Come Home To Isora, Come Home To The Escape You Deserve

We all know that Puerto Galera is one of the best places to go for loud and vibrant beaches. Having a number of hotels, resorts, bars, restaurants and shops on the beachfront of Sabang Beach and White Beach, Puerto Galera is known to have an active nightlife. However, as I get older, I’m becoming less fond of this small town as it gets too noisy. It is almost hard to find a moment of tranquility. Well, I said almost because I found a spot that can offer the opposite. I’m talking about Isora Resort, located at the southern part of Puerto Galera.

You can find Isora Resort at the peaceful beach of Bulabod, where it is enclosed into a cove and surrounded by lush green mountains. It isn’t your usual resort since apart from swimming pool and sea, there is also a river nearby. It is indeed a paradise in the middle of nature.

We discovered Isora Resort when my friends held their beach wedding here. I must say that it was the best designed wedding I’ve ever attended, not just because of the venue, but also because of the expertise of the event stylist the newlyweds got. They were able to execute the boho deconstructed theme in the shores of Bulabod Beach. This is just proves that despite of being a boutique hotel and despite of not having event halls, Isora Resort can cater a grand occasions like this.

I was part of the entourage so as early as seven in the morning, I was already at the hotel, preparing for the big event. At the same time, my friends and I explored the hotel and agreed that it would be a wonderful destination for our next staycation. A year after, my mom and I went back and unexpectedly got the whole resort all to ourselves since it was lean season.

All rooms are studio type with two double beds. Hence, each unit can accommodate four persons. I could totally feel the luxe through the classy modern interior design and and high-end room amenities, not to mention the comfort I felt while tucked in their plush beddings. Moreover, there’s a Smart TV that has Netflix and Amazon Prime subscriptions so our night was filled with movie marathon.

Seeing these essentials lined up on the bathroom’s vanity makes my heart leap. It feels good to take a bath in this kind of shower room. You can see from its white walls that it was properly cleaned daily. Even their public comfort rooms are clean and have complete toiletries and equipment. Each unit has an unoccupied outdoor space and the staff said that it is intended for jacuzzi. I’ll look forward to that on our next visit.

Speaking of bathing, let’s go to the beach, shall we? Unlike in White Beach, the coast here at Bulabod is composed of pebbles so it’s kinda throbbing to walk even with slippers. The beach front is sloped downward to the sea so the water level easily gets deep. If you don’t want to swim, the resort offers free kayak to its guests. The beach seemed incomplete because there wasn’t any cabanas or even loungers at the beach side for resting and basking. But I believe that they are trying to make the shores as pure as possible that’s why there are no manmade stuff here.

A few steps from the hotel is a stream where you can take a dip. But we just spent half an hour at the beach and proceeded immediately at the resort’s pool, where it is more comfortable to splash around. The pool is shaded since there’s a canopy above and the pool water was at a relaxing temperature. At night, it is surrounded by warm lights so photos taken here are spectacular.

In one of the hotel’s pavilion, Rosita’s Kitchen, Isora Resort’s in-house restaurant, is situated. It offers Filipino dishes that follow family recipes so every platter has this homey touch. However, the restaurant recommends to order at least one day ahead online to ensure freshness of the ingredients. We decided to spend our dinner at Rosita’s Kitchen and ordered House Salad, Cousin Josaine’s Pako Salad and Beef Tapa. There’s a plated complementary breakfast as well.

The Beef Tapa has the sweetness of tocino and smokiness of bacon, which made me like it, especially with their garlic rice. Garden Salad was a bed of fresh ingredients. My favorite part was the sweetened nuts as it added texture to the dish. I also appreciated the pako but it was the tuna and salted egg that gave the Pako Salad more flavor. At morning, we were served with our chosen dish, which is Breakfast Bites. It was just a stack of classic pancakes so there’s nothing to expect. The pancakes were dry and not fluffy.

As I said, Isora Resort is meant for people who just want rest and quiet getaway. Therefore, activities are limited only to swimming, kayaking, binge-watching and spa. But I realized that it is also a nice place for employees who work from home. Or shall I say work from vacay? Most parts of the resort has spacious lounges, which are work-friendly. They have spots at the cabanas near the beach, at Rosita’s Kitchen, and at the pavilion in the center. There’s free WiFi almost everywhere, too, so it will definitely be stress-free.

I can’t end this review without giving commendation to the staff of Isora Resort. Talking to the receptionist online as I was booking for our stay, I already felt the professionalism. When we arrived, we were greeted with friendly smiles that showed hospitality. They assisted and guided us well on our whole stay. My mom has a lot of requests, especially when it comes to picture-taking, and they gladly obliged. They are one of the reasons why visitors will come back at Isora Resort.