Island Stays

Island Stays: A Quieter Position North of Alona

Island Stays carries coordinates that place it well north of the Alona Beach cluster where most Panglao accommodation concentrates — closer to the Dauis side of the island than to the dive-shop strip most visitors picture when they think of Panglao. Booking.com rates the property 8.5 (“Very Good”) from 29 reviews, a smaller but solid sample, with Stay22 estimating a from-rate around PHP 2,730 in line with comparably rated Panglao properties. A specific, current OTA listing for this property proved difficult to isolate independently during research, so several operational details below are drawn from Panglao-wide norms rather than confirmed directly for this address — treat it as a standard small-inn setup (private ensuite, air conditioning, fan-cooled common areas) unless the live listing on Stay22 or Booking.com shows otherwise.

What the location likely means for a stay

Properties in this northern part of Panglao, nearer Dauis than Tawala barangay, tend to trade beach-walk convenience for quiet and lower rates — guests typically reach Alona Beach, the island’s main dive and restaurant hub, by tricycle or hired van rather than on foot. Dauis itself is home to its own church and watchtower, part of the same 2011 National Cultural Treasure declaration batch that covered Panglao’s watchtower, giving guests based in this part of the island a nearby historical stop that beachfront Alona properties don’t have on their own doorstep.

Reaching the water

The standard Panglao circuit still applies from here, just with a longer transfer: Alona’s house reef drops from shallow coral gardens to a wall around 20–30 metres a short swim from shore, and outrigger trips to Balicasag Island, roughly 20 minutes by boat from the Alona side, reach a marine sanctuary where the municipal government caps access at 150 divers a day and collects a roughly ₱250 environmental fee per diver.

A local dish worth seeking out

Wherever guests end up eating on Panglao, kinilaw na tanigue is worth ordering at least once — raw Spanish mackerel cured in coconut vinegar, ginger, chili, and onion, made with vinegar tapped and produced on the island rather than trucked in, and one of the more distinctly Boholano dishes available beyond standard resort menus.

The cost of growth on this side of the island

Panglao’s freshwater lens — the layer of groundwater the whole island depends on in the absence of any river system — comes under particular strain as accommodation spreads beyond the original Alona corridor into areas like Dauis and inland Danao. Published water-quality studies have measured chloride levels in some wells well above WHO drinking-water guidance during dry-season peaks, a signal that the island’s water infrastructure hasn’t necessarily kept pace with where new rooms are being built. Tap water is not potable anywhere on Panglao as a result, this property included.

Getting around and day trips

A tricycle or van into Tagbilaran City crosses one of the two bridges connecting Panglao to the mainland; from this side of the island, that crossing may actually be shorter than the trip out to Alona. Chocolate Hills and the Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary near Corella remain the standard day-trip pairing, both roughly 45 minutes to an hour by road regardless of which part of Panglao a stay starts from.

Panglao’s shape, for context

The island covers about 44 square kilometres across 10 barangays and counted roughly 40,000 residents at the 2020 census. Tawala, Danao, and Bolod carry the heaviest tourist traffic and accommodation density; interior and northern barangays, closer to where Island Stays sits, remain more agricultural or residential, producing coconut and root crops rather than running dive shops.

Options beyond the beach

From the Dauis side of the island, South Farm Panglao’s organic farm-and-recreation site and the Panglao Golf, Sports and Entertainment Park both offer inland activity without the drive out to Alona — reasonable ways to fill a day between beach trips, particularly for a property positioned away from the coast to begin with.

Where this fits on Panglao’s price scale

Panglao’s accommodation runs from backpacker beach huts at PHP 600–800 a night through mid-range cottages around PHP 3,000–6,000 to a small number of four-star resorts above that. Stay22’s roughly PHP 2,730 estimate places Island Stays solidly in the mid-range band, consistent with an 8.5 rating from a modest but respectable review count.

A note for the countryside half of a stay

Guests basing themselves on this side of the island may find the drive to Chocolate Hills and the Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary near Corella comparable in length to the drive out to Alona, since both routes cross the same bridge network into the Bohol mainland — worth factoring in when deciding whether to book beach days or countryside excursions first during a short stay.

Who it suits

Given the review base and rating, Island Stays looks like a reasonable quieter alternative to an Alona-front stay, best suited to travelers with their own transport or comfortable arranging tricycles for each beach trip, rather than those wanting to walk out of their room and onto the sand.