El Nido Town Beachfront: A Guide to Location of Resorts and Restaurants (Part I)

May 28, 2011


El Nido Town Beachfront: 
A Guide to Location of Resorts, Restaurants, Dive Centers
Part I: Right Side of Marina Garden Resort

El Nido Town Map


From the extreme upper right  of the map to the center of the map (center of the map is the Marina Garden resort), you see the following resorts, restaurants, dive centers, in order of appearance



El Nido Corner Restaurant
  • free wifi and free use of the computer
  • offers island hopping tours

Bacuit Bar and Grill

  • Mobile: +639202385160, 09395824564
El Nido Garden Hotel

Lally and Abet Resorts

El Nido Beach Hotel
  • Chislyk Beach Cottages
    • with beachfront rooms
    • Mobile/Tel: +63(0) 91 9879 9333
      email: ana.bacsa@yahoo.com

Rosanna's Beach Cottages
  • Mobile: +63920 605 4631
  • Email: Rossannascottages_elnido@yahoo.com



Tandikan Beach Cottages





The Entalula


Gloria's Cottages


  • with beachfront rooms
  • Mobile: +63928 504 0750

Rico's Cottages
  • with beachfront rooms
  • Mobile: +63915 402 3587
El Nido Marine Club Dive Center
Spider Pension House, Massage & Spa Center
  • with beachfront rooms
  • Mobile: +639295722887


Pukka Restaurant

  • email: pukkabar@gmail.com
  • mobile: +639084888832, +639085619810

Habibi Shisha Cafe

Submarine Diving Center

El Nido Waterfront Hotel
Rovic's Pension House
  • with beachfront rooms
  • Mobile No. +63920-542-0695 / +63920-923-2305
    Manila Mobile Landline (+632) 998-44-84
    Manila Office Landline: (+632)  939-87-89 / 417-60-79
  • website: www.rovicspensionelnido.multiply.com
  • email : rovicspension@yahoo.com

Ric Sons Restaurant
  • email: donde_gail@yahoo.com
  • email: ricsonsaquatictour_elnido@yahoo.com
  • Mobile: 09102020494

Sea Slugs Restaurant

Ogie Beach Pension & Og's Resto Bar
  • with beachfront rooms
  • Mobile: +63916 707 0393
  • email: ogspensionne@yahoo.com 


Kayak Island Trip



Marina Garden Beach Resort



Marina Garden Beach Resort: The Best Resort in El Nido Town

May 24, 2011


Marina Garden Beach Resort: The Best Resort in El Nido Town 
When you have a large family like mine, finding accommodations is usually a challenge. Most family-oriented resorts usually provide rooms with maximum occupancy of 4 people: 2 adults with 2 kids. Rarely do we find rooms which will accommodate a family of 6. I discovered early on that it's cheapest for us to find a room or suite that will accommodate 6 people in one room. At El Nido, we cannot find one room that will accommodate 6 people. So we had to compromise and get 2 rooms. Marina Garden has interconnecting rooms. However, I decided not to get the interconnecting rooms because they have no windows in front and a terrace to lounge in. So we decided to get 2 separate rooms. This means 2 television sets and 2 toilets.

My tip: If you have small kids, it will be more convenient to get interconnecting rooms. I have  teenage kids and pre-teens so it's alright to get 2 separate rooms. They like being alone together in 1 room and they have separate TVs and toilet from ours.   

What makes this resort the best in town
A resort is the best one in town for a family of 6 like mine if it has a good location, reasonable rates, and clean rooms and toilet. This makes the resort value for money. Marina Garden Resort satisfied these criteria but surprised me even more with the additional amenities included in the rate. This makes the resort not only perfect for families, but also for couples, and single travellers.

LOCATION
Marina Garden Resort is right in the middle of town and right at the beach front. The advantage of being in the middle of El Nido town is that you are within short walking distance of restaurants, groceries, the pharmacy, the church, the police station, and island hopping tour offices.
Roadside back entrance of Marina Garden
The road at the back entrance leads to the restaurants, police station, groceries, etc

The beach front of Marina Garden is wide. At low tide, you can swim up to 200 meters from the shore and the water will only reach 4 feet.

That's me and my son waving from the farthest point of the beach 
where we can still stand. 
I estimate that the depth at that distance is just 4 feet.

This is the view at the right side of Marina Garden's beachfront entrance
This leads to other resorts and restaurants/bars

Below is a map that will show you the location of Marina Garden and what is near the resort.




