“Oooh! I got my own water dispenser in the room. That’s something new and unexpected for a place like this.” That was my first reaction when I saw my room at Sandbar Lepa Beach Hotel and Restaurant. Back in 2008, when I first visited Tawi-tawi, there were no cottages in this Sandbar Lepa beach. Only the lepa-styled (a house boat by the native Sama people) restaurant stood there since year 2000. Almost six years after, they now have a hotel and a huge convention hall.
More than Comfortable Rooms
Sandbar Lepa Beach Hotel and Restaurant is far off from town, about 15-20 minutes tricycle ride to Baranggay Pasiagan. It’s quite popular among the locals since the place is quite scenic and has a nice beach. They do have gates now for security. The ground is large but not all is manicured yet. They got mushroom cottages for chilling out in the open and to enjoy the view of Bud Bongao at the background.
What was indeed a pleasant surprise were the rooms they have. They have detached cottages a few meters from the beach. Each cottage has amply spaced rooms with twin beds, large bathroom, own balcony, refrigerator, cable TV and water dispenser. They don’t have WiFi yet which is understandable since internet signal is quite weak for all telecoms when outside of town. But for Php 1,500/night for all this, it’s quite a good value.
Ferdz Decena is an award-winning travel photographer, writer and blogger. His works has found print in publications such as Singapore Airlines’s Silver Kris, Philippine Airlines’ Mabuhay, Cebu Pacific’s Smile and Seair InFlight. He has also lent his expertise to various organizations like the Oceana Philippines, Lopez Group Foundation, Save the Children and World Vision, contributing quality images for their marketing materials.
