Island View Beachfront Resort

You come here for a beachfront resort in Anda, on Bohol’s south-eastern coast, with a private beach, a tropical garden and plenty of room to slow the pace. Island View Beachfront Resort has 16 suites and apartments spread across nearly three hectares, so the setting is deliberately low-density rather than built like a holiday estate with elbows everywhere.

English is spoken by the hotel team, so you can deal with the practicalities of rooms, meals and arrangements without hand signals or interpretive dance. The mood leans towards couples and relaxed diving holidays, with a restaurant, spa, pool, garden walks and sea views doing the useful work between outings.

The address is Beachfront Road, Barangay Bacong, Anda, on the coast of Bohol in the Philippines. You are directly beside the sea, with a small private white-sand beach and a tropical garden around the resort. The coast and reef are the immediate scenery; the road trip is the less decorative part of the equation.

Anda town is close enough to reach along the beach at low tide, and Anda Plaza is about 0.7 miles away on foot. Three restaurants sit within roughly 0.6 miles, including Coco Loco Cafe and Hangover Resto Bar, while The Old Plantation is also the resort’s own restaurant. Lara Beach is about 5 miles away by road, around a 10-minute drive.

Allow a little over two hours by car from Bohol-Panglao International Airport or from Tagbilaran port. The coastal road is the straightforward approach; an inland route can add several hours if you fold in the Chocolate Hills, the tarsiers and the Loboc River on the way.

The room choice is mainly about how you want to wake up. Couples who want the simplest arrangement can take a king room, while the bungalows give you more space and a clearer choice between garden and sea outlook. The Deluxe Bungalow with Sea View is the one to consider when the view matters more than keeping the decision complicated.

Air conditioning and a fan help take the edge off a hot, salty day, while a refrigerator is useful for keeping drinking water cold rather than politely admiring it at room temperature. Rooms have a balcony or terrace, a dining table, seating with a sofa, a kettle and free WiFi. The practical bits are covered too: wardrobe space, clothes rails, a drying rack for clothing, towels and a private bathroom with shower or bath, bidet and toiletries.

The accommodation suits couples particularly well, but children of any age are welcome in the permitted room categories, with extra beds and cots available on request. Ground-floor units and wheelchair-accessible facilities are also part of the accommodation offer.

The Old Plantation handles breakfast, lunch and dinner, with breakfast available from 7.00 am and served à la carte. That early start is useful when the day begins with a boat rather than a lie-in. Packed lunches can also be arranged, and snacks are available throughout the day, although there is no late dinner service for anyone still expecting a full meal after 8.30 pm.

The restaurant works across international, Asian and Filipino cooking, with seafood, grilled dishes and Asian recipes as its specialities. Vegetarian, vegan and wellness options are available, alongside house dishes and freshly prepared snacks. The setting moves between an open terrace beneath the palms near the beach and a banquet room built with local stone and wood, with the sea doing the scenic heavy lifting.

There are two named bars. The Old Plantation Bar is a beach bar serving cocktails, rum, wine and freshly ground espresso throughout the day; evening background music includes jazz, while daily happy hour runs from 4.30 pm to 6.00 pm. The Gelato Bar keeps things cooler with handmade gelato and unusual flavours. Romantic dinners can also be arranged for a more deliberate evening.

The 20-metre outdoor pool sits near reception and looks across the reef, making it a sensible place to stretch out with a drink when the sea has already had its turn. The private beach has loungers, parasols, showers and a beach bar. At low tide, the exposed reef is there to explore at a leisurely pace, or you can simply watch the fishing boats and leave the serious business to someone else.

The spa is set in a frangipani garden overlooking the sea, with traditional Filipino massage, rain showers, manicures and pedicures. Evening yoga and chair yoga are available, while more than a mile of paths through the tropical garden gives you somewhere to walk without turning recovery into a training plan. Canoeing, kayaking and snorkelling are also available from the resort.

For a drier afternoon, there is a well-stocked library, a bamboo forest, castle ruins and the Green Heaven Tower, which provides views over the resort, Anda’s coast, the Bohol Sea and the mountain hinterland. Pétanque has its own competition-standard court, with a bar service that includes pastis. The tour desk can arrange trips to places such as the Chocolate Hills, tarsiers, waterfalls, swimming caves, the Loboc River, local markets, old Spanish churches and Anda town.

The resort can arrange an airport shuttle and car hire, which matters here because the airport transfer takes a little over two hours. Local journeys can also be made by motorised tricycle or motorcycle, while a car can be arranged for places that sit beyond the easy reach of the coast. On arrival, check-in runs from 1.30 am to 10.00 pm; check-out is from 7.30 am to midday.

Free WiFi is available throughout the resort, free on-site parking is available, and daily housekeeping keeps the practical side moving. A tour desk, concierge, reception safe, laundry and ironing services are available. The resort also has a meeting and banquet room for gatherings of around 30 to 40 people.

The property is non-smoking in guest rooms and dining rooms, and pets are not allowed. The residential and pool areas are reserved for staying guests, while The Old Plantation restaurant is open to visitors. If you arrive at Bohol early, the inland route can turn the transfer into a first island excursion, but it adds several hours to the journey.

The resort’s environmental work centres on coral-reef preservation. Its diving operation offers students the chance to take part in coral-propagation training, connecting the holiday to practical reef conservation rather than leaving the subject on a framed poster.

The spa also uses refreshing rain showers, while the resort’s location beside the reef makes the reason for protecting the marine environment rather difficult to miss.