Qi Palawan

Our vacation in Qi Palawan was in April 2017. It was our best relaxing vacation ever. I was living a dream. Never knew nature could be so beautiful. You feel one with nature in the resort and at the same time you get al the sophisticated luxury you need. Beautiful lodges, great food. Nice massages ! We enjoyed the excursions by boat.

The resort is located about an hour drive from El Nido with little around but what it has to offer on site. Situated at a shallow bay on a part of the island with a frequent high velocity on shore wind, it was established as a kite surfing destination. Since then, owners have changed and the resort currently doubles a a dive resort. ||||If you re not into either of these two disciplines you may seek it out for its remoteness or friendly staff. It should be noted that the beach is not great for swimming as it is very shallow, at low tide you can walk out more than 150 meters and there s no on site snorkeling. ||||Excursions to beaches and islands are arranged via the resort and always incl about 45min - 1hr drive each way.||||Bungalows are clean and simple with nice shower facilities. We never had an power issues or no hot water. Beds come with mosquito netting so comfortable nights should be available also in the wet season. ||||Foods not bad and better than the other places we tried but Philippines is unlikely to be anyone s foodie destination.||||As anywhere on Palawan, the beach and resort area is ripe with sandflies, courtesy not least by the many more or less domesticated dogs. Be careful to apply plenty of repellent, courtesy of the resort. The sand fly bites can seriously affect your stay in the itchiest way possible.||||Overall , we recommend the resort and its friendly staff but visitors should be mindful of where it is and what it is specialized in. We could wish for healthier options for breakfast (just bran cereals or similar) and a better coffee. A board for sharing guest plans in the reception area would also be helpful in coordination between guests for rides and activities.

We chose this hotel because it was far away from the crowded, noisy and dirty El Nido and because it had free yoga classes every morning. |The hotel is 1 hour drive from El Nido but the transfer from and back to El Nido is for free.|The houses were all made from bamboo and the bathroom is outside so you feel as if you were taking a shower in the middle of the jungle. |The main philosophy of the buildings and the hotel itself is to stay as close to the nature as possible- so while practicing yoga you can admire birds, squirrels and other animals that are observing you. A really nice feeling. |I can’t agree with some opinions I read that the food was not good - I personally find that for the Philippines the food was really great (of course it’s not Thailand but you can find some Spanish flavors in the menu). |The real gem is actually the service- nice and friendly but not interfering with your privacy. ||I had 2 great massages in the middle of the jungle. ||The hotel was indeed built 8 years ago but I think that the furnishing is still good and does not need replacing.|Apparently it’s Great place for kite surfing- but we are not kiteboarding so cannot confirm this. ||The stay is a little bit pricy though, if you count in all additional food (there’s nothing around so there’s not much of a choice). |The beach is private so there is no one and definitely no crowds you’d see in el Nido. |Great starry sky at nights. ||2 disadvantages: |- for 2 nights some guests were playing loud techno music at 2 am and with other guests we were trying to figure out who it was - but in all honesty- if you wanna party at 2 am go and stay in El Nido;|- the private island hopping tour (lagoons) organized through the hotel (but not by the hotel) turned out to be a disaster - they forgot we were coming, didn’t have the shoes for snorkeling not fins, they were late with the departure 1,5 hours and forgot to buy food for us. We paid for it 15.000 pesos (!) (normally on a regular boat you pay 1200/ person) and it was definitely not worth it. We paid so much because we wanted to avoid the crowds at the hotspots as we’ll as we wanted to have an individual experience). However, at this moment I have to mention that once we’ve told this to the manager - his reaction was appropriate: I hope the hotel will never work with these travel agency crooks again. |All in all, we had a great stay.|

Such a beautiful place, with amazing staff. So tranquil and peaceful. Obviously still recovering from covid shutdowns which forced most resorts to close for 2 years or more, so you can’t expect the full range of facilities but we will definitely return either way! Staff are so kind and warm, the yoga study is the most beautiful space I’ve ever been lucky enough to practice. I hope you will get a yoga teacher back in 2023! Already planning on returning to this spot, have never felt so calm and relaxed. Rooms are just incredible and the bathrooms are next level. Loved it!

