Banana Land — Hotel in Panglao

I really liked Bananaland’s low-cost bungalows during a 3-night visit last week. Our unit was spacious and quiet and nestled in lovely garden/jungle surroundings. The bed was comfortable and the room was clean. The downsides of the unit were a couple power outages and low water pressure||||Bananaland is a few minute walk from the best side of Alona Beach – the beach’s eastern edge. Alona Beach has become increasingly popular and crowded since I visited a few years ago -- the east side where the larger, upscale resorts are situated was quiet and just beautiful with soft white sand and clear, clean water.||||Some people may be put off by dark, narrow dirt path into Bananaland –it was a bit challenging for us arriving at night -- you should not be too skittish of traveler if you stay at Bananaland. ||||An important thing to note about Bananaland’s location is that this few minutes walk to the beach entails paying 100 PHP to obtain a pass (unlimited use) to cross the grounds of Alona Tropical Beach Resort and access the beach. Each time you pass through Alona Tropical Resort one must sign-in with the (friendly) resort security staff. ||||Naturally several times as I journeyed to the beach I did ask myself -- should I just pay the additional room rate (3 times as much as Bananaland when I was there) and stay at the Alona Tropical Beach Resort with its aesthetically pleasing swimming pool, landscaping & lobby, be closer to the beach and feel like some higher status traveler not subject to the indignity of needing to proffer an access pass each time I went to the beach? ||||NO – it was definitely way better for me to save the US$60 per day, and personally I liked the scruffy charm of Bananaland. I liked the lush natural surroundings, chatting with the easy-going staff, and petting the somnolent Lisa the Dog (a funny breed of dog that looked more like a small hippopotamus)||||Bananaland is close enough to the “action” of Alona Beach – with numerous beach-side eateries and live bands – recommend breakfast at Buzzz Cafe which provided us great||views, service, and food -- as did Hera Greek Taverna and Hayahay...

It’s a Philippine-German run place and offers accommodation from solo-, tandem travelers, couples, up to little groups so you can choose from a nice range of rooms e.g more “jungle hut style” or rather apartment with kitchen in the main house (think it was about 7 units). Location is really good as you are in a quiet area, but it’s still just a 5 minutes walk to Alona beach or the main road. They offer a hearty breakfast and if you’re lucky it might be banana pancake day (delicious). I liked that it was really relaxed and not run like a hotel (e.g. no hard breakfast times), so you can have your privacy and/or can have it your way.|They also run a small little shop like a “mini-mart”, which I found to be super convenient...||The real difference though are the owners that really go the extra mile. Just ask and they will do their best to make it happen. So this also relates to the guests, very down to earth... it easily could happen that you meet up with fellow travelers for a couple of drinks and fun stories in the evening...||A relaxed place, not overcrowded and rather down to earth with great owners...||I’d definitely go...

The bungalow is not worth for the money we paid. There was not aircon (it was not specified in our booking) but for the money we thought it must be included, our bad, because it is impossible sleep in here with no aircon. There were 3 fans, only one was working and it was super noisy. The bed was ok... There were spider nets everywhere in the room, mostly in the toilet... I think if it was cheaper you could justify staying there, otherwise for having no breakfast included and for what it is... no worth. Also and important, there were construction for new buildings around so it is really noisy and there is not easy access to the beach. Other reviews say you could have a shortcut from other hotel but looks like no possible anymore, so it gives you a good 20-25 minutes walking to the beach and the area where it is located is not really nice if you go alone, really dark, no proper road and the people around were a bit.... So do...