Vellago Resort

An excellent experience at this paradise report. Such a beautiful location, only reachable by boat. One or two *******, but overall, it really was a 5/5 experience. Pros. 1. Location. Incredible!!! Staff were so attentive the vast majority of the time. One or two minor annoyances, but I’m hard to please. 2. The room was superb, and the view to die for! 3. Food was very good and the evening setting for dinner was so romantic. Tables set along the beach with beautiful lighting. 4. We had a massage which was great! 5. Excursions that are available are great - we did an all-day island tour that’s highly recommended. This was the highlight of our stay. Cons. 1. Thousands, and I really do mean thousands of jelly fish in the sea. It made swimming tricky, even though the hotel staff were scooping them out the water to clear the way. This was unfortunate as they should only “visit” for a few weeks and our timing wasn’t good. 2. The resort has its own private beach that’s on the 7 commandos beach and open to hundreds / thousands of visitors daily. So, it’s not really private as they can come and use the resort for drinks and food. You don’t therefore get the luxury experience that you hoped for. The resort had approx 12 external guests for one of the evenings. This impacted the service we had. Food ordering was slow, food to come was slow due to the number of guests doubling! 3. Limited (zero) snacks to eat during the day. No ice cream or peanuts and general snacks…disappointing as you can only have a meal. 4. Lots of sugar to most things, which for me as a diabetic isn’t good. I struggled.

The Vellago Resort is a very special place-not only because of its magical location, but also due to its warm, attentive, and professional staff. With only six villas, the Vellago sets the standard for personalized boutique experience. Thank you Herwin and team for making our stay so memorable. The restaurant was also fabulous—amazing tuna and other dishes. Kudos also to the housekeeping staff. We feel fortunate to have spent three nights at Vellago and wish we could have been there even longer. We miss those wonderful breakfasts on our villa terrace overlooking the sea and those dinners on the beach. And the hornbills flew right around our villa! I hope we can come back one day. A big, thank you again to everyone at the Vellago who made our stay so special and memorable.

We loved our stay at the Vellago Resort. Absolutely the highlight of our trip to the Philippines. The staff went out of their way to make us feel special and consistently assured that we were taken care of. Nina and Herwin always made sure we had everything we needed at all times. The resort is right on Seven Commandos beach which is one of the stops of the island tours. Multiple times of the day, we had that whole beach to ourselves. We were able to use the hotel kayaks to go to a few other beaches, one of which is another stop on the island tours. We started every morning with a perfect breakfast on our balcony with a beautiful view. Very intimate dinners right on the beach with candlelight and torches. The private day tour we took we were able to split with another couple and from what I read, the island tours are better private as opposed to 20 person crowded boats. Snorkeling on the tour was especially amazing at Star Island. The food was great, there were different specials each day which gave variety to the selections. The staff again was wonderful. Our room and space was always kept fresh, even when we didn’t expect a touch up. There were small details and personal touches from the beginning of our stay to the very end. We especially appreciated Nina and Herwin’s welcoming, friendly, and positive energy. We will definitely visit again when we return to El Nido ＜3

Words are not enough to describe this absolutely amazing boutique hotel. It is absolutely the most romantic, beautiful, exclusive and unique hotel we have ever stayed at! (And we have travelled extensively, staying in 5-star hotels for many years.)! 1) The location is perfect, on famous 7 Commando beach on an Island just 10 minutes off the ”mainland” of El Nido. This is the only hotel on the beach and the hotel has a private stretch of very beautiful and clean beach.! 2) The hotel has only 6 rooms, but a big amount/ratio of staff who does everything to make their guests comfortable, pampered and Happy! The staff are so extremely friendly, helpful and charming. For example, they came with lemon water & orchids (!) to our sunbeds in the beach cabana every day and spread flowers on our breakfast table. We would especially want to thank excellent staff Aya & Herwin for their perfect & charming service and of course also the perfect hostess General Manager Nina. 3) The suites are so beautiful that it’s hard to describe; They have Balinese interior decoration, with unique bronze and wooden statues, baskets etc. The suites are even more beautiful than on the website pictures! 4) The hotel provides great excursions into the stunningly beautiful archipelago (at an additional cost, which is eller worth it). A memory for life. Boat staff are so helpful too. 5) The stunning sunsets!!! This is the most lovely, beautiful and wonderful hotel we have ever stayed at. A warm Thank you to All fantastic staff who made our stay a unique memory for life!

This hotel is right on the Seven Commandos Beach. A 20 minute car journey and 10 minute boat ride from El Nido Airport. Way more convenient than a five hour van journey from Puerto Princess. The hotel is the opposite end of the white sandy beach from where the day trippers come to, and they tend to arrive mostly between 10 am to 12 noon, and 4 to 6 pm. Very quiet after 6 30 pm. There was no interference from the day trippers. The airport to hotel transfer was booked via Vellago, and it worked perfectly, with the boat waiting for us upon our arrival at the jetty/beach, for the 10 minute journey to the hotel. Life jackets were always mandatory which was pleasing. All rooms were overlooking the beach, well equipped with good regular house keeping including turn down service. Toilet was in the open bathroom in our honeymoon suite!!! Daily breakfasts on the balcony was always a treat, with a good choice, which had to be made the night before. All staff were extremely friendly, attentive and helpful. Great swimming right in front of the hotel, as well as snorkeling and kayaking. The hotel offers a private full day boat tour, which was fabulous, which visited Large Lagoon, Small Lagoon, Secret Beach, and several other locations, including snorkeling stops. Lunch was on a small totally private beach. Great service from Ernie the guide ( and photographer) captain Marlon, and the chef…sorry, cannot remember his name. El Nido was the 10 minute boat journey and a 10 minute Tuk Tuk ride from the hotel, and was worth the effort to see another beach, bars/restaurants, and the local stalls/shops. The hotel is expensive, but exclusive, and in a fabulous location. There were two small negatives. 1. 2 guests flew drones, one of which was right outside our balcony. A major intrusion of privacy, and in my opinion they should be banned from the property as most people want privacy in such a small private location. 2. A few items on the menu were never available. Maybe they should be removed from the menu to avoid disappointment. Overall a fabulous experience.

We stayed 5 nights at Vellago and thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful location and the fantastic accommodation overlooking the stunning Bacuit Bay. We were lucky enough to stay in the Beach Villa which is perched up above the beach with fantastic views and comprises a huge bedroom with the most comfortable bed, a terrace with extensive seating and from where we enjoyed breakfast over looking the ocean every morning, and a separate amazing bathroom with a glass panel window overlooking the sea. The accommodation exceeded our expectations. Better than the accommodation was the staff. This is a small boutique hotel and the staff ‘family’ are exceptional at looking after their guests every need, efficiently and unobtrusively. Nothing was any trouble and it was a nice touch that the manager would check-in with each of the guests at least once a day to see how things are going. The reef is just yards from the beach and is great for snorkelling. The reef is in ‘OK’ condition and we were fortunate to see turtles and fish that we haven’t seen elsewhere like Lion fish. Vellago provide private boat tours around the various lagoons, reefs and beaches which we would recommend. The beach is on the tourist circuit but the visitors mostly stay well away from Vellago at the far end of the bay and so we were not bothered by them at all. All in all, it was wonderful to enjoy an authentic Philippine ‘Robinson Crusoe’ holiday where we were so well looked after.