Three times our flight to Palawan was canceled as a result of the Tall volcano and we were unable to take up our booking. Matt kindly agreed to let us rebook without charge and his gesture was much appreciated. The hotel is in a remote location, natural and unspoilt. The bamboo casitas are large with a good sized bathroom and separate toilet. They have their own individual patios with chairs, table,sunbed and look straight on to the ocean. We enjoyed the food which was delicious and very well priced. Portions were generous. Unfortunatel we were not lucky with the weather but we thoroughly enjoyed our stay.

We stayed at Qi for three nights at the end of a Philippine holiday. We wanted it to be a restful few days and it hit the right spot. ||On arrival we were welcomed by Matt and given a full lowdown. Our first impressions were great. ||The beach houses were private and well sized. If I was to say anything negative it would be they were quite dark and had little draw storage. ||We had booked two private island hopping tours through our in country agent. At dinner on the first evening Matt advised us they had been cancelled but he could arrange replacements. A quick WhatsApp conversation with the travel agent proved that to be false so not sure what happened there. ||The restaurant was nice with a small but varied menu and was similar prices to other hotel restaurants we ate in. ||The beach was amazing. Over a mile of nearly pristine sand. On our last morning Matt took out some staff on a rubbish pick which we thought was great and would have helped had we known. The water was very shallow but I borrowed one of the hotel canoes and went for a nice paddle. ||Local staff were all friendly and very helpful. ||All in all a great quiet, out of the way, place to stay. ||

QI is without doubt one of the most amazing places I've stayed throughout my travels. ||The resort is beautiful with everything you could ever need and is only surpassed by the staff and amazing managers.||Matt and Julie are the friendliest, kindest and most generous people you could meet. They are professional but approachable and only want your stay to be as lovely as possible.||The cabin we stayed in was newly refurbished, with a king sized bed, air con, a good fan, tv, lovely bathroom and nice shower area. Fresh sheets and cold water. Not to mention a 10 metre walk to the swimming pool or the beautiful beach depending on how you feel.||The restaurant has great food, freshly produced. Matt is a great chef as are his staff and they prepare a fantastic menu. He is also a very good cocktail maker and has his own specially infused rum with various flavours to choose from, delicious and his passion shows in the quality of the food, drink and service.||There is a good pool table which we made good use of and a range of activities, even whilst we were in lockdown.||Julie is a very good yoga teacher and even offered me beginner sessions as I'm useless! She made it fun and relaxing and really made me want to get more into it.||||I can't recommend this place enough, and am troubled by some recent reviews I've seen here, as I was staying there at the same time as some of these people and observed the true experience they had, which was no different to mine from discussions I had with them. ||It's a shame some people seem to be two faced and happily take advantage of generosity with a smile on their face whilst then feeling the need to make up negativity out of greed and the need to try and soil the reputation of kind places that give them everything. Shame on them! ||||If I come back to Palawan, I will be staying here again and hope Matt and Julie are still there as I would very much enjoy spending some more time with them.||||Bloody amazing.

I stayed here with my partner in May and again in June.||It's been hard during lockdown but we felt at home in QI as soon as we arrived. Matt and Julie the managers made us feel so welcome and it felt like we already had made some new lovely friends. They are a breath of fresh air.||The resort itself is so beautiful and our cabin had everything. Big bed, air conditioning, fan, TV, WiFi and lovey bathroom and shower area. You go out of your door and are met with amazing nature, beach and swimming pool. This has been my favourite place on Palawan.||Julie does morning yoga sessions which I really enjoyed and Matt is ready and waiting to offer coffee and breakfast, or another staff member is there.||The food in the restaurant was so tastey and the cocktail options are brilliant, Matt is very passionate with food and drink and as a French person myself,I really appreciated this.||||My only regret is not being able to stay longer, we will be back!||||Thank you Matt and Julie and all staff for making our stay so enjoyable and for making the lockdown so much easier to handle.