Palms Cove Resort

A Boutique Property in Barangay Danao, a Short Walk from Alona

Palms Cove Resort holds an Excellent 8.8 out of 10 on Booking.com from 142 reviews, and separately shows up on TripAdvisor with a 4-out-of-5 rating across more than 60 traveler reviews and ranks in the upper half of Danao’s roughly 85 listed hotels — two different platforms telling a consistent story about a well-regarded, boutique-scale property. It sits at Purok 5, Barangay Danao, with its own marketing copy putting Alona Beach at about 550 meters, a walk the property separately describes as roughly five minutes — the two figures line up, which is more than can be said for some of its neighbors’ distance claims.

Rooms

Room categories run Superior, Suite, and Private Villa, the last being the property’s top tier. Rooms include a personal safe, fridge, work desk, seating area, tea and coffee facilities, a mini-bar, hairdryer, and bath sheets — a fuller amenity list than most Danao-area mid-range properties carry, consistent with its self-description as a boutique getaway rather than a straightforward budget resort. All rooms are listed as smoke-free.

Pool, Breakfast, and Common Areas

An outdoor pool and hot tub anchor the property’s common areas, alongside a sun terrace and an on-site restaurant. Complimentary breakfast is included, and the resort also lists spa and massage services, a concierge desk, and room service — a service tier above the pool-and-restaurant baseline that describes most Danao and Alona-adjacent properties in this price bracket. Free WiFi and parking are both included.

Getting to Alona Beach and the Reef

At roughly five minutes on foot, Alona Beach is genuinely walkable from here, which puts guests within reach of the strip’s concentration of dive shops without needing a tricycle for every trip. Alona’s house reef begins not far offshore and shows a mixed recovery picture since the 2016 regional coral bleaching event — some sections are healthy, others still recovering — with parrotfish, wrasses, and surgeonfish the more reliable sightings on a casual snorkel. Boat dives to Balicasag Island, about 8 km southwest, run daily from Alona’s dive shops and reach the Black Forest wall, a site that drops past 40 meters and draws divers specifically for its sea turtle cleaning stations. Access there is capped by the municipal government at 150 divers and snorkelers a day, two dives maximum per person, funded in part by a roughly ₱250 per-diver environmental fee.

Local Food Nearby

Danao and the adjoining Tawala road carry a mix of resort dining and streetside options. Along Tawala, Larsian-style barbecue stalls set up from late afternoon, grilling skewers over charcoal at a fraction of restaurant prices — a useful contrast to a resort breakfast if you want a cheaper, more local dinner some nights. For something specifically Boholano, kinilaw na tanigue — raw Spanish mackerel cured in coconut vinegar, ginger, chili, and onion, using vinegar tapped on the island itself — appears on menus across Panglao and is worth ordering at least once during a stay.

Day Trips Inland

Most multi-night stays here pair beach time with a countryside day trip. Chocolate Hills, roughly 45–60 minutes inland, is Bohol’s best-known image — over a thousand grass-covered limestone mounds that turn brown each dry season. Local legend attributes them to a grieving giant named Arogo, weeping for a lost love until his tears dried into hills, though geologists point to marine limestone weathering instead. The trip is usually combined with a stop at the Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary in Corella and a stretch of the Loboc River, all bookable through tour operators on Alona Beach rather than needing to be arranged in advance.

Water Supply on the Island

Panglao has no river system of its own, so every property here, including this one, draws water from the freshwater lens sitting above denser saltwater within the island’s limestone bedrock. Tourism-driven demand has pushed chloride levels in some wells past the World Health Organization’s 250 mg/L guideline, and tap water isn’t potable anywhere on Panglao as a result — bottled or filtered water is standard practice island-wide, not a mark against any individual property.

Practical Details

Location: Purok 5, Barangay Danao, roughly 550 meters / a 5-minute walk from Alona Beach.

Transport: Tricycle to Tagbilaran or the airport runs roughly 150–200 PHP; boats to Cebu depart roughly hourly from the port, about a 2-hour crossing.

Booking note: With 142 Booking.com reviews and consistent scores across platforms, availability tracking on this listing is generally reliable, though peak weeks (Holy Week, Christmas, Chinese New Year) can still sell out well in advance island-wide.

Who Should Book Here

This suits travelers wanting boutique-level service and amenities — breakfast included, spa access, a concierge — without giving up Alona’s walkability. It’s a reasonable step up from the area’s more basic backpacker guesthouses for anyone who still wants to be within a five-minute walk of the reef and the dive shops rather than a drive away.

Getting There & Booking

Book on Stay22 or Booking.com for current rates and availability; the strong review volume here means listed rates and photos are generally reliable indicators of what to expect on arrival.