RATES
Rates are very reasonable. For 6 people we spent only P5,140 per night for 2 rooms, inclusive of breakfast for 6. 

The terms of the resort are as follows:

Deluxe Room
  • Rate is P2,250 per night for 2 people in a room, inclusive of free breakfast for 2 people
  • Amenities: with air-conditioner, hot shower and satellite TV
  • Deluxe rooms are room nos. 1, 2, 8, 9, 10
  • Maximum capacity of deluxe rooms is 4 people.
  • Additional charge: 
  • 200 per person in excess of 2 persons in a room, rate inclusive of mattress, not including breakfast. Breakfast for the extra person is at 120 per head.  

ROOMS


1. Rooms are located right on the beachfront.
View of rooms from the beach

View from Marina Garden

View from the terrace of our room
The kids horsing around at the terrace of room 1

2. Rooms are clean and large enough for the published maximum capacity of 4.


3. The beds existing in room 1 and 2 is one(1) double bed and one (1) single bed. 
They add an extra mattress in the middle if the occupants will be 4 people in a room.
Mattresses are thick and comfortable.
.
The extra mattress we requested was also thick and comfortable


My tip: For a family of 6-8, book room 1 & 2. It's near each other, has the same amenities and a longer terrace. By booking room 1, you even have a corner terrace that makes the area private and exclusive for you to lounge in.

TOILET


Toilets are clean, with hot and cold water. The management had the foresight to put in hooks instead of 1 large towel rack. It was very useful when you have to hang a lot of wet things. I also like that there is enough space on top of the toilet bowl to place your toiletries so everything is orderly and you can feel at home. There's also a pail and "tabo" or water dipper, which is usually not provided in other resorts or hotels.

AMENITIES
Air-conditioner, electric fan, toilet and bath with free soap, satellite TV, cabinet, table and chairs and side table, free wifi
View of room 1 from the door so you can see the layout of the room
The other door you see leads to the toilet


AMENITIES THAT KIDS LOVE!!!
1. Satellite TV via Dream Satelllite. 


The satellite TV provider is Dream Satellite so you have all the local channels, HBO, CNN, etc. If you want to watch ESPN Sports, have a meal at Squidos and watch games there. Squidos is 1 minute walking distance from Marina Garden Resort.
2. Round-the-clock free wifi all over the resort


They have great wifi because: 
  • The signal is strong. It reaches the beachfront so you can use the lounge chairs and browse the internet while on the beach.
  • The connection speed is fast.
  • The wifi router is on even during the daily brownout schedule of 6am-2pm. So you can browse the internet during those times if you're just bumming around the beach near the resort and not on island hopping tours. 

COMPLIMENTARY BREAKFAST
The complimentary breakfast is only for 2 persons in a room. You are given a choice (as shown in the menu below) of Continental breakfast, American breakfast, Filipino breakfast, Omelet, Pancakes, Fruit Plate. Drinks that are included in the free breakfast is a 3-in-1 Nescafe instant coffee or Milo.  

I personally tried the American breakfast, Longsilog and Omelet and they were all great. My 15-year old son ordered extra because he found the portion size small. As you can see, the selection is plenty enough to cater to all tastes. I like the selection because all my kids found something they liked.
Longsilog:
longganisa (ground pork sausage), sinangag (fried rice), itlog (egg)

SMALL CAFE WITHIN THE RESORT

The cafe is the nipa hut shown above

The resort has a small cafe that serves all-day breakfast from 6am-9pm. This is where we take our free breakfast.

Since this is just a small family-owned resort, I understand how difficult it is for the owners to provide a full-service restaurant. But they still opened a small cafe for the convenience of their guests. If you're hungry and do not want to go out, the meals provided by the cafe is a convenient option. They are cooked fast and and immediately fills your appetite.  By opening this small cafe, the resort owners showed consideration for the comfort of the resort guests. This is all apparent by the way they conducted their service and provided the amenities.

GREAT STAFF 
Booking is easy. They reply immediately to emails. 
They give prompt and good service when we arrived at the resort. We didn't encounter any problem with them.
Regarding housekeeping, the staff do not clean the room until you request it. They don't want to intrude into your privacy so they don't enter your room until you make the request. But once you make the request, they immediately clean the room and change towels.
These are the Marina Garden house rules.
Front Desk of Marina Garden

My tip:

1. Book early!!!! 
I booked Marina Garden Resort a year before our trip to get the rooms I wanted. They only have few rooms so it gets fully booked early. I didn't think 3 months before the trip will be enough time to book this resort.

