Forest Guest House — Hotel in Roxas

This is a pretty decent standard of accommodation for Port Barton, set just back from the beach and in easy walking distance of all the restaurants and the beach. The room is clean and nicely decorated and the staff are friendly and very helpful. The shower is cold, but that is common across the Philippines. The only negative, which is not the owners fault, is that the B&B is right beside a farm which has cockerels making a racket all through the night so I recommend that you bring ear plugs. The wi-fi is intermittent and works best between 0500 and 0600, however we were not expecting to have wi-fi so this was a bonus. When you arrive at Port Barton you can jump on a tricycle which will cost you 20 pesos and means you do not have to walk through town with your luggage, it would be at least a 20-25 min walk otherwise - the owner of the B&B can organise a lift back and your bus to/from Puerto Princesa, El Nido or where ever you are going. The Island hoping tours all seem to be a set price no matter where you book, so again we booked through the B&B. We had pancakes and an omelette for breakfast one morning which was nice and served outside the room on the little balcony. I spent ages trying to figure out if you can squeeze in a Subterranean River tour on the morning you travel to Port Barton because we did not want to stay in Porto Princessa, we managed to walk straight out of the airport and book a trip there and then (for the same price I had seen advertised for those booking in advance) and paid a little extra for an onward lift to Port Barton, it's a long day but it's worth it to get straight to...

We booked to stay here because of the good reviews that mentioned helpful staff. Unfortunately the owner wasn't there at all throughout our five night stay and the girl that was there (Chi), wasn't very helpful. At check in, she said we should do a boat trip but when I asked her to tell us more about it, she didn't know anything. She pointed at a poster and said "Do this tour". Before we had even entered our room, she tried to pressure us to book immediately which we refused to do. This was disappointing as we were hoping to pick the owner's brains regarding good boat trips. Chi was no help whatsoever. One evening, she locked the external gate (chain and padlock) without pre-warning us and we had to make several phone calls to get help at 11pm. Eventually I called a local lady who helped us organise a boat trip - she contacted the hotel owner. Thankfully she got through and Chi opened the gate. She said "sorry, I forgot". The gate was never locked before that night. The bathroom gets ridiculously hot as the air conditioning unit ventilates into the bathroom rather than outside through an external wall. On a positive note, the bed was very comfortable and we liked having breakfast outside...

Highly recommended Staff is very friendly and serviceminded. Maria in the reception should get a raise. Bed matress thin not good if you have an hourglass figure like me but was kindle solved with giving us two Xtra mattresses and pillows. Aircon ok but One huge mistake is that the warm air going out from the Aircon goes straight to the bathroom making it hot like in a sauna. Water pressure is like In the rest of the Philippines low. Hot water was nice. TV with fox channels was great. You could only get breakfast no dinner but it's just ten minute walk to the other restaurants. One of our best stays were here. Maria with staff tended to our every need made us feel like one in the family. We were invited to Atkins 6th birthday ( her son) and got to taste lovely home made food and cake. It was were calm place to stay and relaxing. Highly...