El Nido Resorts Lagen Island

El Nido Resorts Lagen Island came out of a year-long renovation in May 2026 with 42 rooms where it had 51, and gave the difference to the beach. That beach is about 200 metres of white sand round a cove on a private island in Bacuit Bay, with forest climbing the limestone behind it and a cliff standing sheer out of the sea at one end. A stone breakwater holds the lagoon pale inside, and the water villas stand over it on stilts; the forest rooms and suites keep to the trees, in two buildings set back across the lawn. The renovation kept about 80% of what was built in 1998, which for a refit shows some self-control, and finished it in Filipino weaving and carving: screens of turned wood along the villa decks, and steep thatched roofs lined inside with woven panels.

Recommended for couples, and for families, who would rather stay on one island and see the rest of Bacuit Bay from a boat. Every meal is included, served at the Clubhouse Restaurant over the bay, and there is a kids club. The resort's boats go out on island-hopping tours, kayaking through the Big Lagoon, and on mangrove tours and night kayaking trips. The dive centre, built in the manner of a Filipino nipa hut, runs PADI courses and Bubblemaker sessions for children. Back on the island, a trail through the rainforest leads to a second, more secluded beach, and the Wellness Sanctuary has an ESPA spa and a garden of hot and cold plunge pools. Dinner can also be laid, weather permitting, at the lantern-lit mouth of the Garden Cave: the one dining room on the island nobody had to build.