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4.5
#6 of 22 resorts in Puerto Galera
Location
Rooms
Value
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Nestled in the centre of beautiful Big La Laguna Bay where the sand is white, the water is crystal clear and alive with tropical fish and coral. With a variety of beachfront and poolside resort accommodation and PADI scuba diving and dive training facilities, La Laguna Beach Club is the place to stay to satisfy all your diving holiday and vacation requirements in Puerto Galera.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
HOTEL STYLE
Mid-range
Bay View
Languages Spoken
English, Filipino
Location
Big La Laguna Beach, Puerto Galera, Mindoro 5203 Philippines
La Laguna Beach Club & Dive Centre
93 reviews
Getting there
Somewhat walkable
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travelers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
The room I stayed is a budget one but clean and everyday they have cleaning and refilling of stuffs.. Tha staffs are so friendly and you can ask them whatever concerns or needs and they gladly assist you.. The padi instructor they got too is so cool and helpful.. He understands that the student is a first timer and never hesitated to help😁😁😁
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Date of stay: January 2023Trip type: Traveled solo
Room Tip:Try to reach them through fone call or online, they are so accommodating and helpful especially...
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.
Response from Michael Donaldson, Owner at La Laguna Beach Club & Dive Centre
Responded Mar 20, 2023
Thank you kashlex, glad that you enjoyed or time here and completed the dive course. Hope to see you back in near future for more diving experinces
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This was my third or fourth visit to LLBC, so I have now spent a total of 3 to 4 weeks there. The staff are consistently helpful. The food is good, there is a mixture of Asian and European/North American food. The rooms are pleasant and clean though some need some minor attention, like new faucets. If your budget will run to it get a deluxe room, they are lighter and pleasanter. The dive shop staff are knowledgeable and helpful. Indeed one day they advised us not to dive because the visibility would be very poor. Two of our party of seven don't SCUBA dive but travelled in the boat and snorkeled the dive area at no extra charge.
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Date of stay: January 2023
Service
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.
Response from Michael Donaldson, Owner at La Laguna Beach Club & Dive Centre
Responded Mar 20, 2023
thanks for the great review. So glad you enjoyed your time here again. Will certainly look at fixing the problem you had and thank you for the heads up. Hope to see you again on another trip here
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Though small and compact, the public areas in this resort is designed to maximize the narrow, long space it has. Dining area is spaced close to the pool and the dive center faces the beach. Food is excellent. Rooms are towards back of resort, stacked to command sea views. Beach is not terrific, needs constant cleaning.
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Date of stay: May 2022Trip 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.
Response from , Owner at La Laguna Beach Club & Dive Centre
Responded Jul 18, 2022
Hi Teresa thank you for your visit and the review that you gave us. So glad that you enjoyed yourselves whilst here and really hope to see you back soon.
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I decided to book a last minute holiday spending 2019 Xmas in the Philippines with the team and I had a truly fantastic time.
The staff and owners are so welcoming and you experience a big family feeling.
My intention was to just chillax for a couple of weeks and to complete my "open water" qualification, however I came away with my "open water", "advanced open water", "enriched air" and "DPV" qualifications.
I can't wait to come again to enjoy the Craic with you guys, and I can see why you have so many repeat customers who return year on year.
How could you not fall for this sunset of an evening with a chilled beer in hand.
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Date of stay: December 2019Trip type: Traveled solo
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.
Great staff, good rooms, friendly and welcoming, beachfront location away from the busy district of bars and noise and crowds. Good diving staff and gear with 30+ dive sites close by. Snorkelling and swim beaches close by boat to escape even ffurthe away. Great food, good bar and
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Date of stay: March 2019
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:Grab the upper level front rooms to the beach
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.
This is a fantastic family friendly resort. The staff are super helpful, kind and did all they could to make our stay fun and relaxing.
We have stayed at a few resorts in this area, and without a doubt the food here is the best available.
The attached dive shop is great and also super friendly, and knowledgeable staff.
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Date of stay: January 2022Trip type: Traveled with family
Room Tip:Booking via text with the resort worked super well.
With current covid restrictions ensure you...
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.
It's a bit more of a hassle than normal, but if you follow the resorts instructions and take the speedboat from berberabe to muelle it is relatively easy.
The diving is great and the reefs have more and larger fish life due to lower number of divers.
