Wherever we work at, we try to make sure our services are as diverse as possible, and cater to all types of possible clients. Boracay is known primarily as a party island, and we really hated the fact we had to tell families with kids and large groups it might be better to consider skipping it in favor of other islands. After all, everyone wants to visit one of the world’s most beautiful beaches. That is why we were so thrilled when we discovered Cohiba Villas, a 4 stars apartment-style resort which is perfect for people who prefer comfort and quietness over the busy nightlife scene.
Cohiba Villas is located at the center of Bulabog beach, only 20 minutes walk from the White Beach area. Bulabog is a fantastic beach in its own right, and there are also enough restaurants and bars nearby to keep you satisfied. Still, this area is much quieter and calmer, thus offering the best of both worlds. The apartment style is also much more convenient for families, as you get to enjoy a living room and a kitchen, which really helps you feel more at home.
The staff operating the hotel is very nice and helpful. If there's any problem with the apartment, maintenance is quick to arrive. Some extra services, such as laundry and transportation are also available upon request. Still, you can't expect the level of personal attention provided by a good resort as this is more of a condominium style accommodation.
The hotel was opened in late 2016, so everything is brand new and shining. The rooms and public areas are constantly cleaned, and we never noticed any problem with that during our time there.
Even the smallest, one bedroom apartment, is very spacious with 60m2 in size. This is much more than you'll get any resort in White Beach. The rooms are all fully furnished, and everything is new and functioning well. The WiFi in particular was outstanding, something even 5 star resorts often struggle with.
There's a large and very nice infinity pool available to hotel guests. It's located at the main area and is easily accessible no matter where your room is. From there, you get to enjoy a spectacular view of the entire Bulabog beach. The beach itself can't really compete with that of White Beach, but is still very nice. It's worth mentioning that between the months of October and March, there's a lot of seaweed dragged to the beach by the strong winds, making it less fun to lay at its shores.
As explained, this location is good only if you understand exactly what you are going to get. This hotel is better for people who prefer to stay home at night, or grab a drink or a meal at one of Bulabog's laid back bars. Still, since it's very close to White Beach, and there's a shuttle going out every hour from early morning until midnight, you can move around freely whenever you want to.
Cohiba Villas aren't cheap, and an apartment here costs just as much as a room at a 5 star resort in White Beach. You can also easily find cheaper hotels in Bulabog that are really nice places to stay at. It does, however, cater to a very specific clientele and for that type of visitors this is a great catch.
In any case, this is a relatively small hotel so wherever you are you should never be too far from main are where the pool and restaurant are located. There are 4 different types of units available – between 1 and 4 bedrooms in each. The 4 bedroom apartment is also available as a penthouse unit, but since there’s only one of those it’s often already booked. In any case, even the smallest, 1 bedroom apartment is approximately 60m2 and very comfortable. Since an extra bed can be added, it can easily accommodate a family of four.
Hotels in Bulabog are generally less popular, since most tourist automatically choose to stay at White Beach without giving it to much thought. On top of that, Cohiba Villas hotel is quite new and hasn't been able to collect enough reviews yet. To make matters worse, the few reviews that do exist are slightly skewed, since people sometimes failed to understand what they are booking, and were disappointed when they found out this place fits a special type of clients only. So, we prefer to mostly rely on our experience and intuition regarding this hotel, and they both tell us it's an excellent choice for the specific crowd they aim to attract. To add to that, so far the feedback we got from clients we sent there was overwhelmingly positive. Still, we also collected a sample of reviews that are found elsewhere online, so you can get a full picture of this resort. Agoda.com is the site with most reviews, and although mixed they are generally very positive. There are 880 reviews there, with an average score of 7.9 which is quite high compared to most Bulabog hotels. While reading the reviews we got the impression that many guests were misinformed and expected a luxury experience even though these are 4 star apartments. That said, there were also more than a few complaints about rooms being dirty upon arrival. On Tripadvisor, we found 352 reviews with an average score of 4.5 out of 5, making Cohiba Villas one of the best ranked hotels in Bulabog. Only 3% of guests rated their stay there as "below average", while 60% gave it the highest score. Guests really liked how comfortable and relaxing it was, and how well it fits for families and large groups. Special praise was also given to the view and the pool. The few complaints we found mentioned the quality of the food served at the restaurant, as well as some units having only a few working electric sockets.
Reviews of Cohiba are generally very positive, here's what guests liked the most:
Still, we also noticed some recurring complaints about this hotel. Here's what you should be aware of:
A maid cleaning service is also part of the deal, and you’ll get your place cleaned every day if you so desire. Whenever there were issues which required immediate cleaning or maintenance, response time for their staff was very quick. Laundry and ironing is also offered for a small charge, but since it’s not done on-site it will not come back so quickly and might take up to 24 hours. That is, assuming you don’t pay extra for the express service.
The pool is also open from 7am until midnight and is only available to guests. Next to it there’s a nice small poolside bar where drinks and snacks can be bought. Villa Cohiba also has a restaurant where a breakfast buffet and a la carte lunch and dinner are served, but as mentioned reviews of it are extremely mixed. You might be better off walking down Bulabog beach for 5 minutes and finding another place to eat, or just buy groceries and cook in your own kitchen.
Lastly, since Cohiba is designed to accommodate long stays as well, they have their own backup generator to ensure constant electricity even in cases of blackouts. They also have a secondary internet connection from an alternative supplier, so if your connection starts lagging just go to reception and ask them to switch. Both of these are very important actually, since Boracay is notorious for erratic internet connection and sudden blackouts.
All in all, while Cohiba Villas hotel might not be the best choice for everybody who visits Boracay, it certainly caters well to its target audience. As long as you understand properly what this place has to offer, and think it’s the exactly the type of service you’re after, there’s no chance you’ll leave disappointed. We really hope this review has helped clear the fog a bit and give an honest and accurate description of what this hotel can offer its guests. For more questions, don’t hesitate to contact us so we can figure out together if Cohiba Villas is the best choice for your Boracay vacation.
This villa has roughly 40m2 of living area as well as a 20m2 private balcony. The bedroom has 1 king size bed and the shower has an hot tub installed. Extra mattresses or a baby crib is provided upon request.
This Villas have 100m2 of shared living space, as well as a large 40m2 balcony. Each bedroom has its own separate shower and toilet – one has a king size bed while the other has 2 singles. Extra mattresses and baby cribs can be added upon request.
These 150m2 villas also have a large balcony with amazing unobstructed view of the ocean. They can easily fit in 6 adults, and 2 extra can be added if you don’t mind sharing rooms. Each bedroom has its own shower and toilet, with one of them even having a hot tub.
With over 200m2 of living space and a huge balcony, this unit can easily accommodate 8 adults. Extra mattresses for kids and baby cribs can also be provided upon request. Each bedroom has its own private shower and toilets. The bed setup is as follows : 1 king size bed, 1 double + single, 1 queen size, 2 singles. This unit is also available as a penthouse which is slightly bigger and more luxurious.
