Water to Forest Ecolodge

If you're considering a stay at Water to Forest Ecolodge, think again. From the moment we arrived, our experience was nothing short of terrible. Miscommunication, hidden fees, and an utterly disappointing SUP experience turned what should have been a relaxing getaway into a nightmare. Here's why you should steer clear of this place: Our stay began with a nasty surprise: we were informed, only upon arrival, that our shower was under construction. Instead, we were forced to use a common area with no warm water or proper showering equipment. This critical information was not communicated in advance, leaving us no choice but to accept it. As a weak consolation, the lodge offered us a free breakfast—hardly enough to make up for the inconvenience and the only reason they earned even a single star from us. As if that weren’t bad enough, we were slapped with an unexpected environmental fee, also hidden until we arrived. Despite this, we decided to go ahead with a SUP experience combo (sunset and firefly watching) for 1,200 per person, hoping for some redemption. Unfortunately, this turned out to be another disaster. We began the journey at 5:20 pm with smelly vests and zero instructions. The so-called instructor only provided information when asked, displaying a complete lack of professionalism. By 5:30-5:40 pm, we were told there would be no sunset due to clouds—something they could have informed us about earlier. When we specifically asked about the fireflies, the instructor assured us it would still be a unique experience. We paddled for an hour through a lake that reeked of sewage. When we finally reached the "firefly location" at 6:45 pm, we were shown a single tall tree with no fireflies in sight. The instructor then explained that the bright moonlight was preventing the fireflies from being active—a fact he could have easily noticed at the start of the journey. We were left to paddle back for 50 minutes, exhausted and demoralized, with the instructor barely assisting us. To make matters worse, his headlamp wasn’t even charged, leaving us in the dark—literally and figuratively. When we returned, we approached the owner, Dmitri, to discuss the situation and politely asked if the price could be reconsidered. His dismissive response was that the lack of fireflies was "nature" and that even if they had informed us earlier, it would have been wrong to cancel since the instructor was already booked. To add insult to injury, we later discovered that our so-called instructor was just a gardener at the hotel, who we saw around the property the entire evening and the next day. Dinner that evening was another disappointment—only the bruschetta was remotely edible. The next morning, at checkout, we were hit with additional surprise fees for government and service charges, which we begrudgingly paid just to escape this nightmare. But the ordeal didn’t end there. We discovered our motorbike had been moved without our consent, and it wouldn’t start. After a

Owner cancelled booking and was very unprofessional. This has cost me more money as it is holiday season and had to pay a high price to stay at a comfortable, service orientated accomodation that knows how to run things properly and put the guest first.. so actually a blessing 😊

Incredible, just incredible. My girlfriend and I stayed here for two nights and we had such a beautiful time. The staff were so friendly, helpful and interesting. They had lots of advice about travel in and out of Loboc and they told us how much we should be paying for transport etc. The room was a little hot for us (but we’re from Nottingham, UK, so that’s not really a surprise) but the staff kindly let us borrow their fan. The peace and quiet was to die for, waking up every morning to the sound of a running river was just exquisite! We also really enjoyed the paddle boarding experience, the fireflies were so pretty! 10/10, I would stay here again and I would recommend it to all travelling through Bohol. Thank you so so much to all the lovely staff, we will be back. Ted x