Save for an hour of water activities and a few quick trips to D'Mall to grab some food, we practically glued ourselves to Sur Boracay's beach chairs and cabanas. Why wouldn't we? It was the best way to make the most out of the P14k we paid them! :))
It took me months of reading reviews and browsing travel sites to look for the best hotel in Boracay, and when I said best I meant value for money. I wouldn't mind paying a little more than the usual as long as the area is not too crowded. And I reckon Boracay and "not crowded" can't be used in one sentence so I really had a hard time choosing among the countless of hotels, inns, and guesthouses on the island. I guess it just all came down to personal preferences.
So after bulging my eyes out due to incessant reading, I finally decided on staying in Sur Boracay. It was seriously a tough job to choose among Sur, Island Nook and Taj Guesthouse. Island Nook is a new hotel that has minimalist rooms. It's also near major establishments. But the rooms are a tad bit plain for my liking. Taj Guesthouse, on the other hand, is highly recommended on TripAdvisor. I contacted them but was told that they didn't have a room for us on our travel dates so they referred us to Tan's Guesthouse. So I checked TGH's website and it looked, uh, unreliable? I know I was totally being shallow but I couldn't help it! I checked Sur'swebsite, which is pretty decent looking hihi, and rates were P3920/night for a standard triple room. Not that bad since it's in Station 1, meaning less people, and it has its own chairs and cabanas for the guests. Perfect for a beach front resort :)
Sur also offered to arrange land transfers for us. We paid P400/each for the transfer from Caticlan to Sur and P550/each for the transfer from Sur to Kalibo. It was fine with us since we didn't have to worry about being lost. We even had the whole coaster to Kalibo all to ourselves! :D
Anyhoo, so when we arrived in Sur the first word that came to my mind to describe the place was "modest." It's not as grand as the other resorts in Station 1 but it's not as bare as other budget hotels. It's just...right. Just enough.
Anyhoo, so when we arrived in Sur the first word that came to my mind to describe the place was "modest." It's not as grand as the other resorts in Station 1 but it's not as bare as other budget hotels. It's just...right. Just enough.
You know the feeling when you look at hotel galleries on the Internet and you are somehow led to believe that the room is big but when you see the place in person the room only has enough space for the bed? Didn't get that in Sur. Their triple standard room is HUGE. It's around 36sqm. We were given a ground floor room though and I wished we got one of the veranda rooms so we could get a nice view of the beach. But we're okay with the room. It has everything we needed, except for windows! Well there's one window but we couldn't open the curtains because the guests from the other hotel would then have VIP access to our arse. Unfortunately, there's no natural source of light so the room looks dark even during the day.
TV, check. Spacious cabinet, check. Toilet with working flush, check. Heater, check. Personal ref (even if we weren't able to use it), check. Air conditioner, check. It was almost perfect if not for the lack of window and the smelly pillow cases. You know that smell when your clothes have not been dried properly because of the rain? Yes, I know, icky. So I asked for replacements and tadah! Still the same smell -_-
And oh! Another thing that I didn't like was the lack of exhaust fan in the en-suite bathroom . So when you poop the smell is trapped forever and the next person who uses the bathroom gets an idea of what you had over breakfast (ooops, TMI). So you can't really open the bathroom door to release the odor because the main room is air-conditioned. So yeah, we were left with no choice but to leave the bathroom door closed unless we want to sleep and have dreams about poop pooping poop. Huh.
But thank God tourist spots are not created just so we can stay in our hotel rooms all day long. My eyes had to adjust to the glaring light outside though every time I walked out of our poorly-lit room. But 'tis okay. My eyes adjusted easily to the simple and fresh landscape of Sur.
But thank God tourist spots are not created just so we can stay in our hotel rooms all day long. My eyes had to adjust to the glaring light outside though every time I walked out of our poorly-lit room. But 'tis okay. My eyes adjusted easily to the simple and fresh landscape of Sur.
Now onto the better side of the resort. Sur has, hands down, the finest and softest sand in the island. People always say that Boracay has powdery white sand but I think there should always be a disclaimer because it does not hold true for all parts of the island. White, yes. But powdery, nah. Puka Beach is a good example. Soooo anyway, if you want to experience feels-like-pulburon-I-wanna-eat-it kind of sand, then Sur is the place to be. :)
Especially if you have your own beach chair to lounge away the afternoon. It was one of the main reasons why we didn't get bored of watching people from our cozy chairs. Beer, chips, chair on the beach - the ultimate beach bumming experience. I wonder though if we would have our own beach chairs during the summer when loads of people visit the island.
Especially if you have your own beach chair to lounge away the afternoon. It was one of the main reasons why we didn't get bored of watching people from our cozy chairs. Beer, chips, chair on the beach - the ultimate beach bumming experience. I wonder though if we would have our own beach chairs during the summer when loads of people visit the island.
And of course the cabanas! If not lying on the beach chairs we were spending time chatting and eating in one of Sur's cabanas. They are spacious and great for reading a book, working on a project (I did work a little bit during our stay :|), or drinking ice cold beer with friends.
Overall I'd say we had a lovely stay in Sur. It has its own share of flaws but the pros outweighed the cons. I'd like to believe that the beach chairs did it. Hihi. Sur is great if your goal is to relax and spend the days lazily. Their rates are also considerably lower than other resorts in Station 1 so it's already a steal!
How about you? Where do you stay when you're in Boracay?
How about you? Where do you stay when you're in Boracay?