First of all, I would like to thank my friend
Jla, for recommending this backpacker's place in Boracay. It was all our first time to stay at a backpacker's hostel. We initially booked all 6 beds in a mixed/coed air conditioned room, but Dianne (our 6th member) had to go on a business trip on the same dates. So the 6th slot opened up and we have a stranger roommate.
This is the reception. The lobby is located on the second floor. The ground floor is a Japanese restaurant.
Photos of the lobby/common area.
Free wifi and you can use the computer for free.
The couch area where all the AFAMs hang out.
There are books and hula hoop for you to enjoy:
We actually had hula hoop video challenge that I posted on instagram haha!
This is the hallway going to the private rooms on the second floor. If you booked the private room, you get to have your own private bathroom as well.
When you go up, this is what you will see upon reaching the 3rd floor, aka the dorm type rooms.
Some AFAMs pass out on this couch, other hang to read and listen to music.
The hallway leading to our room on the third floor:
This is where we stayed:
This is what our actual room and bed look like. It's like a
capsule bed or
bed pod type but enough to give your privacy:
I forgot to take a photo of my capsule bed space, but I borrowed Yeye's photo. Look how cozy it is and to think this is the upper bunk:
Aya and I had our sarongs covering our bed for a little more privacy because on the third lower bunk bed is our australian backpacker roommate:
The dorm rooms share a common bathroom. These are the doors for the toilet.
What does the toilet look like? It is well maintained, they clean it all the time, they have a lot of tissue and water supply. Here is what one of the toilet looks like:
This area is for the shower rooms:
Yes, its rainfall shower type with heater.
This area has a hair blower for the ladies.
Our stay comes with a free breakfast. You choose your own bread, toast it or not, choose from a variety of jams, get a hard boiled egg, get a banana, and you have the option for a brewed coffee or pineapple juice.
This is what the pool table looks like in the morning: A make shift breakfast table, cool huh? This area also has a free wifi so by evening til late at night, expect a lot of AFAMs/foreigners/guests in this area.
The pool table by noon:
Speaking of noon, we made use of the available facilities like this kitchen/pantry and cooked our own lunch:
We had a very nice lunch cooked by Aya and Paully. I miss this breakfast style lunch!
Other cool place to hang out: The sun deck
It used to have parties and yoga classes held up there but we weren't able to hang out a lot in this place due to rain showers.
They took our photo while waiting for our Southwest service to pick us up:
Hopefully we'll make it to their wall, hihi!
In all our 5 days, our individual budget did not even reach 10k, and that's everything in (activities, food, souvenirs, shopping, massage, accommodation, plane fares and transfers). We only paid Php2,600.00 each for all four nights.
If you plan to be in Boracay on a budget, this is a great place to stay. They also have a branch in Makati, but I haven't seen it. MNL hostel has excellent service, nice staff, they provide you with free lockers with keys, beach towel and a shower towel. Some stuff like toiletries you need to purchase. They have water dispenser so you can refill your water bottles for free since Boracay charge so much for bottled water. They change your towels and sheets every three days and the staff makes excellent recommendations about the cheap places to eat, how to get to a certain place without paying too much, and etc. You can tell how comfortable their guests are with their staff. One of the reason we were able to save is because we used their available amenities for cooking and when it rained we were hanging out at the roof deck playing pool/billiards for free, instead of hanging out in bars and be forced to order an overpriced drink.
Thank you for the great stay MNL!
*AFAM- A Foreigner Assigned in Manila
