My daughter and I stayed at the Valugan II room and the view of the Pacific Ocean and rolling hills was magnificent. Service was excellent and they even offered to pack our breakfast for us since we had an early flight on our last day. When I asked the hotel shuttle driver a good place to try traditional Ivatan dishes, he asked me what time we wanted to have dinner and took the initiative to coordinate with the front office to book us at a restaurant. The picturesque views in the property and the superb service are well worth the price you pay for your stay.
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Date of stay: April 2023Trip type: Traveled with family
Room Tip: Bring bedroom slippers since they’re not provided by the hotel.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
4 nights/ days in Batanes were just about right for us, and staying at the fundacion was a good experience overall. 1) What we liked: Comfy bed and room. Great views. Peace and quiet. Good food at the cafe. Hotel is able to arrange tours if asked. Friendly staff. 2) What we did not like: Room change without prior notice upon arrival after collecting all funds. Restricted breakfast the day on the arrival just to be told on departure that breakfast on departure day was not included. And their version of "continental breakfast" seemed to vary every day! What is included in the PAX seemed to be held back by cafe staff on our 1st day till i of course complained about it. No wifi in the rooms is just annoying as you must leave the quietness of your room for the sometimes too noisy cafe! Food was certainly good but a bit too pricey for what it actually is. All in all, if you can afford it, this certainly a place to visit when in Batanes!
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Date of stay: September 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Traveled with family
Room Tip:Â The most expensive rooms are not necessarily the best!
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I finally visited again after 10 years and this place remains lovely as ever. I was able to get the sea-facing balcony room in the main house - highly recommended.
What’s changed is that now there’s an excellent restaurant on site which has fantastic food choices and excellent drinks.
The staff was super warm and caring.
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Date of stay: November 2022Trip type: Traveled as a couple
Room Tip:Â Expect spiders, lizards, moths and other such things - comes with the climate and terrain.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The best place to honeymoon in! Batanes is breathtaking on its own but Fundacion Pacita made it even better!
No wifi or TV, so we were immersed with each other and the scenery! Our room had the best view of both the land and sea and it was very serene!
Food was great in Cafe du Tukon. And the staff was really friendly and courteous.
Will definitely go back here with the husband.
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Date of stay: March 2020Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Just reopened after the pandemic. This is one of the most relaxing and restful places I’ve stayed in. Batanes is beautiful, and Fundacion was great - the staff were ever so friendly and accommodating, the food was really nice and the surroundings marvellous. It is expensive but I thought it was worth it.
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Date of stay: November 2022Trip type: Traveled as a couple
Room Tip: There are some lovely walks in the area. The beach is a steep climb down and back, but we’ll...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Fundacion Pacita is certainly a a nice place with a fantastic few - the sea and the mountains provided by nature and the lodge provided by local craftsmen . But accomodation is not all that matters when you travel- Fundacion Pacita can ceratainly improve on its food- tasteless tomato omelette and tortang talong for breakfast ? Twice? Some people are not vegetarians. Every lunch and dinner is P550.00 per person. Whether its soup,steamed fish and rice, or soup,beef and rice or soup, chicken and rice, What is it with the number 550? And the soup is some chopped coagulated blood, and some shredded pork. It's not even dinuguan, which we are more used to. Worst chicken afritada I have tasted. At least, I thought its chicken afritada. No meienda available ( must be because its not peak season?) If you need to go to town, they charge you the use of the pick-up at P300.00 an hour. And please don't join their tour. They have a very nice guide. He charges very nicely too for himself - a trip to Sabtang island that would cost P500.00, he charged P1,500, and we were 12 people. We're helping some of the locals but as guests, we don't want to feel that we have been ripped off.
But seriously, the rooms and bathrooms have to be cleaned better, I counted 4 or 5 spiders and webs in the bathroom which means it has not been dusted for a while. Don't leave the toilet bowl brush in the toilet, no matter that you try to hide it behind the toilet bowl. Make sure the toilet bowl does not have yellowish scum left behind and eliminate the toilet smell, a sure sign it has not been cleaned well.
And you must improve on your food and its price. You do not inform your guests how much the food is going to cost. You have to ask first or be surprised. Coffee is P98.00 per cup.There is no menu.
A lot of other factors make a fabulous trip.
H. Malapas
I suggest you hire a hotel manager or you can do it yourself. But you need to improve a lot on your services.
