We booked Loboc river resort for 3 nights during our 1 week trip to Philippines. Its located along the Loboc river and is a 40 min drive from Tagbilaran airport and seaport. We were considering 2 resorts – Loboc River resort and Firefly cottages for our stay. Both are along the Loboc river, had wonderful reviews and are known for their natural surroundings. At the end we chose Loboc river resort for 3 reasons –

• Breakfast was included in the room rates and the review was great.
• The reviews on Tripadvisor from families were better for Loboc river resort.
• Firefly cottage boasts about their dogs and I am super scared of dogs :))

Booking Loboc River Resort, Bohol

We booked a river view room directly on their website https://www.lobocriverresort.com. The rate was slightly better than on the online sites. Inclusions for the room were:

• Welcome drinks
• Breakfast
• Kettle & fridge in the room
• Hairdryer and toileteries
• Wifi in common areas
• Bottled water

They also have free and paid activities within the resort.

Free activities include:

• Resort tour
• Swimming pool
• Bicycles for adults and kids (inside the resort premises)
• Hanging tour bridge
• Carabao (water bufallo) ride for kids
• Badminton, table tennis and volleyball

Paid activities include:

• Firefly tour
• Kayak ride
• Stand up paddle boat (SUP)
• Fishing
• Massage

They also have a small shop that stocks essentials like water bottles, swimming constumes, snacks etc.

You can write to the resort for their best rates on lobocriverresort@yahoo.com . They are very prompt with their replies and approachable for any queries. They also arrange for airport /seaport pickup. However, we had decided not to take seaport transfers because we were not sure if our ferry will reach on time.

Rooms:

Rooms at Loboc river resort are either river view or forest view. They have 2 suites which have river view. The difference between standard river view and suite is the kitchen, bathtub and DVD player. There is no difference in the standard forest view and river view rooms except for the view.

The rooms are all located on stilts and open up to a small private balcony. They are quite spacious as well. We checked-in on our anniversary and were pleasantly surprised with a small note and decorated bed.

Restaurant:

Venia’s kitchen, the in-house restaurant has one of the best views in Loboc. And the food compliments the view. Breakfast is included in the room rate and you can choose among local or American food. Vegetarian dishes are also available; and the staff is also willing to make vegetarian version of their local dishes (Filippinno food mostly consists of beef and pork). The prices were also reasonable. What we loved about meals at Philippines was the mango shakes 🙂

Complimentary activities at the resort:

Swimming pool: The pool is located with a view of the loboc river and has quite a few recliners. There are beach towels kept around and guests can also order food from restaurant to be served by the pool.

Bicycles: One of the best parts about Loboc river resort was the kid’s bicycles. Our kiddo is always dissapointed at resorts that offer cycles because they usually don’t have smaller ones. The cycles offered at Loboc river resort can be used inside to explore their property.

Games: Table tennis, badminton and volleyball are available inside resort itself. We played a bit of TT, but did not check the other 2.

Resort Tour: This was one activity which felt like a waste of time. We usually enjoy tours in such surroundings, and this one claimed to cover monkey, fish and chicken feeding. However, there was no fish or chicken feeding. For the monkey feeding, one of the staff went across the creek, put some mango peels on the other side. We waited for the monkeys to come. But when none came on its own, the staff hooted for them. Couple of them came and had the leftovers, but it wasn’t much fun. The tour also had Carabao ride for kids, but none of the kids on tour agreed to do that.

Paid activities:

Firefly watching: I will highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Bohol. The sky was clear on the day we reached Bohol and we decided to take the tour at 7pm (there are 2 slots: 7pm and 8pm). We left on the banca boat and were literally the only boat in the area when we reached the spot, which was full by the time we left. The experience of hundreds of fireflies glowing under a tree is magical. Since we were the only people in the mangrove, we got an opportunity to alight the boat and sit on the banks of the river to enjoy the moment. The evening was made special by our guide who caught a few fireflies in a bottle for our kiddo (we released them after a while). There is nothing that can prepare you for this mesmerizing experience. Literally hundreds of fireflies and thousands of stars in the sky was an experience of the lifetime.

You can also combine firefly watching with Stand-up paddleboard (abbreviated as SUP 🙂 ) experience in the night.

Unfortunately I have no good photos of this activity because flash is not allowed and nigh photography did not do justice to the experience.

Kayak: We went for a kayak ride one morning. It was too hot and we wrapped up in 30 mins instead of the 1 hour ride. A 1 hr ride costs 250 PHP for a double kayak.
We also took their help in getting trike arranged for our trip to Tarsier Sanctuary. The staff is very friendly and eager to help.

Overall, we had a wonderful time at Loboc river resort and I will definitely recommend it to anyone heading to Bohol.

Website: https://www.lobocriverresort.com
Email ID: lobocriverresort@yahoo.com

Address: Loboc River Resort
6316, Camayaan Rd
Loboc, Bohol
Philippines

Landline: (038) 537-9342
Globe Mobile: 0915 469 8515
Smart Mobile: 0999 929 8119