⌛ Nicest resorts in Dumaguete / Dauin area?

Well, were back from the trip.

We finally wound up staying at Atmoshere.

Let me start off by saying that we drove back and forth down that highway in front of the place for at least 45 minutes trying to find the resort. Got some good and some bad directions from locals in the area. Let me tell you that there is NO sign at all at the enterance to the resort. No fancy enterance gate and just a dirt road leading into the place. Unless you knew exactly where it was at, there is no way in hell you would ever find the place by driving aimlessly around.

I did not get to meet the English resort owner, but met his British wife. She told me that almost 100% of there guests are picked up at the airport and brought there by the resort van. I guess everyone books some kind of vacation package on the internet, so "walk-ins" are basically pretty much unheard off. They don't want to advertise to the locals it's real plain to see.

Since it is the "off-season", there were just 3 or 4 other guests there besides us. These other people came from places in Europe. I was suprised to see no Japanese or Korean tourists staying at Atmosphere. Obviously, there targeted group is western European.

The rooms are very very nice and spotlessly clean ... and at $127 + 5% credit card fee per night, they ought to be. This resort charges a 5% fee if you use a credit card. I told the desk clerk that imposing additional credit card fees has been made illegal here in the Philippines, but just got a blank stare from her.

The Atmoshere is without a doubt the nicest landscaped resort in the area. In fact, you would be hard pressed finding another resort here in the PI that had any nicer landscaping.

The pool is just fantastic. No other real comment to make bout it.

As I said, the rooms were great, but for the 3 days we stayed there, we never had hot water in the morning, and on 3 occasions, the water just turned off. This is my only real complaint about my stay there. For charging Hyatt Regency prices, I don't want water problems in the room all 3 days of my stay.

The food ... We got a free breakfast buffet in the morning which was very nice. Basically eggs any style, lean bacon, brewed coffee, various juices and your choice of 3 different types of bread, fruit, some cheese and Italian prosciutto. Oh ya ... they also had various breakfast cereal and milk too if you wanted that.

As far as the regular resurant menu ... very good, but expensive. A hamburger will cost you 380 pesos. Excellent, but pricey. Again, great food, but not cheap.

The bar ... real nice outdoor bar by the pool with a nipa roof. Great bartender. An SMB will cost you 80 pesos. I was told tht they have live entertainment some nights if they have more than 30 guests staying at the reort, but unfortunatly, since it was off-season, there was never more than maybe 10 people there ... so, no entertainment

We did travel into Duma for lunch one day and ate at some Mexican resturant. Can't remember the name of the place but it was on that road next to the ocean that has those fancy street lights. I think it was not too far from a place called Why-Not. Anyway, the Mexican food was cheap, and basically sucked. Would never eat there again.

Getting back to Atmosphere ... We didn't go scuba diving, but did go out snorkeling. The resort has it's own large boat. Good crew, and the foreigner (I believe Swiss) dive master is a real nice guy.

I have photos, but have not downloaded them yet.

So .... all in all, I would stay there again. This is a very very nice place ... The owners take a personal interest in the comfort of the guests, and want to know if you have any problems. Other than them needing a sign out front and charging an extra fee for credit card use, the place was EXCELLANT !

Oh ya ..... Fix the damned water !

Ron,

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The problem with the water is specialy early in the morning , "no suno hot water"
In the afternoon fully booked , no hot water when you are to late for taking a bath.
And this in not only at Atmosphere.

Gretings J.Diver

 

Ron, I don't know how many resorts you have visited/seen when you have travelled around here but you have surely missed some when you haven't found yet better landscaped resorts.
Even nearby here you will find some.
Of course it is a matter of taste but to me Coco Grove (Siquijor) and Atlantis (Dauin as well) are on a "stone throw distance" from Atmosphere and to me nicer LANDSCAPED resorts than Atmosphere.
It is not so surprising since Atmosphere is a very new resort and need more time to get all plants full grown.
The one (Coco Grove) big, the other (Atlantis) small but nicely landscaped. Have you been there ?
Atmosphere looks good, no doubt, but the best landscaped is quite overrated
The Mexivan in Dumaguete is likely Coco Amigo. My favourite place to sit when having to make a 'pitstop' during the weekly many shopping trips to Dumaguete. Btw .....I like their Enchilladas de pollo and their Chili Con Carne.
I know........each of us has a different taste (luckily).

Here some pics I made once of Atmosphere. I did not make the best possible pics coz it was for another reason I made them.

 

Speaking of nice resorts, I had to be at Santa Catalina for a 6am wedding mass today so yesterday I thought I would drive to Antulang Resort in Siaton, I heard it is great place, stay there, and thus cut my early morning travel time to an hour instead of 2 hours from Mangnao. It was the only resort that I am aware of that I thought would be 'half way' between Dgte and Santa Cataline. Wrong. Firstly, to my surprise the turnoff was just past Zamboangueta, and secondly, I'm driving 20 min down a dirt road and still not there. So I figured I would have been better off staying at my Mangnao and driving the 2hours rather than staying there and probably still having a 2 hour drive to get from the resort back to the hiway and on to Santa. So I turned around, never saw the resort (I heard it is very nice) and drove to Bayawan and stayed in a decent pension house and saved p5k, and only had a 10 min ride to the church and ended up getting at least an extra hour sleep. Truth is, I was nervous to drive the road back from the resort to the hiway at 4:30am with all the concerns in the road and uncertain if it would be raining. Lessons learned, find out exactly how far off the hiway and how far back a resort is, and secondly, you can save big pesos by staying in a nice pension house with aircon, shower, queen bed etc.