Charisma Beach Resort

Finding a nice place to stay in Siquijor did not seem easy. Besides a handful of upscale places, there was a lot in the budget range – and very little in between. I thought that Charisma Beach Resort would be exactly in this sweet spot. But, to sum up in advance, it wasn‘t. Property: The property is located on the main street of San Juan, so close to restaurants and bars. The place itself is quiet and relaxed. It has a swimming pool – which is very small though (not suitable for properly swimming), not refreshing (rather like a hot tub) and not at all inviting (don‘t fall for the pictures on the internet). There aren‘t any sunbeds at the pool, just some plastic chairs. Hardly any guest used the pool during my stay. Beach: The beach is lovely and great for a swim (during high tide only) or to watch the sunset. In fact, the beach is the most convincing argument to stay at this hotel (which I advise not to). Room: It seems that rooms at this place vary in size – and that they had given me the smallest one (from what I could tell getting a glimpse of other rooms). While the room might be OK in size for one person, it is definitely too small for two people. The bathroom has the size of a toilet stall and the praised „walk-in shower“ just means: if someone showers, the rest of the bathroom can‘t be used. And once finished showering, everything (sink, toilet) is wet. The shower itself only sprays a little bit of water through its calcified shower head. Overall, the bathroom is zero stars. As to the rest of the room: Hardly any space to store clothes, belongings or luggage. Aircon is working but despite the size of the room it takes a long time to cool down (while making a lot of noise). And, just a minor thing but still: the room had a total of 4 power sockets out of which two were working. Imagine two people with a phone, an iPad, a camera each. Charging devices has become a strategic mission at this place. Staff: Very friendly and trying to help, but not great hosts (only transactional conversation). Value for money: Given the state of the room and especially the price of 4,000 pesos per night (1 person, shoulder season, booked well in advance) without breakfast, I felt truly disappointed. I travelled through the Philippines for a month and always got hotels at about 4,000 pesos per night (often including breakfast). This place offered by far the lowest value for money. I would not stay at Charisma again – not because I did not have a good stay but because I felt there was too little value for money.

Good location with fantastic beachfront. Simple rooms - we had beach bungalow which was not air conditioned so was very hot all the time. Two fans provided but they struggled to cool the room at all, no cool breeze . We had breakfast included which was simple/basic food and good value for what you got. The pool was like a hot bath, completely exposed no shade. Requires shade sails. Best motorbike hire is Lucy’s scooters located nearby. Swimming at low tide is difficult but at high tide can swim waist deep off shore and swim out further for depth and some coral and fish. Take your own snorkel and flippers if wanting to go out deep. Good place to chill out for a couple days, was relatively except for roosters next door.

There is a sense of tranquility and comfort in this resort. We booked the cheapest room with pool view and to our surprise, it was really cozy and clean. The resort is aesthetically pleasing and the staffs are really nice. We will certainly be back. Btw, i find their Tapa so tasty. It is far better than the Tapa we have tasted in a famous resto in BGC which is really expensive.