the bohol bee farm, a complete review and recap

the bohol bee farm… where do i start?  well to kick things off, their website is pretty bad.  i probably could have built a better one within my first month of being a webdesigner.  14 years ago.  it’s not very informative nor does it accurately show what facilities they have on-site.

with that said, we expected the grounds to be pretty rustic.  i heard there was a pool as well so i had pictured a trench with a few lawn chairs around this hole in the ground… sleeping cottages spread to the side.  well boy was i wrong.

we arrived at night so it was hard to get our bearings on anything outside of the lit up areas.  we only saw the front office, our rooms and the path to the restaurant.  although you could hear the swishing of the water beyond the railing of the large dining area, you couldn’t see much side from the moon’s reflection.  we sat around for our dinner and ordered up dinner off their farm fresh menu.  i went with the veggie stirfry with chicken and they were the best vegetables since el nido (just kidding, that meal sucked)… i mean vancouver.  it reminded me of our farmers markets back home.  my whole meal was crisp, dense and tasted as fresh as one could expect

oh, and to start off the dinner, we were given a half loaf of their bed that’s baked daily on-site.  a fluffy whole wheat loaf served warm with two spreads; herb pesto and mango butters.  sooo yummy!  we would’ve been perfectly content with just this!

after dinner we went down to the ‘chill bar’ and dive shop downstairs.  this looked like the perfect place to catch some sun with a drink or three.  a clear shot of the water with no end in sight.  still, we couldn’t see much aside from the reflection so we turned in for the night to rest up for tomorrow.

so this is our room.  sarni is our native tongue for this portion of our trip and he got our rooms upgraded for free.  massive space with a patio that overlooks the hot tub and massage area.

and here’s what it looks like in the mornings

amazing!  i’m in love.  we went down for breakfast and our meal this morning was:

and the view of the dive bar with some sun:

we opted to do absolutely nothing on the first day except lounge around the farm.  haha booked a massage and when i went to go meet her after the massage, frank and i opted to get one ourselves since they were only 500pesos ($15cad).  not that cheap by filipino standards but i figured that’s the price you pay for being in a remote location.  well when we waited for our masseuse to show up they asked if we’d like to come to the seaside area instead since the masseuses normally wait there for the clients.  we did so and… wow.  private rooms that sat on the cliffside overlooking the water, shaded with fans and complete silence.  best. $15. ever.  there’s lots of types of massages to choose from; i opted for the swedish deep tissue

we’re given glasses of hot lemongrass tea with honey post-massages and you can chill in the waiting area as long as you like.  hell, i could live here.

it’s been great to get pampered for a change.  while it isn’t at the rock bottom prices i’ve heard the philippines is famous for, i feel the bee farm gives amazing value.  our rooms came in at about 3000pp/night ($90 cad) and were upgraded to the larger sized rooms that normally run double the price at 6000pp.  food in the restaurant definitely is health conscious which ironically has no authentic filipino dishes on it aside from some soups and desserts.  the ice cream comes in at 50pp for a single scoop and 100pp for a double and is worth every peso.  the flavours are great, they’re made in-house and best of all, they’re served in a cassava cone.  yum!

i have never stayed at an all-inclusive and this is the closest thing to one without feeling like a resort.  you have all the amenities you want at your disposal with some beautiful beaches just a few minutes drive from the farm.

 

underselling oneself isn’t something you see very often (similar to snowboarding in rusutsu and kiroro) and the bohol bee farm fully deserves to have a better web/social media presence.  we loved it so much that even though we prepaid for our two nights in cebu, we extended our three rooms at the bee farm and even ate the cost on the first night in cebu.  would highly recommend stopping by for a night or two if you find yourself visiting bohol.  it is indeed a daytrip destination but imo, the food is better when you have time to lounge around without a schedule.  you’d absolutely want to take your time to enjoy the grounds at your own pace… unless chilling on a seaside deck isn’t for you 🙂