyond appalling and left me feeling incredibly shaken.

Broken Bikes: Seeking alternative ways to explore the island, I decided to rent bikes from the hotel. Unfortunately, this turned into a recurring comedy of errors. Each time I rented a bike, it turned out to be faulty or in some way unusable. Broken brakes and flat tires became my constant companions.

Lack of Basic Amenities: The absence of an intercom in the room was another major inconvenience. For even the smallest request, I was forced to trek down to the reception, wasting precious time and adding to the overall frustration.

Disregarded Transportation Request: Finally, to top it all off, upon booking my airport drop-off, I specifically requested front seats due to personal reasons. Despite explicitly mentioning this requirement, the hotel completely disregarded it and assigned me the very last seats in the vehicle. This lack of care and attention to detail was the final nail in the coffin of my disastrous stay.

Overall, my experience at Golden Monkey was a complete and utter disappointment. The lack of basic amenities, unprofessional staff, and disregard for guest safety and requests make it a place to avoid at all costs.

I strongly urge anyone considering this hotel to look elsewhere. Your well-being and a...

We stayed here around 7 days. Enough time to get used to the place and its routine. The cottages are located just a short walk from downtown El Nido, which was nice to us because we liked the peace especially at night. The rooms are basic but clean and had everything we needed. We were in the second floor and the view was amazing in the morning, afternoon, night…you can even see the sunset/moonset from your room. The staff is friendly and helpful. They are willing to assist if you have extra/special requests, but be patient and mindful because this is not a 5-star hotel and El Nido is a small laid back Town. The breakfast area is in front of the rocky beach. There is no real sand beach on this side of the town but is safe to go in the water if you want. The landscape is beautiful and again the peace and the view are excellent. For breakfast they have different options. We tried almost all the choices and I think they can improve a little bit the quality of some ingredients and preparation. Sometimes It seemed just ok. Not bad, not very good. Eggs oily and pancakes no taste at all. Fruits were always good. If you don't want to go to downtown for dinner or lunch, you can try Cadlao resort, like a block away from the cottages.

In El Nido there is no potable water, so the hotel provides drinkable water which you can access anytime because the bins are located around the hotel. They also have kayaks for rent and a library. The WIFI is not good but this is the situation everywhere in el Nido.

What we did not like at all is to know that due to lack of waste management in El Nido, they burn a lot of the trash and the smoke stays low in the air. Some mornings we would wake up to this awful smell. Hopefully the hotels and community keep working together to find a solution to waste management and potable water supply. We read a lot about the problems that this population is facing because of the growth of tourism. If we go back, would not mind...