Panglao Regents Park Resort

An 87-Room Resort Walking Distance from Alona Beach

Panglao Regents Park Resort sits on Ester Lim Drive in Barangay Tawala, close enough to Alona Beach that guest reviews consistently describe it as walkable — most put the walk at 5 to 10 minutes rather than requiring a tricycle. It’s a larger operation than most properties in this stretch of Panglao, with 87 rooms across Standard, Junior Suite, Deluxe, Family, and non-smoking categories, and a Good 7.5 out of 10 on Booking.com built from 371 reviews — a review base large enough to be a genuinely reliable signal rather than a small sample.

Rooms and Facilities

Rooms include air conditioning, a fridge, electric kettle, in-room safe, flat-screen TV with satellite channels, hairdryer, and bath sheets. The property runs a fitness center, a pool, a bar and lounge, a restaurant, a massage center, and room service — a fuller facilities list than most Tawala-area competitors of similar size, and one that supports multi-day stays without needing to leave the grounds for meals or basic exercise.

What Guests Consistently Report

Reviews cluster around a few repeated themes on both sides. On the positive side: the walking-distance location to Alona Beach, staff described as friendly and accommodating, a restaurant and pool guests are generally happy with, and breakfast included in the rate. On the negative side, recurring enough to note honestly: aging facilities that show their age in places, showers that don’t always flow well, and occasional noise from ongoing maintenance or carpentry work on the property. None of these are dealbreakers on their own, but they explain why the score sits at Good rather than Excellent despite the location and staff consistently drawing praise.

Location Relative to the Beach

Tawala is the barangay that borders Alona Beach directly, and Regents Park’s position within it means guests can walk to the strip’s dive shops, restaurants, and bars rather than budgeting tricycle fare for every trip — a real advantage over properties positioned further back in Bolod or inland in Bil-isan. That walkability is consistently the single most-cited positive across reviews, more so than any specific room feature.

Diving and the Reef

Dive shops along Alona run daily boats to Balicasag Island, about 8 km southwest, where the Black Forest wall drops past 40 meters and sea turtle cleaning stations draw repeat divers. Access 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. Closer to shore, Alona’s house reef still shows a mixed recovery picture from the 2016 regional coral bleaching event, with healthy coral patches alongside sections still recovering — parrotfish, wrasses, and surgeonfish are the more dependable sightings on an ordinary snorkel from the beach itself.

Local Food and Economic Context

A short walk into Alona opens up most of Panglao’s restaurant scene, but it’s worth trying kinilaw na tanigue somewhere during a stay — raw Spanish mackerel cured in coconut vinegar, ginger, chili, and onion, made with vinegar tapped on Panglao rather than trucked in. Along the Tawala road itself, Larsian-style barbecue stalls set up from late afternoon, grilling skewers over charcoal at prices well below restaurant menus. Panglao’s overall accommodation market spans backpacker huts at PHP 600–800 a night through mid-range cottages at PHP 3,000–6,000 and select four-star resorts beyond that; an 87-room, breakfast-included property at this rating sits comfortably in the middle of that range.

Day Trips and the Island’s Water Supply

Many multi-night guests use one day for the standard countryside circuit: Chocolate Hills, roughly 45–60 minutes inland, remains Bohol’s signature image, a field of more than a thousand grass-covered limestone mounds that turn brown in the dry season. Local legend attributes them to a grieving giant named Arogo, weeping for a lost love until his tears dried into hills — geologists point instead to marine limestone weathering, but the legend is the version told on most guided stops. It’s typically paired with the Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary in Corella and a stretch of the Loboc River, all easily arranged through operators on Alona Beach. It’s also worth knowing that Panglao has no river of its own; the resort’s own water, like every property on the island, comes from a freshwater lens within the limestone bedrock, and tourism-driven demand has pushed chloride levels in some wells past the World Health Organization’s 250 mg/L guideline. Tap water isn’t potable anywhere on Panglao as a result — bottled or filtered water is standard practice island-wide, not a property-specific issue.

Practical Details

Location: Ester Lim Drive, Barangay Tawala, roughly a 5–10 minute walk from Alona Beach.

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

Booking note: With 371 reviews behind the score, the aggregate rating here is a solid guide, though it’s worth reading a few recent comments given the recurring maintenance notes.

Who Should Book Here

This suits travelers who want to walk to Alona Beach rather than commute by tricycle, and who are comfortable trading some facility polish for location, room count, and included breakfast at a larger property.

Getting There & Booking

Book on Stay22 or Booking.com for current rates and availability; the large review base makes this one of the more predictable mid-range bookings in the Tawala area.