Hippocampus Beach Resort
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Avg. ₱1,394 /night, 9/19 - 9/20
₱1,673
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₱1,534
per night
₱1,394
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4.0
#2 of 5 resorts in Malapascua IslandLocation
Cleanliness
Service
Value
Hippocampus Beach Resort is centrally located on the main beach of Malapascua Island, Bounty Beach. Totaling 18 rooms with three different categories, including basic fan standard room, superior air conditioning rooms, and deluxe beachfront air conditioned rooms. It has a beachfront bar and restaurant with beer garden, tables on the beach, and bean bags for sunset happy hour. In house scuba diving school, Devocean Divers, and in house Kitesurfing school, Malapascua Kitesurfing.
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Property amenities
Free High Speed Internet (WiFi)
Pool / beach towels
Free breakfast
Beach
Diving
Airport transportation
Massage
Outdoor furniture
Public wifi
Bar / lounge
Coffee shop
Restaurant
Special diet menus
Snorkeling
Windsurfing
Evening entertainment
Shared lounge / TV area
Sun loungers / beach chairs
Private check-in / check-out
Laundry service
Room features
Soundproof rooms
Air conditioning
Private balcony
Safe
Bottled water
Refrigerator
Room types
Ocean view
Non-smoking rooms
Suites
Good to know
HOTEL CLASS
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
Family
Bay View
Languages Spoken
English, Filipino, German
Location
Bounty Beach, 6013 Philippines
Getting there
Good for walkers
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.
Grade: 84 out of 100
84
Mactan Intl Airport
114.2 km•
See all flights
Rental Cars
13 Restaurants
within 0.5 kilometers
2 Attractions
within 0.5 kilometers
240Reviews11Q+A35Room tips
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Detailed Reviews
The name and the logo they use to represent their resort definitely does not match. However, I have to tell that I had the best time in that resort and no trivial things like this bothered me.
This resort is right in front of the bounty beach and one can just relax on the hammocks and have the best view. Well the thing that bothered me a lot were the boats but I know one can’t help it as there is a row of dive shops and they have all their small boats parked right in front of the resort. Hippocampus has a dive shop run by Luke, a person from UK, under the name of Devocean. They are professional and their local dive guides are amazing bunch of people. Well we all know that Filipinos are known for their hospitality.
The island’s best bartender is also found in Hippocampus and be sure to have a chat with him during his shift from 3pm – 11pm. The resort also comes to live on Wednesday and Saturday evenings with local bands performance. I also loved how I got to meet the Sugar & Spice band group. They are young folks who are sure to keep you high with their beats.
The food is good and the portion is really huge (for a girl) but I am not denying the fact that it is a little pricey. Well life is too short to worry about the cost, as we are already there for a vacation.
Well the only thing one has to take note is flushing of the toilet paper. The toilets in Philippines are not built to flush your toilet papers down like in Singapore. So be sure not to flush your soiled toilet papers into the toilet bowls as they may choke the system up. It happened to mine and it was embarrassing when the plumber came to fix it.
Furthermore, there was a trail of ants in my room and I had to call the housekeeper twice to have it clean. Not sure what had caused it as I remember we did not eat anything sweet or left any food behind for that to happen. Apart from that, everything else was good and I also became a professional fly catcher at the end of 1 week. Yes it is the season of flies it seems.
Well everything else becomes so insignificant in front of the people of Malapascua. All of them are friendly, beautiful and warm. They do make foreigners feel like home.
What are you waiting for? Get your bags packed and head to Malapascua now.
This resort is right in front of the bounty beach and one can just relax on the hammocks and have the best view. Well the thing that bothered me a lot were the boats but I know one can’t help it as there is a row of dive shops and they have all their small boats parked right in front of the resort. Hippocampus has a dive shop run by Luke, a person from UK, under the name of Devocean. They are professional and their local dive guides are amazing bunch of people. Well we all know that Filipinos are known for their hospitality.