I have been twice, both for a week and can highly recommend LLBC - come on down
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Date of stay: November 2020Trip type: Traveled solo
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 owners and all the staff were magnificent. Couldn't do enough for you and so friendly. Beautiful views and great surroundings. The best spot especially if you like snorkeling and scuba diving. Will definitely be going there again.
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Date of stay: March 2023
Value
Location
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.
Response from Michael Donaldson, Owner at La Laguna Beach Club & Dive Centre
Responded Mar 25, 2023
Thank you very much for the kind review. So glad that you enjoyed your stay with us and hope to see you back here again in the near future.
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I book this place for 4 nights in April, big mistake. Its my fault for believing the other reviews of this place as being acceptable to my standards.This place is a dump. When I approached the check in area many employees saw me bringing my luggage to the check in NO one helpped or asked to help. Already I knew this was bad. At the check in counter ( not even a reception desk) not a single employee smiled or greeted my GF and myself, no hello or may I help you nothing !!! They gave me my key and I went to my room carrying everything by myself, Strike 3 already. As I opened the door to the room I could smell MOLD, my girl started gagging omg !!!! I immediately left the room and went back to the front desk, my gf spoke to a no personality girl and asked for another room, again no apology from them. Strike 4. At this point I'm already planning to checkout and throw away the $60 a night I already paid for, that was $240. I then got a room on the second floor.
I decided to stay one night in the replaced room because I was tired from traveling but called a White beach hotel and booked for the remaining 3 nights. The next morning I went to the bar/ front desk to get a cup of hot water, there was a girl wipping the tables, she looked at me waiting there and ignored me. Strike 5 all in less than 24 hours hahaha. I also observed a stray cat on the counter behind the bar with clean stacked dishes eating something from a large bowl, not very sanitary. Anyway after I got her attention the Hawaiian style she came to me, again no politeness, no good morning. I immediately told my girl get ready we are leaving this dump, i brought my bags down stairs and left.
This place caters Australians, I guess because the owner is maybe that's why I did not see any American's or other races there. I'm not going to say this is a racist place because because the workers are Filipino girls, its just bad training and no supervision. Well, you know what they say, you can't expect much from low paid employees.
Throwing away $180 is nothing to me but if its a lot for you then avoid this place, especially my brothers and sisters from Hawaii DO NOT STAY HERE!!!
To my fellow Hawaiians keep this in mind, Sabang Beach is for Korean nationals and there is no nice area to swim. Big La Laguna is just as bad also no place to swim and no place to eat, no locals there. the best place to go is White beach in Puerto Galera, there you will find humble warm hearted people as those from our island, lots of eating choices bu most of all, kind, friendly and professional employees working hard to make their guess comfortable and satisfied.
I there was a zero rating that's what this place would get!
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Date of stay: April 2015
Rooms
Location
Service
Trip type: Traveled as a couple
Room Tip:No room is good as long as they have employees as those that I have encountered there.
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.
This is the most "luxurious" place to stay on Big LaLaguna Beach. It has little wrong with it, but for the peso equivalent of US$110 a night plus 12% VAT for a deluxe room, facilities should be much better. I particularly felt the lack of a private balcony.
I chose this resort for its purported quality, despite the price which is high for a three-star resort in the Philippines. I chose one of the "better" rooms on the second floor of the new beachfront wing. The room was large, but lacking in details. The bedside "reading lamp", only one of them next to the nice and firm king-sized bed, was more like a nightlight. The bed was very nice and firm. The room was very quiet despite the walkway outside the sliging glass door in front. The wardrobe was totally inadequate. The hanging space was divided in half crossways and the space allotted for hanging clothes was too short for a small-size man's sport coat. There would have been no room to hang a lady's sundress, for example. There were no chairs in the room. The bathroom was very large and had a wonderful shower, but as usual in a mid-range property in the Philippines, there was no air conditioning in it. However, the staff did not seem to clean the shower drain and I found it easier to spend a few seconds cleaning it myself, rather than report it to the hotel management. I would have appreciated a second bath towel, but it did not seem to readily obtainable. There was also no adequate place to privately dry wetsuits, etc. overnight, although there was a communal drying area. There was an electric safe in my room. There was state of the art air conditioning which I seldom needed. There were many TV channels in the room and a very large screen TV in the bar. There was wifi, but no computers available for guest use.
