Kermit Surf Resort and Restaurant Siargao — Restaurant in General Luna

We stayed at the Kermit Hotel Siargao for 11 days and 10 nights and also had some meals over there.||The restaurant: |- Food: all in all good. Really enjoyed the breakfast. As for the Italian restaurant, sometimes not everything on the menu was available, which is understandable in an island though. The pizza is amazing! |- Service: quite slow. It could take easily 45 minutes to get the food, even though the restaurant was not that busy. On the other hand, the waiters seemed distracted. In order to give an order we had to assertively call them. Otherwise the usual signals that you are ready to order, e.g. closed menu, making eye contact etc. were not effective. |||The Hotel:||On the positive side, the facilities are beautiful and of high quality! Everything is pretty new and the gardens with tropical plants are well kept. The rooms are also clean, tidy and modern with AC. ||There were, however several topics that I did not like at the Kermit hotel: |||1) Surf Resort?|it is NOT(!) really a Surf Resort. Yes, there is a quite interesting quiver at the entrance, but that’s more or less it. For the first two days, we booked the surf lessons via the reception (gotta pay cash and can’t book it to the room!). |||2) Surf lessons|The first day all went well. It’s one instructor per student which gives it a surf guiding vibe, so that’s pretty cool. However, don’t expect real lessons. The instructors just asked each of us to show them our pop-up and that seemed to be enough for them to assess our skill level.||For the first lesson we went to a beach and then were transferred by boat to the surf spot (just note that the boat ride is extra and you bear the costs for it). ||There was a mess-up for the second lesson: we were a couple of hundred pesos short when we asked for surf lessons in the evening and agreed to go grab the cash and pay for the lessons after we return from having dinner. When we arrived, the receptionist (another one) told us that we should pay the day after directly to the instructors. To our surprise, the day of the lesson, the surf instructors never showed up. When I went to ask at reception what happened the receptionist just laughed and said that he did not call them because we did not pay. Long story short, the second lesson did not take place. It was also noteworthy that overnight the price of the lessons had increased by 200 pesos per person. This was too much, so we went to Toursim Road and organized the lessons ourselves. The lessons were exactly like the ones we had the first day, but approx. 30% cheaper. In the end, this mess-up actually saved us some considerable money 😃.||In terms of recommendation, I think its quite clear that the deals are better if you book them directly with a local provider yourself. ||3) Pool area|There were not enough pool chairs and mattresses, which lead to people having to sit on the floor of the pool area. That is unacceptable in a facility that positions itself as a premium hotel. Also, the pool rules were not respected by several guests and the staff did nothing to enforce them (e.g. glass containers were lying around, children throwing balls in the pool)||4) Nighttime noise|One night, some guests were drinking and singing loudly after 11pm and no one from the staff addressed this – had to take manners in...

Excellent quality stay for the price.

Airport transport will be provided by the resort for an additional fee (500 php / est. 9 usd per person) In my opinion, worth it for the private van and convenience of it already waiting for you at the airport/scheduled for your departure.

Upon arrival, the rooms were clean and simple. If you are in Siargao for the surf (because of course you are) there are balconies for each room with plenty of space to hang your swimsuits/towels to dry. Note that lizards are normal, even in the nicest of stays on island. Street noises are easily heard from the resort and are common at other stays as well. Plan to wear an eye mask and either earplugs or earphones to block the sound and bright morning light if you are a light sleeper.

Complimentary breakfasts were great. I would recommend trying the Filipino breakfasts with either spam, tocino, or corned beef with rice and sunny side up eggs!

Surf lessons were cheap and the instructors we had were excellent. (Depending on the Instructor’s availability, you may have more than 1 throughout the week, since they rotate between resorts) NOTE: make sure to book the surf lesson with the Resort front desk. We made a mistake: after a day of surf we asked our instructor what time the following day. He said 6 am. So we assumed we were already set. But it needs to be booked through the resort for them to confirm with the instructor officially.

The pool was the perfect spot to relax after a morning of surf. It’s kept clean and is accessible through the night as well.

Yoga classes were great, can get crowded or full depending on how busy the resort is. So get there early to secure a spot!

Scooter rentals are available for people who have an international driver’s permit (must be purchased and obtained in advance prior to your departure. I got mine from AAA) These were super convenient to explore on our own. But there are tuktuk’s (little scooter cabs) available either just outside the resort or a little walk to the main tourist road. The tuktuks are typically 50 php per person but can be more depending on how far you are going. The scooter rentals are 400 php for the day, but gets cheaper if you book multiple days in a row.

The resort restaurant is one of the top restaurants in the city. Lucky you! Be sure to grab lunch (it’s less busy and the same menu) or get an early or late dinner. Wait times can be up to 45 minutes depending on the night. People come out from their own hotels to eat here, so it’s pretty good.

Notes to consider: The resort used Philippine phone number. It is best to message via WhatsApp (download the app prior to arrival) or international call. However, they are not the best at answering, so WhatsApp messaging or email correspondence is best to get in touch.

Cash is king in Siargao. There is an ATM just outside the resort, but from our research it is vulnerable to scams. So to be safe, we always used the bank ATM just a short scooter away.

Overall, we really enjoyed the quality and convenience of our stay! Great service, great price, and beautiful resort. Thank you Kermit for hosting our first surf trip to Siargao! Would highly recommend to anyone looking for a quality stay...

As a disclaimer I must say we dare to consider ourselves quite a well travelled couple. Less developed parts of (South-East) Asia are not new to us. Also we stayed at Kermit for nearly two weeks and got used to the life there, so the review would be more negative if we'd stayed for a few days. That said, Kermit seems to be taking a toll from its own and Siargao's overall rising popularity. If you're looking for peace and quiet, don't go there. First of all else there was a horrible bass blaring from nearby disco places, that continued on and off every other day for the whole two weeks. The worst days were wednesdays and thursdays and one time we actually went out to plead with the owner of the worst bass-blaring restobar nearby. It actually helped for that night but it's definitely not a guarantee. Also we stayed in the AC-d cottage and to our surprise we were basically overlooking the (eternally crowded) restaurant. That meant very little privacy, especially on the porch. On the other hand the porch was a quite dark and damp place due to overgrown plants, so it wasn't cozy anyways (the mosquitos might disagree). In addition to the noises from the restaurant, there was noise from other guests: for example some people in the deluxe rooms had a loud gatherings in the middle of the night on their balconies right above our (paper thin) grass roof. Overall it wasn't even close to the relaxing and cozy stay we hoped for. It ruined our sleep but it also ruined evenings altogether - the nights are long and dark in Siargao and you have no peace at your room. We would have moved out, but a) Kermit gives no refunds and b) all the other places were booked. We must say the staff was very sympathetic and we understand that they do their best to give the guests the best experience possible. It's not their fault if some idiot decides to hold an open air rave in the neighbourhood. But that's the situation, so be warned and pack earplugs just in case. On the positive side the food in the restaurant was really good and in good variety - no wonder it's so popular. The breakfasts were probably our favourite part of the day (it's a shame though the fruit bowl is only available at breakfast time). Also the shakes are to die for and I've had better pasta carbonara only in Firenze. I also really liked the yoga classes. We were disappointed in the surfschool though. I had a bad experience from Bali so I hoped to get some safe handholding to get aquainted slowly. Instead the instructors didn't seem to care about our experience and didn't modify the plan if I said I don't want to go into the bigger waves (also I'm not sure how well mine spoke english). I got scared of the waves, didn't feel safe with the instructor and finally we just went back to the resort in half an hour. I would have probably gotten a better experience with the random guys by...