The island’s best bartender is also found in Hippocampus and be sure to have a chat with him during his shift from 3pm – 11pm. The resort also comes to live on Wednesday and Saturday evenings with local bands performance. I also loved how I got to meet the Sugar & Spice band group. They are young folks who are sure to keep you high with their beats.
The food is good and the portion is really huge (for a girl) but I am not denying the fact that it is a little pricey. Well life is too short to worry about the cost, as we are already there for a vacation.
Well the only thing one has to take note is flushing of the toilet paper. The toilets in Philippines are not built to flush your toilet papers down like in Singapore. So be sure not to flush your soiled toilet papers into the toilet bowls as they may choke the system up. It happened to mine and it was embarrassing when the plumber came to fix it.
Furthermore, there was a trail of ants in my room and I had to call the housekeeper twice to have it clean. Not sure what had caused it as I remember we did not eat anything sweet or left any food behind for that to happen. Apart from that, everything else was good and I also became a professional fly catcher at the end of 1 week. Yes it is the season of flies it seems.
Well everything else becomes so insignificant in front of the people of Malapascua. All of them are friendly, beautiful and warm. They do make foreigners feel like home.
What are you waiting for? Get your bags packed and head to Malapascua now.
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Date of stay: June 2018
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 hipporesort, Manager at Hippocampus Beach Resort
Responded Jun 13, 2018
Hey Sassy! Thank you so much for your feedback and your time to write such a long and detailed review - this will help us a lot to improve. A small excurs about the history of our logo: The name "Hippocampus" comes from the ancient greek. Hippos means "Horse" and Kampos "Seamonster. A part of the brain is also called Hippocampus in medical terminology as it has the shape of a seahorse. Our Logo is a seahorse formed with bubbles, as it is based on a island famous for diving. We think that sounds round enough. :) Yes, Malapascua got famous for the Tresher Sharks and that is why there are also a lot of dive shops and boats here around. :) But, we are glad you still enjoyed the view. We hope you had also the chance to see Bjorn, our bartender, dancing. He is definitely also the best dancer on the island! I am sorry to hear about ants in your room. We normally don't experience any ants in our room. I hope our housekeeping was finally able to manage it. The toilets in a small island like Malapascua have probably not the same quality as in Singapore. They are plenty of things that might be different. Starting from water pressure, over the size of the pipes you can install here, to the pressure the pipes can handle and so on. In the end, the toilets are definitely good enough to handle normal operations. It can always happen that something gets stuck - that is a small island problem :) A lot of flies are normally just around when it is quite hot and there is no wind. The wind just changed, so, everything safe and sound here. :) Thank you again for all your feedback and we hope to see you again! Cheers and sunny greetings from Malapascua, Stefan
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Back to Malapascua after a year, we stay in another resort but we still have our dinner in Hippocampus everyday, the food is definitely the best on the beach. The quality of food is as good as last year we experienced, it's difficult to keep quality and Hippocampus is doing well on it.
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Date of stay: October 2017
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 hipporesort, Manager at Hippocampus Beach Resort
Responded Nov 1, 2017
Thank you very much for the great review! We try our best to keep the food quality up to date, even though it can be difficult to get consistent stocks from suppliers in Cebu. Will pass on your comments to the kitchen! Best Regards, Hippo Team
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Hippocampus has everything you need to have a great stay on Malapascua. The rooms are clean. well air-conditioned, and good sized. The staff is super friendly and are always available to help with whatever you need. Wifi can be a bit spotty on the island in general and usually no signal in the room. But the lobby and eating area has signal.
