Lagoon Villa
From$720 / night
On stilts above the shallows, with a ladder straight into the bay.
- Size
- 96 m²
- Sleeps
- 2
- Bed
- King
- View
- Lagoon
- Overwater deck
- Outdoor rain shower
- Swim ladder
- Daybed pavilion
Bacuit Bay, Palawan · Philippines
Solandra El Nido
Limestone cathedrals rising from still water
Forty-two villas held in a private cove, where karst towers throw their shadows across the lagoon each morning and the only traffic is a bangka drifting home.
Bacuit Bay is a drowned mountain range. What breaks the surface are the peaks — limestone monoliths, some three hundred metres tall, carrying forests on their shoulders and swifts in their caves.
We took a single cove on the western shore and built low, in ipil and thatch, with nothing standing taller than the mangroves. Every villa faces the water. Twelve stand on stilts above it.
The resort runs on solar and a bank of seawater batteries. The reef out front has been under community protection since 2014, and our marine team dives it every week with the barangay's fisherfolk.
- Villas
- 42
- Opened
- 2016
- Rates from
- $720 a night
- Getting here
- 70 minutes by boat from Lio Airport, or 45 minutes by helicopter from Puerto Princesa.
Accommodation
4 categories, 42 keys
Cliff Villa
From$940 / night
Cut into the karst, with a plunge pool at the treeline.
- Size
- 128 m²
- Sleeps
- 3
- Bed
- King + daybed
- View
- Bay and cliffs
- Private plunge pool
- Outdoor bath
- Butler service
- Terrace hammock
Beach House
From$1280 / night
Two bedrooms opening onto sand, made for families who linger.
- Size
- 180 m²
- Sleeps
- 5
- Bed
- King + twin
- View
- Beachfront
- Two bedrooms
- Private pool
- Kitchen garden
- Kayaks
Cove Residence
From$2650 / night
The far end of the cove, entirely to yourself.
- Size
- 310 m²
- Sleeps
- 8
- Bed
- 3 kings + twin
- View
- Private cove
- Three bedrooms
- 25m pool
- Private chef
- Boat on call
Dining
Where you will eat
Filipino, wood fire
Sibol
Kamayan feasts on banana leaf, cooked over coconut husk. The kinilaw changes with whatever the morning boats bring in.
Dinner, 18:30 – 22:00
All day, waterside
Tabing Dagat
Toes in the sand from first light. Champorado and tsokolate at dawn, grilled catch and calamansi at noon.
06:00 – 17:00
Bar
The Cave Bar
A natural limestone chamber lit by candle. Lambanog, aged rum, and a short list of things served very cold.
16:00 – late
Experiences
What there is to do, and what there is not
