Bohol Sunside Resort

Bohol Sunside Resort: Multi-Format Panglao Stay

Bohol Sunside Resort spreads 16 rooms, 10 apartments, and 6 studios across roughly 5,700 square metres, making it one of the larger and more varied properties in this stretch of Panglao by unit count and format diversity rather than by resort-chain scale. The range of configurations — from a compact double up to multi-person apartments — means the right fit here depends heavily on party size, which is worth checking room-by-room rather than assuming a single standard.

The Accommodation

Room types run from a Superior Room (about 25 square metres, one double bed, max 2 guests) and a smaller Deluxe Double (about 20 square metres, max 2 plus a toddler), up through a Standard Triple (about 25 square metres, max 3), a Studio Type Room (about 36 square metres, max 3), and a Family Room Deluxe for up to 4 guests at around 25 square metres. Separate apartment units accommodate 4 to 6 people. Across the board, rooms include a flat-screen cable TV, in-room safe, refrigerator, seating area, and private bathroom with shower and hairdryer, and every booking includes a complimentary breakfast for two — a detail worth checking against actual party size for the larger family and apartment units.

Location

The resort sits inland from Alona’s densest strip but within its general catchment, close enough that a short tricycle ride reaches the reef and restaurant cluster. Given the spread of unit sizes here, groups splitting between an apartment and a standard room can realistically stay on one property rather than booking across two hotels — a genuine practical advantage of the format mix.

Reef & Diving

Alona’s house reef, a short transfer away, drops from shallow coral gardens to a wall at 20–30 metres, snorkelable in calm conditions roughly June through October with visibility running 8–15 metres depending on recent weather; coral cover shows partial recovery from the 2016 regional bleaching event. For deeper water, boat dives run to Balicasag Island, about 20 minutes by outrigger, home to sea turtle cleaning stations and the Black Forest wall past 40 metres — access is capped at 150 divers a day with a two-dive limit and a per-diver environmental fee, a direct response to the volume of divers this stretch of coast otherwise funnels toward one island.

How This Corner of Panglao Grew

Organized tourism on this part of the island traces back to the early 1980s, when backpackers began building simple beach huts and dive shops along what was then undeveloped shoreline; the pace of construction accelerated through the 1990s and again after the 2018 opening of Panglao International Airport shifted air traffic away from Tagbilaran’s older airport. A property spanning 5,700 square metres with 32 total units across three formats is a product of that later, more capitalized phase of development rather than the original hut-and-shack era, which has largely disappeared from the immediate coastal strip.

Local Food

Larsian-style streetside barbecue stalls set up along the Tawala road from late afternoon, offering a cheaper, more casual alternative to sit-down beachfront dining — a reasonable option for a family group staying in one of the larger apartment units here who want a low-key dinner without cooking. For something more distinctly local than grilled skewers, kinilaw na tanigue — raw Spanish mackerel cured in coconut vinegar, ginger, chili, and onion, typically made with island-produced vinegar — is worth seeking out at a proper seafood restaurant.

A Water Note

A property with 32 units and no river on the island to draw from relies, like every neighbor along this coast, on a freshwater lens sitting above denser groundwater in Panglao’s limestone bedrock. Dry-season demand across the accommodation corridor has pushed chloride levels in some wells past safe drinking thresholds, which is why tap water isn’t potable anywhere on the island regardless of a specific property’s filtration setup — bottled or filtered water is the standard, worth budgeting for across a multi-day stay in one of the larger apartment units here.

Practical Details

Transport: Tricycle to Alona, Tagbilaran, or the airport runs roughly 150–200 PHP depending on distance; fast boats to Cebu operate close to hourly from Tagbilaran (about 30 minutes, roughly 200 PHP).

Day Trips

Chocolate Hills (about 45 minutes inland) and the Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary (a similar distance) are both bookable through Alona-based operators, commonly combined with a Loboc River cruise into a half-day countryside circuit.

Who Should Book Here

Works well for families or small groups needing multiple room formats under one roof — a studio for two alongside an apartment for four, for instance — without splitting a stay across separate properties.

Skip if you want a single, uniform room type or a resort with extensive on-site dining and pool facilities beyond a standard swimming pool.

Current Rating: Very Good, 7.8 from 48 reviews on Hostelworld (as of 2026-07-22).

Getting There & Booking

Bohol Sunside Resort sits within easy reach of Alona Beach via tricycle. Book on Stay22 or Hostelworld to confirm current room-type availability given the range of formats on offer.