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Date of stay: March 2017
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 hipporesort, Manager at Hippocampus Beach Resort
Responded Mar 27, 2017
Hi Casey! Thanks for the great review. We are glad you enjoyed your stay here and that we could provide a good place for your vacation. Sorry about the wifi, it's always a problem here in the island. We are working on that now with our provider to try and speed it up! See you next time! Thanks, Lee
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
One of a handful of bars on the island however, I like my beer cold and this place satisfies my wish. The pizzas are 8-9/10. We were here for 4 nights and looked 3 times for a better bar/ restaurant but ended up coming here every night, (I like my beer, he he). Devocean dive shop is here also (they rent part of the premises), the owner is a filipina who runs a tight ship with a hard rod but with love for her staff (rare). The staff are great and well trained. Live music saturday nights. Beers are 60 php and they also seem to be busy making cocktails all night. You can sit at the boat shaped bar or at tables on or off the beach. The view is wow. We didn't stay here but they do accomodation as well.
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Date of stay: December 2016
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 hipporesort, Manager at Hippocampus Beach Resort
Responded Dec 11, 2016
Hi there, thanks for your kind words! We hope to see you back next time! Hippo Team
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
First visit to the island and was positively surprised. A great little hideaway in a beautiful resort. Maria and Lee the owners are awesome people. Very friendly and helpful. Had a long night with them at the bar :) staff are funny and friendly. The morning shift need some training though. Breakfast was okay. Lacking a bit of taste but else it was fine. On my checkin there was half bottle of water left in the ref from the former guest which is not acceptable. But besides that the rooms were very clean and very comfortable. The main reason why I only give 3 stars is the manager. Absolutely absent minded. How a person like that can be a manager is something I can't understand.... Point is owner / resort 4 stars, manager 1 star. So I think 3 is fair. I would recommend the place to my friends despite the terrible manager.
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Date of stay: January 2016
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 do not usually write reviews. Have travelled to 57 countries but really felt this place deserves a mention. This place was real value for money. Nice big clean rooms with artistic decorations. All the rooms have large balconies where my family and I could sit and enjoy our own space. The resort has a beautiful garden with some Nicobar pigeons.There was no need to go anywhere else to eat and drink. In the evening the bar and restaurant come alive with good music and sometimes even live acoustic shows. I recommend the local grilled fish and a romantic candlelight dinner at one of the beachfront tables. The nice thing about Lee and Maria was that they they made us feel very welcome and that nothing was too much trouble. They run the place really well and seem to have time for everyone. Great Hospitality and I was particularly impressed that they always did what they said they would do. Clean towels in your hands minutes after asking for them, special bottle of wine for my wife. If I go to Malapascua again I would never stay anywhere else!!!!
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Date of stay: March 2015
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 location is perfect and the rooms very clean and comfortable beds. But the owners are not arranging at all. In addition to that, our bedroom was not available from the first night. So they told us we would be upgraduated just for this night...without the right of using aircon. There are dogs everywhere lying on the sofa of the hotel. The waiters are not so nice comparing to the usual Filipino spirit. Finally, breakfasts were over priced compared to quantities.
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Date of stay: November 2014
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 Burkhard F, General Manager at Hippocampus Beach Resort
Responded Nov 17, 2014
we are working hard here and it is never nice to receive a bad review. In this case that is even less so, as there is an obvious different reason. This is the story: guests arrived on a wrong date, they had a booking only one day later. Unfortunately we did not have a room for them that day and instead helped to find an accommodation for the first night. As they would have to depart a day earlier also then, guests asked for some refund and we agreed to deduct the last booked and prepaid day from the restaurant bill (good will, we would not have had to do this!). The next day guests returned and we upgraded them into a superior room with fan, equipped with hot shower, fridge, safe etc.. Booked was only a standard single room, our fan cooled economy option. As guests appeared with 2 persons (booked and prepaid - at a respectively lower rate - was only 1), we had to inform them, that only 1 breakfast was complimentary and a second would have to be charged for. As an example an american breakfast at Hippocampus consists of 4 slices homemade bread, 2 eggs any style, a fair portion of bacon, butter, jam, fruits (typically half a mango and banana) plus coffee (2 cups), usually this is sufficient to sustain a heavyweight sportsman. Price is 235 PHP or 5 USD, we feel that this is a very fair deal. Upon checking out, we deducted - as promised -the approximate rate of the last unused day from the bill. Due to an agency commission and taxing this amount had to be lower than what the guests originally paid, but they were unable or unwilling to understand this. We did not see the possibility to meet their request for a higher refund, even after mentioning the possibility of a review. And here it is. I forgot about the dogs, yes, we rescued several from being put on a barbeque and then being eaten. They are friendly and do not do anything bad, they are being cared for, we have a vet coming in twice a year and most people have some fun with them.
