Pangulasian, El Nido — Hotel in El Nido

We were fortunate enough to be able to spend four nights at the El Nido Pangulasian Resort in May 2025. Having spent time over the years at some of the very best resorts that the Philippines is currently offering (Amanpulo, Nay Palad on Siargao, Eskaya in Bohol, Shangri-La both in Boracay and Mactan), we can safely say that the El Nido Pangulasian Resort can easily compete with the very best and top rated resorts in the Philippines.||When I researched El Nido Pangulasian Resort, there were some older reviews that spoke critically about the culinary offerings. As a foodie, who really expects and appreciates fine meals on vacation, those voices nearly kept me from booking - well, I am glad we took the “risk” to give the resort a chance.||Sometimes one stellar key employee can make a world of difference. El Nido Pangulasian’s Food and Beverage Manager (he is in charge of all El Nido food operations) Mohamed Younes is a man who is worth his weight in gold (if not diamonds). During his relatively short tenure of currently less than a year at the El Nido brand he has clearly put his excellent mark on the culinary program. In short, we loved the food at the resort from breakfast through lunch all the way to dinner and the stellar beach BBQ. ||Extreme attention to detail and quality made the majority of our meals shine brightly. Mohamed Younes’ Swiss training (Hotel Management School in Lucerne) and diverse experiences in the luxury hospitality space clearly benefit the El Nido brand tremendously and one can only hope that his efforts are appreciated and rewarded accordingly by the Ayala ownership interests in the resort. Swiss trained hospitality managers tend to be all-present and always-present leaders who lead by example and who understand to nearly read the minds of their guests and fulfill the guest expectations and wishes on auto-pilot. Mohamed Younes fits that mold 100% and is a veritable huge asset to the El Nido brand that elevates the resort to the likes of Amanpulo. Clearly his leadership style influences all the other employees in the F&B department at El Nido Pangulasian Resort - they emulate his professionalism, friendliness and dedication to perfection.||Our Pool Villa (number 30) was luxurious, highly functional and just simply a perfect and generous home away from home which was serviced perfectly by the diligent and professional and friendly housekeeping staff. The design style of the villa reflected our expectations of a great mix of modern functionality and traditional Filipino decor. The pool villas tend to be a ways away from the actual resort beach, but they are also a bit more private for that exact reason.||The Resort Experiences staff was fantastic and the excursions we did with them were just perfect. Be this the lagune and beach visit on Miniloc island or the hike to the viewing platform on Pangulasian island. One of our guides (Arnold or Anton - I am unfortunately not sure of the name anymore) was generous and patient with us (we must be the WORST kayakers in the world) and patiently took pictures of us while on and in the water. A pleasure to have such dedicated staff take care of us during our excursions.||The reception and front desk team also impressed throughout with their professional and friendly service. A joy to speak to them and interact with them.||The resort grounds are kept meticulously clean and manicured by what seems like an army of hard working gardeners.||Needless to say, Mike - the singer with the absolutely golden voice needs to be mentioned. When he serenaded us at our last breakfast with “Country Roads” and “Somewhere over the rainbow” I personally got quite emotional thinking that the time was near to say goodbye to the El Nido Pangulasian Resort.||To make a long story short: we are so glad we gave the El Nido Pangulasian Resort a chance and we will most likely return one day soon. It can count itself among the best of the best resorts on the Philippines and as a stand...

We had the fortune to stay here for 5 days and just left today. We loved this hotel and the staff were absolutely amazingly helpful, kind and attentive. This hotel exceeded our expectations on so many levels.

The diving with John was amazing, he’s a fantastic dive master and instructor, taking us on 5 dives over the course of our stay. Thank you John!

The attention to helping the environment is great. Philippines is overwhelmed with plastic waste and destruction of the natural environment. It is really sad to see. We tried to pick as much plastic from the beach and ocean as we could, but it’s endless. The hotel did their very best to minimize their impact. It was so nice to see this. This should be a priority nowadays for all travellers.

The front desk and guest services were great, particularly “Love” she was so helpful and able to get us a Go Pro case on a moments notice for our dive the next morning. Thank you Love!

The restaurant staff were incredible and met our every need all the time. Even the waiter came over to help us crack the crab shell which was great. Guitarist was awesome very night!

The food for dinner was amazing some nights and other nights just good. We found the days they had buffet were our favourite as the combined the a la carte experience and buffet so that there was ample taste for all people. Breakfast was great every day. Lunch was best as buffet.

The rooms were great, we stayed on the beach villa which are nice and private and very roomy. This hotel is great for discretion, privacy and chill vibe. Not the best place for kids because most people come here without children to relax it seems. So you may feel awkward like you are disturbing people.

The tours were great, and included. The guides were always looking out for you and took ample photos whenever they could. I can’t recall all their names but they definitely went above and beyond.

Overall not much on the negative side I can think of or areas to improve. Which is rare for me as I travel everywhere around the world and we have high standards. This exceeded our experience in Bora Bora last year at Four Seasons and St Regis, so that’s saying a lot. Not because they are trying to be super luxury, but the flow of everything just works really well in a chill and friendly vibe.

We arrived at the other property today, El Nido Lagen, for one night and it’s been quite a disappointment so far. But that’s for...

My boyfriend and I do not understand why the Pangulasian is worth the price/highly rated at all. We've been to plenty of private islands/resorts and we can say this is a bottom tiered resort. To start everyone off and the most obvious... we were charged for WATER. They provided "Free Service Water"but it tasted disgusting. If I'm paying over $850 USD per night, I'm expecting to drink WATER??? All the bottled waters were not free, even the ones in our room, every meal we had to pay $10 USD worth of water which I think is the biggest scam.||||The activities are included but not advertised, and the resort is extremely limited on what activities they provide. It is typhoon season so we understand that its raining we couldn't do as many activities - but the resort has 0 plans as a backup. How is that possible? I had to ask personally for them to generate a plan, and advised them to tell other guests (which is only 8 other people) to come join the plans. Other guests were expressing that they were BORED inside the room because the resort shut down everything and everyone was sleeping in their rooms the entire time. The best thing they did was create a filipino cooking class and brought us all together but that was suggested by me!||||Food is not a buffet and when you do a boarding package, again it doesn't include water, and it's a hit / miss when it comes to the food. Sometimes we'd order too much and I asked the servers to take it away since I don't like wasting food, it happened TWICE that they completely forget and just threw away my food. After that happened, the front desk girl said "oh so what do you want me to do now?"... extremely weird response?||||SPA was interesting - it is not a spa-like facility at all, when you walk in it's literally a room with 2 massage beds. Again - seems very scamming as there's a 60 min signature massage for a certain price and a 90 minute massage for 1.5x the price, but it's a 60 minute massage with a coconut water bath. I specifically had to clarify on the details but why is a BATH a PLUS when I'm paying 1.5x the price??? ||||Overall - it is definitely a decent resort but not worth more than $300-400USD per night... stay at the Amanpoulo if you want to experience...