LaVeranda Beach Resort

LaVeranda Beach Resort: A Catarman Base on the Dauis Coast

LaVeranda Beach Resort sits at Purok 5, Barangay Catarman, on the Dauis side of the peninsula — a nine-minute walk, per its own listing, from Bikini Beach in neighboring Barangay Biking, and roughly 8.9 kilometres north of Alona Beach, Panglao’s dive-and-nightlife strip across the causeway. That distinction matters: this is a Dauis property with Dauis pricing and a quieter, more local rhythm, not an Alona Beach hotel — travelers expecting to walk straight into Panglao’s reef-tourism scene from the front door should recalibrate, while those wanting proximity to it without paying for it will find the trade-off works in their favor. It carries an 8.4 out of 10, “Very Good,” score on Booking.com from 8 reviews, and separately, a 3-out-of-5 TripAdvisor ranking (#135 of 163 B&Bs and inns in the Dauis listings) — a more modest overall standing that’s worth reading alongside the newer Booking.com figure rather than in place of it.

The Accommodation

The resort runs 22 rooms, described in guest feedback as having big beds, big rooms, and reliably cold air conditioning with both hot and cold running water — a genuinely complete room specification for a Dauis property at this size. The signature amenity is an infinity pool with a jacuzzi and man-made waterfalls, a more elaborate pool setup than most comparably sized Dauis inns offer. The restaurant fronts the water from a cliff-edge position, giving diners an ocean view described in reviews as a real highlight of an evening meal here, distinct from a flat beachfront dining room.

Dining and Local Flavor

The restaurant serves Filipino food, and its cliffside position over the water is as much the draw as the menu itself. For a broader taste of the area beyond the resort, Dauis’s western shore fishing communities — concentrated in Barangay Songculan, a short distance up the coast from Catarman — supply grilled tanigue and kinilaw na tuna to informal waterfront eateries, dishes rooted in the same fishing economy that gives the municipality’s annual Panagat Festival its name and purpose. Calamay, the coconut-milk and glutinous-rice sweet sold in small clay pots near Dauis Church, makes a practical pasalubong for guests heading home from a Catarman base.

Location and What’s Nearby

Being a nine-minute walk from Bikini Beach rather than directly on it means guests here trade a few minutes’ walk for a quieter setting and, generally, a lower nightly rate than the handful of properties sitting literally on the beach itself. Bikini Beach, in Barangay Biking, is a public, no-fee stretch favored by local Dauis families rather than a resort-managed private beach — a genuinely different, more grounded beach experience from Alona’s manicured resort sand across the causeway. Hinagdanan Cave, in Barangay Bingag, is a reasonable drive from Catarman: a roughly 100-metre limestone cave holding a brackish underground lagoon 10 to 20 metres deep, lit through natural ceiling openings and recognized as a geosite within the Bohol Island UNESCO Global Geopark. Local guides tell visitors the cave’s name comes from the Cebuano word for ladder, tied to an oral account of a farmer who found the cave by dropping a stone into a hole and hearing a splash below — offered here as local lore rather than documented history, but the account guides at the entrance still tell.

Dauis Church, across the peninsula in Barangay Mayacabac, is a longer but worthwhile stop for guests interested in the municipality’s older identity: the parish traces to an Augustinian mission founded in 1697, among Bohol’s oldest, and the freshwater well inside its compound is reputed locally for curative properties, particularly for eye ailments, drawing Filipino pilgrims year-round and peaking during the August 15 Assumption fiesta and Holy Week. The church’s bell tower was damaged in the 2013 magnitude-7.2 earthquake and has since been partially restored — a reminder that Bohol’s colonial-era churches carry genuine seismic history rather than serving as purely decorative backdrops.

Day trips inland to Chocolate Hills and the Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary in Corella are both readily arranged from a Catarman base, typically 45 minutes to an hour by road, and both work as half-day excursions that leave mornings or evenings free for time back at the resort’s pool or the nearby beach.

Practical Details

Location: Purok 5, Catarman, Dauis — a nine-minute walk to Bikini Beach, with Alona Beach and Panglao’s dive shops reachable by a roughly 20-minute tricycle or car ride across the causeway rather than on foot. Transport: jeepneys and multicabs run the Tagbilaran–Panglao route through Dauis every 15–20 minutes for around ₱12–15; a shorter tricycle leg covers the distance into Catarman itself. Rate: estimated at roughly ₱3,110 and up per night, drawn from four comparable Dauis properties carrying a similar 8.4 rating — notably below the ₱4,000–8,000 typical of an equivalent stay directly on Alona Beach.

Who Should Book Here

This suits travelers who want a genuinely nicer pool and a cliffside dining view than the Dauis budget standard, combined with walking-distance access to a public, no-fee beach, and who are comfortable with a short ride rather than a walk to Panglao’s busier dive-and-nightlife strip. It’s a weaker match for anyone whose top priority is stepping directly onto Alona Beach itself or being within the center of Panglao’s tourist infrastructure — for that, a property physically located in Panglao’s Tawala barangay is the better fit. Given the modest TripAdvisor ranking alongside the stronger recent Booking.com score, it’s worth reading a spread of recent reviews before booking.

Getting There & Booking

From Tagbilaran, the standard Panglao-route jeepney or multicab covers most of the trip, with a short tricycle ride into Catarman itself. Book through Stay22 or Booking.com for live rates and availability, and confirm current room photos given the gap between the property’s two review platforms.