Kookoo's Nest — Hotel in Siaton

Absolutely stunning! I’ve broken the review down into two parts below, one for the actual place and one for the diving. The short answer though is if you’re considering it, book it.

—— Kookoo’s Nest ——-

Firstly the location is absolutely stunning, we stayed in their Heron lodge. The room was clean, the view from the balcony was incredible. There are a fair few steps from the entrance throughout the place, but we found these absolutely fine.

The beach is beautiful with plenty of places to sit in the shade and in the sun. Beach towels were includes in our room and if you want to snorkel, kayak or anything else just ask the staff and they will help.

The owners Jamie and Nikki are lovely and the rest of the staff are fantastic. The food is very good with a wide range to ensure you won’t get bored and also reasonably priced. There is also a very good selection of drinks available 24/7 as well as free filtered water.

You are with the animals here and the cabins have semi open areas, so if you don’t like gecko’s, lizards, bugs and birds being in and around your space this may not be for you, but for is this was amazing. We saw some of the most beautiful wildlife we’ve ever seen.

—— Diving ——

We did three days diving, with owner Nikki as our guide. She was an excellent dive guide showing us a wide range of life. We saw beautiful corals, turtles, sea snakes, pufferfish, nudibranchs, stone fish and more.

All kit provided was clearly looked after and worked fine, people are on hand to help you carry kit to the boat if you are boat diving. They also help you kit up when in the boat and get in and out of the water. Diving here was incredibly easy.

On the final day of diving we did an unguided dive, not something we’ve done before outside of our native waters, but the house reef is the perfect place to explore and you can’t really go wrong there. There’s no current and if you get a bit lost, just pop up to the surface and check where you need to go.

Diving was very well priced and Nikki made sure we got minimum 1hr dives.

If you’re thinking of booking here just do it, you...

Kookoo’s Nest came highly recommended by a friend and it did not disappoint. I needed a few days of peace and solitude and this was perfect. My room was clean and comfortable and right out of Swiss Family Robinson. The bathroom was clean and well equipped; great water pressure but no hot water, although it wasn’t necessary. I spent a good bit of time relaxing in the hammock. The food was excellent; lots of vegetarian options for me. The beer was COLD and on the honor system; write your name in the board and help yourself. The staff was friendly and helpful. I requested a kayak early in the morning and they accommodated me immediately; clear waters and a beautiful area to kayak btw. The beach is a treasure trove of beauty - shells, coral, tiny crabs, giant volcanic boulders, amazing scenery. And friendly dogs and cats, several from Dumaguete Animal Sanctuary, provided me with some critter love therapy. I had been warned of “all the stairs” but they were truly not an issue even at my old age; they weren’t terribly steep and had plenty of landings so they were not a struggle. I took a Ceres bus to the road that cuts off to Kookoo’s Nest, then caught a habel habel motorbike the rest of the way. It was easy as well as a fun adventure. My only regret is that I couldn’t stay longer. I...

This place was recommended to me to visit or possibly stay at so hired a scooter and took the long drive out there, it looked charming at first, as you walk down all the steps to the place, it was very low key my first thought was I wasn't feeling it, the beach looked rough and the water not that nice, then decided to maybe get fresh avocado smoothie that was not drinkable as it had no flavour or creaminess at all. Then we ordered two small small meals that cost 1160 pesos as they then told me that I had to pay 200 peso per person 400 total added to the bill. The two small meals were nice. I wouldn't recommend the place to fellow travelers as it was one of the most expensive meals I had had so far, for the price you would expect a fancy resort, but it was tired looking, you had to go to the kitchen window to order as no one came to offer you a menu, it seemed to me the place needed more love and attention. I think the owner of the place needs to not charge people the entrance fee if they are dining there. If people want to swim and use facilities I understand a fee should be charged. But the menu is very pricey. I was going to take a tour group there but would not take anybody there after...