Bohol Coco Farm Hostel — Hotel in Panglao

This hostel is fantastic and great for those looking for adventure and to meet friends. If this applies to you, book here and have a great time.

This was the most social hostel in my trip to the Philippines. Uriel and his staff works hard to ensure guests have a great time. Uriel goes above and beyond to create a thriving social scene without making a crazy party hostel.

There is one common area with a big bench, where it was easy to make friends and have a good time. There is a big WhatsApp group to find out hostel events and connect with other guests. The property has a lot of nature, plants and bugs. There are friendly dogs who patrol the property and love pets. It’s great for those who don’t mind the outdoors. If you want western-style hotels, this place is NOT for you.

There are lots of facilities but are spread out. The stone paths become slippery when it gets wet and gets hazardous. The bathrooms are outdoors and clean for the most part. They have hot showers. Sometimes the drains would get clogged. There is a kitchen and refrigerator if you want to cook your own food.

The hostel is conveniently located near Alona beach, but far enough to avoid the noise and traffic. It’s also close to Oceanica resort, which is a great place to relax on the beach.

The bathrooms are outdoors and clean for the most part. Some shower drains would get clogged with hair but there are enough shower stalls to find a working one.

I stayed at the standard male dorms, where it has AC at night and had quiet sleep. I liked that I slept in a single bed instead of the typical bunk beds. I did see bugs in my room, which is to be expected for this kind of property.

I love the group dinners, going somewhere different every night and providing free transportation. There was a special buffet dinner for the new year’s celebration.

The scooters for rent are in great condition and affordable. Uriel provides a free introduction class for those riding for the first time. Snorkel and mask is free to rent but only good for shallow swimming.

I would definitely stay here again and recommend to my friends and family...

I was really disappointed by my stay here, maybe I got unlucky but I was expecting much more. I think this place is overhyped. Positives: incredible atmosphere and place to relax, very peaceful settings. Good food, great free healthy breakfast, cheap beer and friendly staff. Nice place to meet fellow travellers. Negatives: location is a bit awkward, you will need a motorbike to get around, tons of mosquitoes but half of the beds don't have nets because they don't have enough. None had one in my dorm. Food service is terribly slow, expect to wait 40 minutes for anything. I waited 45 minutes for an avocado shake and then we waited 30 minutes for our dinner but they forgot one order so one guy had to wait another 15 minutes. If you want to rent something from them or have any questions be prepared to wait they are always understaffed. It took 20 minutes for me to check out and they only got to me because I got impatient. I wanted to order some lunch at 12:00 but no one was working in the kitchen so I couldn't... Okay anyway half of their menu is unavailable. The facilities are very basic, there are only 4 showers for the whole place but only one has hot water. My dorm hut was at the opposite end of the complex so I had to walk every time I wanted to use the bathrooms. I had two bad nights of sleep there... Some staff and guests stay up drinking and playing music until 1am and there you hear dogs and roosters for the remainder of the night. There was loud techno music both mornings at 6:45am. It gets a bit cold at night so I asked them for an extra blanket, at first they lied and said they didn't have any but then offered me one for 50 pisos because they had to wash it after, this is the first time something like that happened to me in 7months of backpacking. And to top it off there was some unidentified brown dirt on my bed, I would brush it off and there would be more after a couple of hours..

All in all an average...

In conclusion: ~Friendly and ecofriendly!! ~Great food! ~COCONUTS! ~Cute garden, cute dogs, cute goats and scary turkey ~everything positive (and a hot shower :0) The absoloutely best hostel in the world! I cant believe how lucky I am for having picked lovely Coco farm! I came as an ordinary guest but left with a big family, the owners, staff and guests. This is the perfect place for solo travelers to come because of the great variety of things you can do, all with other travelers. there are amazing actvities organized by the hostel and I also hopped on back of the scooter of some of the other travelers which was just perfect. The hostel has its own organic farm and the owner was so lovely to show me everything and explain what each plant and fruit is good for. They also have a lot of coconuts (hence the name ;) ) and I can say with no doubt that I am a coconut expert now! I learned everything from how to open the coconut to what health benefits it has and how it can be used for fuel instead of fossil fuels (who would have thought???) I even tried eating only coconuts for a few days but I couldn’t resist the yummy breakfast they have. But I can say that you can easily and happily eat coconuts for lunch and dinner and feel energetic and just simply great! The owners are also very eco-friendly and are some of the most nature friendly people I have met! I will definitely be back and I will reccomend this hostel to everyone going to the Philippines, Bohol is worth visiting just for its amazing Coco farm!!! Lots of hugs to everyone at Coco Farm, I miss you...