The Alternative Inn & Restaurant El Nido Palawan

Saturday, April 19, 2014

It was a dream come true to finally travel to El Nido, Palawan. Ever since I saw pictures on the internet of how beautiful El Nido is, it has been one of my bucket list and when I got there, I was literally BLOWN AWAY! But! I'll be writing a different blog entry about my travel experience at El Nido, for now, I'll share where I stayed for the past 5 days I was there last March 2014.

Before me & Van went to El Nido, Palawan, we first made our itinerary. It is a must for every traveler to create one so that you can budget your money and time. First things first, we googled where is the best place to stay at El Nido, Palawan and on top of the list is at The Alternative Inn & Restaurant. It is situated at Serena Street just a few walk near Art Cafe.
One of the many reasons why The Alternative is popular simply because they offer an amazing view of Bacuit Bay when you lounge at their famous nest where you can breathe in fresh air, take in the spectacular view and indulge in their delicious meals.

I totally praise The Alternative for conceptualizing such "design" where you can relax, dine in and take a perfect view of what El Nido has to offer. This maybe one of the reasons why tourists drop by at The Alternative because of the "nests" that they have where you can only find nowhere else but at The Alternative.

From the inside, they offer a spacious dining area perfect for your family or friends. They are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and feature a wide array of healthy flavorful meals. I've tried their mango shake while gazing at the view of the travelers busy taking pictures of Bacuit Bay. 

We also ate there for breakfast and I enjoyed their Filipino breakfast which consists of Tapsilog, Coffee and a bowl of mix fruits. They offer big servings here which is good because if you'll be having a long day ahead like island hopping or so, you really need to have a good breakfast.

Since we stayed at The Alternative for almost 5 days, we got the best deal from them, the room we got is LOVE and we got it for a much lower price since we also booked island hopping from them. The bed can fit 2-3 persons. We chose a fan room since we will just be staying there at night and we will be roaming the island the whole day so might as well book a fan room where we can take a sleep and leave our belongings safely. Our room is much cheaper since it doesn't have a comfort room inside, so we need to go downstairs to use the C.R. when we urgently need it but nevertheless the set up it fine with me, hey it's much cheaper anyway :)

The Alternative also offers island tour where you can have the best experience of your life at El Nido. I had the best experience with our Tour A & C. I wish we got the chance to also try their Tour B & D, but due to limited budget (too bad!) we didn't get the chance to, maybe next time because we will definitely come back at El Nido. Tour A consists of the small and Big Lagoon, secret lagoon, Entalula island and Shimizu. Tour C is Hidden Beach, Star beach, Matinloc Shrine, Secret beach and Helicopter island.

What I love about The Alternative island tours and what sets them apart from the others who also offers island tour is that their staff simply gives the best service ever and that is based from experience. 

They also serve delicious buffet meals which is part of the island tour, the tourists who came with us for our island tour also loved the dishes they prepared for us. We had fresh fruits, Seafood Paella, grilled chicken,squid, fish, Potato salad, grilled eggplant, Enselada and a choice of coffee or tea. Plus, this I really owe it to them since I really am not a good swimmer, okay I'll admit it, I don't know how to swim! Kuya Ram and his companion totally helped me enjoy the tours. They would literally drag us slowly into the water with the life bouy "salbabida" so that I can take pictures of the picturesque views of our island tour. Because you can't really enjoy the lagoons and beaches if you'll just stay at the boat so you really have to go out there and swim which is why I am really thankful they are there to help us and take picture of us together with the tourists who clearly enjoyed the tour because they were there. They also offer free use of towels, snorkeling gears like mask & fins, but for the kayak, they offer it for P700 whole day.

I totally recommend you to book at their island tours because they have the best service, food and new life jackets too.

The Alternative also offers Island camping, they have a secluded island where you book and go on a camping. We got the chance to visit this island and it was very nice. 

INCLUSIONS: 
 Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, Accommodation on native hut (tent) on private beach, Mosquito nets, pillows, blanket & toiletries, Two (2) FREE MASSAGE.
Hopping (tour's A,B & C), Tour guide, Free use of Mask & Snorkel, Free use of Local Kayak. Beach Dinner with bonfire on the beach(by request), Free One(1)BOTTLE WINE

All in all, I strongly recommend that you visit The Alternative Inn & Restaurant once you travel to El Nido, Palawan. Not only visit but also stay at their Inn and book at their tours because it is truly worth it. It is one of the best experience that you can take note of once you reminisce of the times you went to El Nido. 

It is one of the best places the El Nido, Palawan can be proud of and take note! Tripadvisor also commended The Alternative for being a top destination of tourists at El Nido, isn't that amazing?:) Thank you The Alternative for a very memorable vacation!

The Alternative Inn Bar and Restaurant
Serena St., Bgy. Buena Suerte, El Nido, Palawan Philippines
09267029530

You Might Also Like

3 comments

  1. Hi I just want to inform you that The Alternative Inn & Restaurant is already closed and non-operational. We went to El Nido last March 5, with 3 day reservation via Rebecca Casi Cea booked last December 2014, and to our surprise, the establishment is already closed. We went backdoors, and they still accommodated us. Their property was dusty, dirty and unmaintained. We arrived there at around 11pm, tired from our land trip from El Nido, wishing we could rest for the night, but we couldn't bear staying there anymore. We went out to look for another Hotel, and upon finding one, we pulled out our stuff from The Alternative and asked for full refund. The only person manning there was the niece of Rebecca. She said we can contact her dad (Rebecca's brother) for the refund. We got the refund the following day amounting to 1.5k instead of the 1.8k that we have already paid, which was short of 300 pesos. We accepted it cause we just want to enjoy our stay at El Nido.

    To our regret, we've found out and got excited by the photos from bloggers sharing their experiences online, especially the view from The Nest, since the internet is our only resource and basis to look for accommodations. We're not really picky when it comes to accomodations. We've tried several cheap accomodations throughout our country, but sad to say that what we have seen in the photos are really far from what we have seen with our very eyes. I can send you snapshots of The CLOSED Alternative. Kindly reply with your e-mail account. Thank you very much!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So sad to hear about this news :( I enjoyed my stay at the Alternative a year ago and it really offers the best view as well. I hope someone would take over or buy this place and maintain it because a lot of memories were made in this place. Thank you for the update, I really appreciate it.

      Delete
    2. Hi Gracee. Did Anon ever reply to you about the closed photos of Alternative? We have a reservation with them this week and we're worried :(

      Delete