Boracay Shangri La Philippines

I had the pleasure of going Boracay for business in September. It is a place that i heard alot but have never been so naturally I was excited for visit and have booked myself to the Shangri-la Boracay.

The Journey to Boracay

The biggest hurdle i would say was getting there. First you have to fly to Manila (from Singapore), then take a domestic flight to Caticlan airport. Next you will need transport to the coast to catch a speed boat to the Broracay Island, ending with another land transport to the resort. In summary, Air-Air-land-Sea-land. Door to door was about 12 hours.

Shangri-la marketing themselves as a luxurious 5 star resort, this waiting area is the 5 star treatment with free coffees, cookies and private toilet.

The Hotel

The rooms are pretty much in the same style of all other Shangri-La beach resorts, very resort feel.

The highlights of Shangri-la I have to say is the swimming pool and the private beach. There are several infinity pools and some with spectacular views. Yes, it is really private as they have manned guards at the border of the property stopping anyone who is not a guess.

The Pools

Needless to say for Boracay, the private beach has crystal clear water and the water was rather warm.

The Beach of Boracay

It was a totally different feeling and mood with it comes to sunset. During evening time, there were live performances at the beach while you can sip your favourite cooktail or beer. That was my little slice of heaven last week.

I only had the daily breakfast, a lunch and a dinner at the hotel. Breakfast was a good spread though with lots of local food that did not suit my palette. Lunch i ordered tandoori chicken and tom yam soup which both where a little disappointing and underwhelming, lacking the “oomph” factor. Dinner were spent at the Sirena seafood restaurant at one of their first come first serve canopy. It wasn’t as fresh as I was expecting unfortunately despite being an island surrounded by sea.

The Food

My Thoughts

The resort was great and definitely one of the best that I had stayed but i cannot say the same for the food. The food was a little underwhelming, bland and seafood not as fresh.

Having said that, Shangri-la resort still makes a really great place to chill and relaxation. I think i can stay here again for 2-3 days doing nothing but chill by the pool or the beach reading a book. I prefer this anytime to Cebu but the only dampener would be the transport here as I mentioned earlier. If they can fix that, I am pretty sure Boracay would be a hit among Asian tourist.