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Date of stay: January 2010
Value
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Location
Cleanliness
Service
Trip type: Traveled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Fundacion Pacita is the swankiest place to stay in Batanes and must be experienced at least two nights as a sweet reward to the end of a roughing-it trip. It is also a good base for exploring the Batan Island, the main island of Batanes. It's about 10-15 minutes by hotel van from the airport/Basco (the capital town) and offers the breathtaking views of the rolling countryside of Batan. At Fundacion, you basically have a bird's eye view of Northern Batan, including Mt Irayat, the "Marlboro" pasture land, and the Pacific Ocean. Trust me, the steep price is worth it!
The one downside is that the location is pretty remote and there are no TVs in the rooms (there's a flat screen tv in the common dining/mess hall but the dvd player was apparently not working at that time of our visit), so you'll have to content yourself with a good book for your nightly entertainment. There is not much nightlife in Basco either so you won't be missing out. To get to Basco, you simply arrange for the van to take you town and text the driver when you'd like to be picked up.
Although the property itself is probably one of the best luxury retreats in the Philippines, the service is not yet quite at par. First, we booked our entire stay with their Manila booking office but apparently, the Fundacion people were not informed or they could not access the internet or something so there was nobody was at the airport to pick us up. It was a minor inconvenience for in 15mins, somebody came. Second, the whole time we were there, they kept on asking us whether we were going to have lunch or dinner there, even calling the room during siesta time! It became short of a nuisance and it seems like you can't decide last minute if you could have a meal there or not. There were no fixed menus and the dishes seemed to depend on the whim of the chef. If you do have a meal there, the time you set with them is meaningless. They're always 15-30 minutes late. On our last day, we arranged dinner with them for 7pm but food came close to 745pm. Mind you, they called our room at 3pm to get our orders.
Third, we arrived on the run-up to Batanes Day (June 26). When we asked the Front Office people about which day tours we could take, they gave us a run-around and their inhouse guide (Ryan) was apparently on "Batanes Day" mode and was not really helpful. The free half-day tour was truncated to two hours, ending up in the town plaza where the sportsfest was on going. I asked him where we could try Ivatan food for lunch and he was rather unwilling to take us to a proper restaurant, making us have lunch at a hawker near the plaza. There was only one Ivatan dish in their fare (Ivatan laing), the rest was fried chicken and sweet and sour fish. The only explanation why this was the case was that the guide was more concerned about watching the inter-town games at the plaza than giving us a proper tour. Indeed, the following day, we bumped into him again at the plaza, feigning not to know us.
My advice: stay at Fundacion but pre-arrange your day tours with other more established tour operators like Batanes Cultural Travel Agency or Hiro's Cafe Travel and Tours. Due to a chance lunch at Hiro's, we had a fantastic Batan tour with guide Lando who was more sincere in showing us his beloved homeland. It really makes a huge difference.
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Date of stay: June 2011
Value
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Traveled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
A lot of people think that Fundacion Pacita is too expensive, and in all honesty, I think it is. One night here can book you 2 nights in a nice hotel in Manila. BUT the view and the experience will make you forget everything. It is pure beauty. We went here for the last 2 days of our honeymoon. The first 2 days were spent in another well-known budget hotel in Basco. It's good to stay in a budget hotel if you just want a place to rest after a whole day of sightseeing, but for the true Batanes experience, this is the place to be. The other hotels will not offer you a tenth of the view that you will get in Fundacion Pacita.
We got the Idawud room, which has the BEST view. You have a magnificent view of rolling hills to your right and the sparkling sea in front of you. Our room has a full glass wall panel at the foot of our bed, so you can enjoy the sunset and sunrise while lying down. It also has a great terrace..we spent our nights lounging in the coach and stargazing, with a bottle of cold bear nearby. Aahh, it couldn't get any better than that!
I you're the artsy kind, you would love this place as it is full of paintings and art pieces from renowned artist, Pacita Abad. They have a living room with coffee table books about the artist and her works. They also have some of her books on sale, if you want to purchase. If you want some R&R and quiet time, you can retreat to their gardens or just hang out by the terrace watching the sea and the hills.
As to why Fundacion (and Batanes, in general) is expensive, the manager told us that it was their way of protecting their natural heritage from exploitative tourism. Batanes is reserved only for those who value nature and culture, and not for tourists who just need to have a new cover photo on their facebook wall.
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Date of stay: June 2015
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I had seen the photos, read the reviews, heard the praises -- and yet, I still found myself speechless and slack-jawed when our van from the airport pulled into the Fundacion Pacita driveway, and again when we had breakfast at the restaurant, and yet again when we were finally shown to our rooms.