The most lacking feature was a private balcony. There was furniture in front of the room, but it was alongside a walkway which went to four other rooms. Only room 401 in this wing had anything approaching a private balcony. I can give you a tip; if you want to sit on your balcony in the evening and watch the sea or the stars if you can see any on a clear night, there is a switch on the side wall of your balcony section which switches off the high power overhear fluorescent lights. There are two sets of steps to this wing. Both are much steeper than I have encountered in any other hotel of hundreds around the world, with the possible exception of Amsterdam canal houses. Those that lead through the bar are not quite so steep as those nearer the room, but I would not recommend this wing to people with any problems in stair climbing.
The restaurant has a very unimaginative menu, though it is typical for this beach area. It is very heavy on carbohydrates and the limited choices of fish and seafood include some canned and apparently frozen items and are very small portions. The only good meal I had there was the delicious Saturday night BBQ. The adjacent resorts have similar menus. Campbell's Resort at the far west end of the beach had the quietest restaurant and included "Thai style" dishes. Low calorie soft drinks except for Coke Zero and soda water were not available at any restaurant whose menu I read. I was unable to look at the rooms at Campbell's, but they appeared to have more privacy and were less expensive.
The beach in front of the resorts from LaLaguna to the west has many local banca boats docked in front of it, but at the far west end in front of Campell's is a moderately good protected area for snorkeling. There is an adequate, but certainly not spectacular, beach for sunning to the east of LaLaguna. It is apparently a rather strenuous twenty-minute walk over a hill to much more developed and apparently polluted Sabang Beach which is farther east.
On two days I hired a banca to take me to the Coral Gardens which are about twenty minutes to the southwest. The snorkeling here is world class. It is apparently the only superb local snorkeling area. If you swim well, tell your boatman that you do not need to hire a smaller boat for the final leg to the gardens and swim five minutes from where your banca can anchor to the shallow part of the reef which is only two or three feet deep. Here you will have privacy from the majority of snorkelers who cannot swim and cling to the smaller boats while wearing life jackets. In the winter you will need a wet suit and the water will still not feel warm. However, in two hours I saw 95% of the marine species I expected to see while snorkeling in the Philippines. The shallow water is also somewhat warmer. My boatman was Eenan (sp.). I found a local to negotiate the local price with him, which was half what I expected to pay. I gave him a ten per cent tip and he was very happy. Bring your own beverages. I do not know if he charges a higher foreigner's price. He is usually quite knowledgeable about where to go and will respect the snorkeler's preferences. He has a very nice personality. I do not know how developed his English skills are as I took the local person with me to translate. If you need to hire a small boat at the destination, be sure to bring extra money for it. His boat is white and blue and called RJM. Most of the resort guest were divers from Russia. They kept to themselves and as divers were quiet and sober.
I found that five nights were enough as I had two days of sunny weather and the management courteously charged me only for five nights, although I had booked seven. Three nights would be enough in seasons with consistently sunny weather.
The least expensive and inconvenient way to reach the resort from Manila is the the Si-Kat bus-boat service which goes two hours by bus south to Batangas port. You may check bags at their Manila terminal at City State Tower Hotel in Ermita. They have a website. There advantage is the guaranteed direct connection between the boat and the bus. Depart the boat from the Batangas boat dock at Sabang and take a local banca for about 300 pesos to LaLaguna in ten minutes. Luggage porters are always available and fifty pesos total per passenger is a very adequate tip for all your porters at a particular port. You may book Si-Kat ahead, but that does not seem necessary except on high traffic days. They contract with FSL boat lines for seats in large bancas that seat over 100 passengers. I would consider these boats unsafe if the waves were much over two feet high. Their bus is very old and not too comfortable. The air conditioning did not work on my return to Manila and the driver drove back with the front door open for ventilation. LaLaguna has an expensive private limo and banca transfer service from Manila, but I have the impression that they use smaller bancas which I would not trust on the hour-long open water crossing.
This resort area is a good base for superb snorkeling at Coral Gardens if you do not want to travel farther from Manila to resorts on more southerly islands. Three nights will be sufficient for snorkeling if there is good weather. PADI diving certification is also offered.
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Date of stay: January 2013
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Traveled solo
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.
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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