Hof Gorei in Samal Island--- Pros and Cons That You Need To Know Before Booking

          What comes into your mind when you hear Samal Island? You're right! I've heard a lot of beautiful things too that's why I decided to book a trip going there. So, I bought a travel voucher on Metrodeal.com. Prior to completing the purchase, I first called the resort to validate if the offer online is legit. Well, they said yes and my preferred dates were available. I quickly paid the vouchers and booked a flight through AirAsia Zest. How to get there?  You have to fly from Manila to Davao City for approximately two hours, grab a van then ride for about 30minutes going to Sta. Ana Wharf, then lastly, take a 50-minute boat ride to reach the Garden City of SamaL Island where Hof Gorei is nestled.  If you're interested to book here please check the Pros and Cons before doing any move.

PROS:

1. They have their own motorboat that'll take you from Sta. Ana Wharf going to the resort directly. But, there's a specific time that it will disembark from the port so make sure that your flights are coordinated. Please check with the resort about the schedule of departures.

A very nice breakfast prepared by our butler at the gazebo with a view of the sea, fresh flowers plus a warm sun.

2. You have a Personal Butler. Sounds posh, right? Haha! For me, this is the best experience that I had in our 3-day stay in Hof Gorei. Once you arrive, the butler assigned to you will welcome you with a warm towel  and hand you a cold drink to freshen up from a long travel. He will also carry all your  luggage going to your room. Not only that, your butler will ask you where you wanna eat  either in your room, at the beachfront or anywhere else within the resort and he will be glad to prepare it for you. You'll have a bell in your room that you can ring if you wanna call him. Literally, he's just one ring away!

This is a Hillside Round Hut good for two persons

3. The rooms are spacious, clean and cozy. We were booked in round hut no.1. Just a tip, if it's available you can request for round but no.2 so you'll have the best view of the sky, the sea and the amazing Mt. Apo. Unfortunately, all of the huts were full that day so we just had views of lush green trees.

Rufous Hornbill living in the resort

4. Hof Gorei is a tropical haven. Since it's a remote island, you have peace of mind, away from the noise of the city and the huge crowd at the Metro. In addition, they have a mini zoo or more of a farm I think? So don't be surprised if you see chicken with its chicks roaming around. One day, a goose ran after me too! I got scared and ran away. But that's okay it's all part of the experience.  And because the resort is full of trees and flowers, that's why the amusing colorful birds would keep coming back to the resort.

Dinner at the beachfront prepared by our butler

5. Their food is fairly priced, unexpectedly delicious and comes with a large portion. When you go to a far-flung place you would expect that the food will cost alot than usual that's why we prepared for our budget. But it's amazing to see that the menu shows a fair price. We ordered food we haven't heard of yet and sometimes we could hardly pronounce. To our surprise, it's actually tasy and sumptuous. Kudos to their Chef for satisfying our gastronomic needs! 👏👏👏

CONS:

We just ate our candle lit dinner here in the stone hut. Why not do something romantic while the lights are out?

1. Rotational Power Outage. Samal Island is part of Mindanao which usually have power outage. Unfortunately, Hof Gorei doesn't have a generator set. So, we just endured the heat of the summer sun from the time that we arrived til the night. 

2. Its beachfront but you can't swim on the beach. It has white sand but the beach is full of seaweeds and quite deep. I'm actually disappointed about this because the pictures that they posted online with regards to the beachfront is somewhat different than the actual. Expectation vs. Reality 😂

3. They are not coordinated with their other partners. Our voucher shows that we have a land transportation to and from the wharf. Yes it happened on the way there, however, when its time to go back home, no land transportation showed up. What a shame... So we just grabbed a cab going to the Crocodile Park anyway our flight is still in the evening.

4. There's just limited activities in Hof Gorei. If your looking for extreme water adventures, well, I'm sorry but you can only swim at the pool, just walk around and explore the vicinity of the resort and of course go lazy all day. In my opinion, 3days and 2nights should be enough here. It's not like a place you wanted to extend for a day or more. 

Here are some of the pictures during our island hopping activity:

Snorkelling on emerald green waters and beautiful coral beds of Samal. But we didn't see a lot of fish, sadly.

We had more encounters with star fishes and sea urchins

Finally! Our favorite part.. Picnic time in Talicud Island! Just for the two of us.

After eating lunch you can soak yourself on the beach of Talicud Island and just appreciate the view of Mt. Apo (but its covered with clouds 😞)

All in all, our first visit in Mindanao is absolutely a pure bliss and full of memories that we will cherish forever. Thank God for all His creations that we're enjoying right now. Hoping to see more in the future!

Additional information

Hof Gorei Beach Resort Kaputian, Samal Island 

8120 Davao, Philippines

                                 E-mail: info@hofgorei-resortdavao.com
                                   Visit: www.hofgoreiresortdavao.com