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
I was staying at the Hippocampus for two and a half weeks. The owner Maria is such a nice person and good hostess to the place. Friends often come by to hang out at the cosy little bar on the beach as well as all the guests.The rooms are cleaned thoroughly everyday and the food at the bar is decent and affordable.
The dive shop within 'French Kiss' is run by a couple of mega relaxed French guys, I would definitely recommend to dive with them, even though they are slightly more expensive than some others for some dives. It's worth it, because they really care and also fun to hang out with.
When I was staying there weren't a lot of mosquitos at all. (which I see in the other reviews).
The dive shop within 'French Kiss' is run by a couple of mega relaxed French guys, I would definitely recommend to dive with them, even though they are slightly more expensive than some others for some dives. It's worth it, because they really care and also fun to hang out with.
When I was staying there weren't a lot of mosquitos at all. (which I see in the other reviews).
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Date of stay: October 2014
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.
After arriving Malapascua Island the first you see is the typhoon Yolanda had visited also this island and hit most buildings of course including all the hotels. There are some nice places to stay I decide to stay in a standard room at Hippocampus Beach Resort.
The room is clean but a lot of mosquitos make the stay a bit uncomfotable (even after spraying)
But the place is quiet and perfectly located and the island is beautiful.
Had dinner there - the food is ok, what I don´t understand a shake costs 125 PHP but because I mixed 2 fruits they charged me a 200 PHP for same size ;) interesting policy - isn´t it
The room is clean but a lot of mosquitos make the stay a bit uncomfotable (even after spraying)
But the place is quiet and perfectly located and the island is beautiful.
Had dinner there - the food is ok, what I don´t understand a shake costs 125 PHP but because I mixed 2 fruits they charged me a 200 PHP for same size ;) interesting policy - isn´t it
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Date of stay: February 2014
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.
Super place on the beach. Even though the island is affected by the tyfoon, it's still a very beautiful place. And everybody on the island where so nice to us. Hippocampus is on the least affected area.
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Date of stay: January 2014
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.
Private car and boat via the resort was 4,800php. Or local bus 240php (ish) and local ferry 100 php (if they have over 15 people).
Hi there!I can't send you our email here because they won't allow it. But try to find our website by Googling "Hippocampus Beach Resort Malapascua" and then send us a message and I will get back to you there. Just include your Agoda reservation number if you can and the dates of stay!
Hi there,
it takes about 5 hours in total to come from the airport to Hippocampus on Malapascua.
Malapascua is at the north tip of Cebu Island. It takes a little bit of time to reach Malapascua, but that is also what makes it so special and creates a vibe of "choosen ones" :)
The best method is a private car/van from Cebu airport to Maya Port and then with a boat to Malapascua. It is faster and more comfortable than going by public transfer.
We can arrange that easily for you - even with a private boat.
Just write us a mail regarding your booking.
Cheers and sunny greetings from Malapascua
"The live music is Loud until 11 PM. Get as far from it as you can if it bothers you."Read full review
"The rooms at the back, although the cheapest, get a little more peace & quiet as they're furthest from the bar which has music every night. "Read full review
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PRICE RANGE
₱1,673 - ₱2,343 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
hippocampus beach hotel malapascua island
LOCATION
PhilippinesVisayasCebu IslandMalapascua Island
NUMBER OF ROOMS
18
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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