Alona Beach

Alona Beach is on Panglao Island in Bohol province, Philippines. It is both the island and the province's most popular resort area, and one of the top ones for the country as a whole.

Understand
Alona is in Tawara Barangay, Panglao Municipalty. The island is not large, so anything in Tawara is quite close — less than two km away.

There are numerous restaurants and hotels along the beach and many others only a short distance away. The beach itself is less than a mile long; everything is within walking distance.

Get in
See the Panglao Island article for how to reach the island. Many travellers arriving by ferry go directly to Alona from the port in Tagbilaran without stopping elsewhere. Visitors arriving by air land at Panglao Airport which is within a few km of Alona. In either case tricycles are the most-used form of ground transport to the beach area.

By car
The Panglao Island Circumferential Road, as its name implies, goes around Panglao Island, and it connects Panglao Town and Dauis with Alona Beach. Coming from Tagbilaran, take the bridge to Dauis then turn left onto the part of the circumferential road that goes to the southern side of the island. The drive is a few miles, since Alona Beach is on the southwest corner of Panglao Island and Dauis is on the east side of the island.

Get around
Within the Alona Beach area, everything is walkable; the beach is less than a mile in length.

Anywhere else on the island, or nearby Tagbilaran, is usually reached by jeepney or tricycle; these can be found near the middle of the beach where a road comes in. There are also organised tours using boats for dive sites and buses for scenic destinations.

Eat
There are about twenty restaurants and bars along the sea front at Alona Beach, nearly all with international menus and mid-to-high prices.



Drink
There are about twenty bars along Alona Beach; most serve food as well as drink and several have live music in the evenings. It is a tourist area and there are no real bargains, but prices are quite moderate by international standards; most drinks are under ₱100.

Sleep
In the 20th century, Alona was mainly a backpacker destination and there is still some cheap accommodation aimed at that market. However since then there has been extensive development and today there are many mid-range places and a few luxury hotels.

At mid-2023 exchange rates ₱2000 is slightly under $40 US, so even some of the places listed below as "splurge" are cheap by international standards.

Connect
Most of the hotels and more-or-less all the bars or restaurants offer free WiFi, usually reasonably fast.

Go next
Anywhere on Panglao Island is readily accessible by jeepney or tricycle. Some possibilities are:
 * Danao Beach &mdash; to the west
 * Bolod and Libaong &mdash; to the east
 * Panglao Town &mdash; the administrative center for the western side of Panglao Island, to the northwest

For places off the island, see the go next section of the island article.