Banaue Evergreen Hostel and Restaurant

We stayed as a group of eight as part of an organised tour. Good location with lovely views over the area and convenient to walk to the Banaue town market. Good food and service for both breakfast and evening meal. Rooms clean and functional but in need of refurbishment. Enjoyed the evening entertainment of local dancing.

I stayed in this hotel around 35 years ago when it enjoyed an excellent reputation. Even the spouse of the late President Marcos sen. used to stay there. Actually, it should be called an Inn rather than a hotel. The room I got for my wife and myself was clean, but many features, such as light, faucets etc. was not working properly. Towels, face towels, tissue paper was missing.. The only positive was the superb view of the rice terraces. The same applies for our friend in a separate room. The breakfast buffet is probably good for the inexperienced Filipino, but not for the international traveler. There was also loud music until after midnight. To say it in three words: "ripe for demolition" or for a very comprehensive renovation.

Sad to say this was an awful stay. But let’s start with the positive: * The view from the balcony was amazing and sunrise was awesome * the dinner and breakfast were quite good and the service was nice OK, that’s it! What went wrong: The hotel had no water. Not just no hot water…no water. They said nothing upon checking in about any issues. We did a long hike, came back and couldn’t clean up. They seemed surprised that we needed water in our room. They turned it on and it worked. After dinner we came back to find no water. Couldn’t use the toilet, the sink or fill the kettle. Again asked for water and “as a courtesy” they turned it on for 30 minutes. Next morning, no water. In the afternoon after a 6 hour hike, no water. They offered to turn it on for an hour. Sad to stay in a 3*** hotel and have no water. Much cheaper places in town have water Pool. Hahahaha. The pool hasn’t had water in ages. The pics on their site are lovely. Reality is an empty overgrown former pool Internet was sketchy. Non existent in the room (which it did say on the booking site) but barley workable in the restaurant. Noise! OMG. We checked in while some conference was in the lobby. We couldn’t even hear what the front desk was saying it was so loud. The next night was a Battle,of the Bands thing from 7pm - 12am. Loud! Large crowds cheering. They seem to forget they have guests that want to get up early for their vacation. It was impossible to sleep until midnight. Again, staff just shrugged their shoulders. Location: it’s not in the center of town as they claim. You really can’t walk anywhere and there were no moto taxis out front at all. Bottom line, they claim to be the best place in town. Maybe 30 years ago they were. Now, it was such a disappointment.

Hôtel bien situé avec une belle vue sur les rizières. L’hôtel est tenu par l’administration locale... L’entrée est un immense hall où trônent deux canapés perdus. Les chambres sont de bonne taille, avec une moquette qui ne donne pas envie d’y poser les pieds. Les fenêtres qui donnent sur le couloir ne sont pas hermétiques et l’on entend tout le bruit du passage et des autres salles de bain et chambres… la décoration est d’un autre temps. Pas de climatisation malgré ce qui nous avait été dit, en février ce n’est pas utile. Les salles de bain sont sommaires mais elles sont nettoyées, ce qui est déjà un luxe ici. Coté restaurant, le menu est plutôt bien fourni, mais les plats sont sans saveurs, le buffet ne donne pas envie. On reste sur sa faim. Quand à la piscine, elle est accessible à tout le village. Il n’y a pas aucun transat mais juste des chaises. Nous avions l’impression d’être dans une colonie de vacances avec une cinquantaine d’enfants. Une fois qu’on a dit tout ça, malheureusement il n’y a aucune autre autre option à Banaue !! Les rizières sont exceptionnelles, mais a 10 heures de route depuis Manille, Banaue laisse un sentiment mitigé.