Let's start with the views. Fundacion Pacita is perched on top of one of the many rolling green hills of Batanes, a province that's untarnished by the unregulated development that spoils a lot of touristy spots in the Philippines (and indeed, around the world). This particular hill overlooks both the Pacific Ocean and the West Philippine Sea, its slopes gracefully curving down towards the water; so from the large windows of the restaurant, from the lush gardens, from the windows of your room or on your balcony, you see cows grazing on hillsides or vast expanses of water. (An added, unplanned bonus during our stay was a full moon that shimmered over the water as it rose in the early evening, and which gave the hills a magical glow later at night.)
The place itself is beautifully, thoughtfully, tastefully designed and furnished. It incorporates elements of the traditional architecture of the Ivatans (the people of Batanes), contemporary art, and modern details. The restaurant is a gallery of paintings and sculptures by local artists; the main building showcases the life and work of Pacita Abad, the Batanes-born, internationally acclaimed artist for whom the complex is named; and the rooms we stayed in had stylish chairs and tables and writing desks facing the ocean: wonderful spaces to read (they have an amazing collection of art books), write, think, or just be awed.
The food served at Cafe de Tukon is fresh and delicious: from freshly-baked breads (the ciabatta and sweet potato loaves were our favorites), to the pesto with fresh basil, to the tamidok (wild fern) salad, to the dulce de leche and calamansi pie desserts, to the tarragon tea and the iced lattes. I can't speak for the meat dishes since I'm vegetarian, but my omnivorous husband and parents had no complaints. (Interestingly, the restaurant was excellent even when a number of items on the menu were unavailable. The cafe was letting its inventory run out in preparation for their annual closing from August 1 to 15, during which the complex undergoes maintenance, the staff does charity outreach, and the soil on which herbs and vegetables are grown is given a chance to rest: as good a reason as any for menu items to be unavailable.)
Lastly, the staff -- like many other Ivatans, as we learned as we saw more of the islands and met more of its people -- are quiet, unassuming, and friendly; proud of their food and their land; and are genuinely eager to give visitors a wonderful stay, without the mechanical words and actions that many in the service industry have taken on.
If there's any "catch", it's that there's no Internet or television -- which, in fact, adds to the purity of the experience that's to be had at Fundacion Pacita, and in Batanes for that matter. Call me sappy, but my stay turned into a spiritual experience, with all the stillness, beauty, and goodness surrounding me.
And yes, another "catch" is that the place is pricey, as many of these reviews say -- but trust me, it's the most worthwhile vacation splurge you ever will have. A small price to pay for a place so priceless.
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Date of stay: July 2016
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I can't improve on what everyone else said, so I won't try. There is always something good and something bad about anyplace. The bad thing is that it is far away from the town. The good thing is that it is far away from the town. If you want to go to town they will take you. Just call them and they will pick you up when you are done. I rented a motorbike for a day and wish I had done it for two days. Hiking out to areas is a real treat and you will be all alone to just take in the wonderful scenery and fresh air. All the food served there is local and organic. Several other said this place is expensive. Yes, compared to other places on the island but when you compare this place to other higher end places in the Philippines it is not expensive. Prices for high end places in the Philippines are becoming similar to the rest of the world now. But the uniques thing is, when you stay at the Fundacion Picita, you are not just paying for your room but you are also participating in the financial operation of the foundation. Your room fee goes to furthering higher education to the local people who want to return to the island and give back what they have learned, art programs, environmental programs and restoration projects just to name a few.
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Date of stay: May 2012
Value
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Trip type: Traveled solo
Room Tip:Â Try not to take Seair airlines to the island. They have a bad habit of canceling returning...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Winchester, United Kingdom189 contributions131 helpful votes
The tours are arranged by an independent organisation and are very expensive, in the region of 4,500 pesos per person. Alternatively, one can book a driver with a minibus for 8-10 people for a whole morning for about 2,000 pesos all in, and ask the driver to take one to the places of interest.
The rooms are not wildly cheap, but are very spectacular. The best ones are in the lodge, and the best of all is called Idawud, with a view out over the sea.
There are more places to choose from in the Basco area.
ALSO KNOWN AS
fundacion pacita batanes nature hotel basco
LOCATION
PhilippinesLuzonCagayan Valley RegionProvince of BatanesBasco
NUMBER OF ROOMS
20
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