How to receive the best value for your money while traveling in Dumaguete

As a tourist you may have a luxurious budget or a fugal budget, but which ever you have you most likely want to feel that you are getting the best value for the money you spend.

Hopefully this post will give you some ideas on how to get the best value, within your budget. Remember the cheapest is not always the best value for you money.

To start off when you get off the boat, avoid the line of baggage carriers and trikes lined up at the dock. They will certainly charge your the highest tourist fare they can get out of you and above the legal rates even posted in the area within your sight. As a tourist within your first hour they know you do not know how to figure out how to negotiate a fair price with them.

My suggestion would be to carry your own bag, saving a couple of hundred pesos, and walk to the boulevard (the promenade with the row of palm trees along the sea wall). You are still in the tourist area, but you are not a "targeted" tourist in this area. Have a cool drink or meal at any of the local restaurants along the boulevard and enjoy the ocean views and traffic noise. There will be many foreigners in the area, some tourist and other local residents. One of the first restaurants you see will be Coco Amigos. It is a good value meal, and the food is good and safe. I can recommend the "pork crepe" for about 180 P as I remember. If you do not find it attractive then ask about the other restaurants on the boulevard.Talk to those in the restaurant.. the customers and the workers, asking for what you are looking for in the area. I am sure everyone will be accommodating with out the hidden agenda of "ripping off the tourist". The people in Dumaguete are really friendly.

Also post on this thread prior to you arrival or even while you are here if there is any questions you have regarding something you want to see. Posting is a great value as it is "FREE" to post here. Some of the best things to see and do in Dumaguete do not get much publicity but are well known by the locals.

Locals if you can think of something a tourist would like to see here at a great value post about it.

Read the sister thread on this forum: How to save money while traveling in Dumaguete and other thread here on the best place to eat a certainly style dish you may want.

Welcome to Dumaguete and Enjoy your visit!

 

There are some tourist (meaning the menu is international, not particularly Filopino and cater to the general upscale crowd) restaurants in Dumaguete which provide an excellent above the local standard food level. No one has ever accused me of being a restaurant critic and this list is not complete but I will state my personal opinions and may vary from other opinions posted on the forum and elsewhere, post your own if you have other ideas. Add restaurants to the thread that you have had a good experience at while here.... join the community of friendly people. The showcase section of this forum lists a large number of restaurants in town, review it for more restaurants that are spread out about town. This post reflects on the eating places that you will see as you walk off the boat and down the promenade. The services will range for good to excellent, and from slow to slower than you can believe. Please remember that time is worthless here in the Philippines, and patience is a must. Here are a few restaurants, in the order you will see when you come off the boat and onto the boulevard. They are not all the restaurants but the ones I am familiar with. Feel free to post others, this is not a private thread but open to everyone to state their opinion (by the way joining the Dumaguete Info forum is free so it is a very good value and short time members are welcome, so join while you are in town and follow the forum while you are not) :

In order of leaving the Dock:

Kamalogs - probably mis-spelled - is located almost straight across the street from the street coming off the dock area. The food and services are good. The customer base is a mix of Expats and locals. This is functional food, food that will satisfy your hungry but you would not walk 2 km just to eat there. The prices are good value and reasonable, on the low cost side. It is a great place for that first date, when she replies to invitation with can I bring a couple of my friends (meaning 2 to 10 of her hungry friends) with me , as you will not go broke, as you are going for broke with her. It is open air and nice place to site and relax after getting off the boat, and you will not feel like the ground is still rocking. On some evenings during the week they have entertainment outside starting about about 10 PM. The restaurant stays open late.. maybe past midnight.

KRI is up the street from the big white Silliman University building. (One the corner of Blue Monkey Grill and the Boulevard) It is about 1/2 KM up up the street. Probably one of the closer to gourmet restaurants in town, with very high quality food served in small portions with rather higher end prices to match the quality of the food. This chic contemporary restaurant, where the chef works in a glass cube, offers sophisticated dining. The highly international fusion menu defies easy synopsis, but don't worry, there's something creative for all tastes. If you want to impress someone with what Dumaguete offers in restaurant quality this is the place to take them. It closes early so do not plan to get a midnight snack there. I think it may close as early as 9 during the week. Most Filipinos will not appreciated the food, but a tourist with a nice budget yearning for some upscale non-Filipino food will appreciate it .

The Blue Monkey Grill is a nice relaxed atmosphere type of establishment. I have never eatern there beyond "Coke and Peanuts" but both were good. A good place to take a break, not sure it is open much during the day.

Coco-Amigos is next on the way away from the dock. It is a little up scale restaurant (as most are on the Boulevard) with most dishes being excellent. The prices are reasonable, and the service is slow. Do not be afraid to wave your hand in the air or go to the waitress station to get you waitress to stop talking the latest gossip and help you. She will not even think it is rude for you to interrupt her conversation about her latest escapade with a foreigner. On Friday and Saturday evenings they have singing entertainment and draw a big crowd, who mostly sit by the "I love Dumaguete" sign on the "Boulevard" across the street from the open air restaurant. It is a great place to sit in the restaurant (like a fishbowl) and watch the locals past by. A great game for a group is to see who can spot the biggest family on a passing by motorcycle. It is typical to see families of five on one motorcycle, so go for the larger numbers like 7 or more... good luck... (Note: on Friday and Saturday nights when the entertainment is there, it is best to arrive by 7:30 for a good table. The restaurant stays open late.. maybe midnight on those two nights.

Bos Coffee is next, as it is a up scale coffee shop with which many feel is the best value-breakfast in town. I do not drink coffee so I have never been there, but do hear good reports. If you like coffee, it is good place to try into town... the "starbucks" of the Island.

Awsome Desserts (or some name like that) is next. Has the best cheesecake in town... well the only cheese cake in town...so that is the reason it gets that title. Maybe Sans Rival has good cheese cake there also, as I have never tried it. The reviews I hear are a mixed. I have tried the cheesecake and it is ok, but I would not walk more than one km to eat it.

There is a series of small, quaint restobars, Bogarts and a few others. Some great place to grab a beer, watch the people or the ocean going ferry as you take a load off your feet. They are fun little place, saturated with local Expats.

There is a Chinese restaurant Chan Loong (something like that) that has a good reputation on the corner of the boulevard. I seldom eat Chinese food and have not eaten there since I moved here, but I have heard good comments from others. A little bit farther takes you to the San Rival complex of bakery and restaurant.

Speaking of desserts, don’t leave town without trying the addictive silvanas (cookies filled with buttercream) or a slice of cake from Sans Rival Bakery, a long-term bakery (started in 1977) with an excellent reputation. It is a local entity. It is located about 50 meters up the street from the nearby Sans Rival Bistro which is on the boulevard. Many feel that Sans Rival Bistro with it beautiful building just doesn't measure up (beautiful building, lame food) to its bakery.

Next comes the Way Not group of eating places. No one will every accuse Why Not as letting your walk away hungry after ordering a meal. The serving portions are very large in the Restaurant. The dishes are good, with a European flair, prices are appropriate for the serving size. One of the best values is the Tomato soup, which is certainly not for one, although I made the mistake of thinking it was for one the first time I order it, and almost exploded in my chair at the size of the portion I tried to eat. The "Cafe" area on the right hand size, has smaller meals. If you are interested in eating something more exotic that might just try to eat you back, just come back after 9 PM and go to the Disco.... there are lots of exotic "dishes" available to go there.

(to be continued... now... I will walk the area again in the near future to see who I have missed)

 

Correction for newbies:

....The 'WHY NOT' group of eating places....