2. The best rooms are room 1 and 2. 

At night, Marina Garden is well-lighted.
Room 1 and 2 are beside each other.
The terrace in front of the rooms are wide and exclusively used by us.
Layout courtesy of Marina Garden website

Why rooms 1 & 2 are the best rooms:
They are beside each other and both have the same amenities and have a maximum capacity of 4 persons each room.
If you book these rooms, you have a corner terrace and a larger front terrace exclusive to your group.
These rooms are just a few steps from the beach.

CONTACT INFORMATION
Mobile 1:    +63 917 624 7722 (Main)
Mobile 2:    +63 908 884 3711
E-mail:       marinagarden.elnido@gmail.com

Dining at El Nido with Kids

May 18, 2011

Dining at El Nido with Kids

When you are traveling with kids, meals are always something of a concern. City kids are used to fast food meals. When they feel hungry, there's always a place where meals are immediately available. But when you are visiting a province in the Philippines, meals are always cooked from scratch so it takes a long time, at least an hour, to prepare. You cannot wait till your kids complain of hunger before deciding to go to a restaurant to eat.


At El Nido, these are the places we recommend you dine with your kids:


1. Squidos



We stayed at El Nido for 5 nights. And almost all our meals were taken at Squidos. We all loved the food at Squidos. The price is very reasonable and there's a great variety of food in the menu to cater to all kinds of taste. All the meals we ordered were delicious. 

Squidos takes 30min to an hour to prepare your meals because they cook it from scratch so you are assured of the quality and freshness of the food you ordered. What we did so the kids will not be impatient waiting in the restaurant is to order food in advance, return to Marina Garden Resort, then return 30 min to an hour after we ordered. Since our resort is near Squidos, at one time, they just knocked at our door to inform us that our food is ready. They are also willing to deliver the food to you if you wish. But we prefered to dine inside the restaurant so we didn't avail of that last option.


See more information and photos at my post: 

2. El Nido Skyline Grill and Restaurant




If you are hungry enough not to be able to wait for food to be cooked, there is a fast food option too. It is what is known as "turo-turo" food. "Turo turo" literally means "point point". You point to the waitress your choice of cooked food from a selection displayed in a in a glass shelf and they serve the food immediately with rice

There are lots of 'turo-turo" food in El Nido town but it's usually available in a small canteen or carinderia. We didn't try these since we are uncertain of the quality and safety of the food served.

However, we decided to try the turo-turo food available at Skyline Grill. Since Skyline Grill is a full service restaurant, we concluded that the turo turo food they offer is clean and safe to eat.

The turo turo food at Skyline Grill tastes like your typical Filipino homecooked meal. It's cheap if you just eat 1 order of rice and viand, which cost 65 pesos. The size of the rice and viand is not too big so when our family ate there, the cost for one meal for the whole family is the same as the cost of our meal at Squidos. But at Squidos, the food tastes much better and we usually end up with some leftover to be taken home. 

To conclude: if you're so hungry that you cannot wait for your meals to be cooked, go to Skyline Grill turo turo food. If not, eat at Squidos. You get better quality of food at Squidos and in larger amount.


See more information and photos at my post: 
"Turo Turo food at El Nido Skyline Grill and Restaurant"


3. Midtown Bakery




The egg pie is very good. Not too sweet and freshly baked. It's only available in the afternoon freshly baked and in limited quantities. The cost is  20 pesos per slice. 



See more information and photos at my post: 

4. Marina Garden Resort Cafe




If you're booked at Marina Garden Resort and do not wish to go out for meals, they serve all day breakfast from 6am-9pm. The meals are cooked quickly.



See more information and photos at my post: 

All-Day Breakfast at Marina Garden Resort Cafe, El Nido

All-Day Breakfast at Marina Garden Resort Cafe, El Nido

The cafe of the Marina Garden Resort is called Octopus Garden Cafe. The native hut shown above is the cafe. They serve all-day breakfast from 6am-9pm. So if you need a quick meal and staying at their resort, this is another meal option for you. 

This is the Filipino breakfast.
This comes free together with your accommodation
if you're booked at Marina Garden resort

This is the menu. 

This is the choice of breakfast that comes free with your accommodations at 

Marina Garden Resort.

Snacks at Midtown Bakery, El Nido

May 17, 2011

El
Snacks at Midtown Bakery, El Nido



Our favorite egg pie at 20 pesos per slice. 
We like it because it's creamy but not too sweet.
Other selections of baked goods
They have sugar free snacks!!
See the lowest part of the shelf 
LOCATION:
Along Rizal Street, beside Skyline Grill