Granada Beach Resort - Adults Only

This is a hidden gem and we highly recommend this resort! Pros: - It is next to a coral reef and they provide free snorkeling equipment in great condition to use! This is the best reason to stay here, all the snorkeling you want for free and without the need to travel! - Very cozy environment with about 8 rooms only? You will have lunch and dinner with the same groups of people. - Food is delicious, slightly expensive but reasonable. From my short experience, the specials of the night tend to be nicer than the normal menu items, but they are all good regardless. - I love the resort arranged tour. We took a whale shark + secret waterfall tour, and the guide, Alex, was great. It was a personal tour (2 of us) and we had to leave at 4am (we were slightly late and left around 405-410am), and when we reached the whale shark place, it was already quite crowded and we got a queue number of 52 - still pretty good. After taking the queue number, there are a bunch of shops to shop around, but we stupidly forgot to bring any cash, and Alex was kind enough to lend us money for breakfast and souvenirs. He even helped us bargain with the street peddlers when they tried to overcharge us. When swimming with the majestic whale sharks, he used his go-pro to help us take photos and videos, so we just need to enjoy ourselves and pose. Personally, I think the whale shark experience is pretty basic, not well organized and too crowded, but Alex made the experience unforgettable with his personal touches and help. Cons: - The worst part is getting there. It took us 5.5 hours to get here from Mactan-Cebu Airport using the private transfer when we arrived around 1230pm Saturday. There was jam to get out of the airport, jam in Cebu city and road works all along the road to Granada. When we returned to the airport in Monday morning 4am, the trip took about 3 hours. - The massage is in a room with a nice sea view, but the massage was very gentle and I prefer something stronger to sooth the body aches (from sitting in the car for over 5 hours). So I guess this is up to personal preferences. - The snorkeling was great, but it could be a bit intimidating when it's just the 2 of us snorkeling unsupervised in a large open sea. We did not face any danger, but also did not dare to venture too far and for too long as we city folks are worried about snakes and jellyfishes. We do see fishes jumping out of the sea in the distance, and this could be a sign of predators nearby. - Adults only. We enjoyed ourselves tremendously and would love to bring our kids here in the future and spend more time here. However, with their adults only policy, we won't be able to do that.

We had an amazing time at Granada Beach Resort. Definitely worth coming back.