editorial

Having rebuilt itself after a devastating typhoon, the surf-happy Philippine island of Siargao is forging ahead for a more sustainable future.
Photographs by Christopher P. Hill
<figure id="attachment_145113" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-145113" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-145113 size-full" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Siargao-Philippines-CPH-1.jpg" alt="An open thatch-roofed corridor leads to Nay Palad Hideaway’s restaurant and pool area; a hanging nest on the resort’s beachfront." width="1200" height="894" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-145113" class="wp-caption-text">Left to right: An open thatch-roofed corridor leads to Nay Palad Hideaway’s restaurant and pool area; a hanging nest on the resort’s beachfront.</figcaption></figure>
I arrive in Siargao in the midst of an island-wide power outage, but no one seems particularly fussed. Though a few shops and restaurants in the tourist hub of General Luna are temporarily closed, droning generators keep the rest in business. Nor has the weeklong blackout damped the enthusiasm of the surfing crowds at nearby Cloud 9, the fabled reef break that put Siargao on the map in the 1980s. “After Odette, what’s a little power cut?” shrugs my driver as we pull into <a href="https://naypaladhideaway.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nay Palad Hideaway</a> (US$890 per person a night, all-inclusive), the island’s top resort.
Situated in the southeastern Philippines at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, Siargao bore the brunt of Super Typhoon Odette when the tropical cyclone made its first landfall here on December 16, 2021. Over the course of an afternoon, violent winds destroyed thousands of homes, businesses, and other infrastructure, devastating an economy that was only just starting to pick up from the pandemic.
“It was super scary,” recalls Flo Ravelo, a young Siargao-born woman who has worked at Nay Palad since 2017, back when the property was known as Dedon Island. “We had lots of warning, and the resort had canceled all its bookings two weeks earlier. Still, we didn’t expect to be hit by something so big.”
The typhoon left Nay Palad in tatters, but as with much of the island, it has put itself back together. As Flo recounts it, the resort, founded by ex–Bayern Munich goalkeeper turned outdoor furniture tycoon Bobby Dekeyser (he sold his remaining stake in the Dedon brand in 2016), retained all its staff after the disaster, employing them to help rebuild neighboring homes and the local school before turning their energies toward the resurrection of the resort itself, which reopened in June 2023.
“Resilient” is a word one hears often in regards to Siargao. “We have to be, way out here beyond the easy reach of government assistance,” says Mark-David Pintucan, a Swiss architect of Philippine and British parentage who has lived on the island since 2017. “People are still traumatized, but a strong community spirit has helped get us through the worst of it.”
<figure id="attachment_145114" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-145114" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-145114 size-full" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Siargao-Philippines-CPH-2.jpg" alt="Lokal Lab co-founder Mark-David Pintucan at Lokal Hub in General Luna; steamed grouper and prawn mousse at Nay Palad." width="1200" height="894" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Siargao-Philippines-CPH-2.jpg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Siargao-Philippines-CPH-2-300x224.jpg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Siargao-Philippines-CPH-2-1024x763.jpg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Siargao-Philippines-CPH-2-768x572.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-145114" class="wp-caption-text">Left to right: Lokal Lab co-founder Mark-David Pintucan at Lokal Hub in General Luna; steamed grouper and prawn mousse at Nay Palad.</figcaption></figure>
I meet Pintucan in General Luna at Lokal Hub, a community space and café that serves as the fundraising arm of <a href="https://www.lokallab.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lokal Lab</a>, the grassroots NGO he co-founded with his partner Iris Aroa in 2019. One of the organization’s latest projects is the Tropical Academy, an eco-campus set in the countryside of northern Siargao. Inspired in part by Indonesia’s Sumba Hospitality Foundation, the vocational school teaches regenerative farming, disaster-resilient construction techniques, and sustainable tourism practices. “The idea is to empower the community to help move the island in the direction of responsible tourism development,” Pintucan says. “We don’t want to see it become another Bali.”
For now, many players in Siargao’s burgeoning tourism industry seem to be of a similar mindset. Nay Palad Hideaway is one. A member of The Long Run organization of nature-based tourism businesses, the resort has for years quietly championed community and conservation in a host of initiatives, from coral reef rehabilitation and permaculture gardening to helping to safeguard the 104 hectares of mangrove forest that it backs onto. All of which adds to the enticement of a stay here.
Sequestered amid four hectares of palm-studded gardens near the southern tip of Siargao, Nay Palad is very much the hideaway that its name suggests: a haven of laid-back luxury conceived by someone with deep pockets, exceptionally good taste, and a sense of fun. The name of the resort’s Wi-Fi network says it all: “Barefoot State of Mind.” There are just 10 thatch-topped villas here, some with roofs as pointy as a witch’s hat. Redeveloped under the direction of French architect Daniel Pouzet (who had worked on the property’s original iteration), they’re now stronger than their predecessors, and by all accounts even more appealing.
Mine is an all-new Garden View Villa, its jasmine-scented interiors outfitted with wood-and-wicker furnishings by local artisans. An altar-like bed is shrouded in gauzy netting and backed by a wooden panel carved with rabbits and tropical flora. In the sizable bathroom, an open overhead shower delivers its deluge onto a bamboo mat surrounded by gravel; for those who prefer bathing en plein air, there’s an outdoor shower too.
The kick-off-your-Birkenstocks vibe extends to the public areas, which Pouzet has sprinkled with all sorts of unexpected nooks, like a circular lounge surrounded by lily ponds, or the giant swinging bed that hangs from a tree house–inspired platform near the main swimming pool. Sandy pathways meander through the grounds, revealing even more hidey-holes and pillow-strewn seating areas that you can call your own—a bed on the beach, say, or one of the Dedon nest chairs that hang, pod-like, from the bent trunks of coconut trees.
<figure id="attachment_145115" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-145115" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-145115 size-full" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Siargao-Philippines-CPH-3.jpeg" alt="Nay Palad’s main pool area with its tree house–inspired platform; a bed in one of the resort’s villas." width="1200" height="894" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Siargao-Philippines-CPH-3.jpeg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Siargao-Philippines-CPH-3-300x224.jpeg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Siargao-Philippines-CPH-3-1024x763.jpeg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Siargao-Philippines-CPH-3-768x572.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-145115" class="wp-caption-text">Left to right: Nay Palad’s main pool area with its tree house–inspired platform; a bed in one of the resort’s villas.</figcaption></figure>
An unquestionable highlight of the experience is the staff—or “partners,” as they call them here—many of whom, like Flo, have worked at Nay Palad for years. Friendly and intuitive, they know when to leave you alone, but are equally happy to organize any number of activities that are included with the stay. That could be a soothing hilot massage at the spa, kayaking or paddleboarding in the mangroves, surf lessons at Cloud 9, nature walks, even deep- sea fishing. One morning I head off on an island-hopping trip aboard one of Nay Palad’s motor boats, which moor in a mangrove inlet behind the resort. The snorkeling is good (I spot a green sea turtle), and lunch is even better—a beachside spread of grilled pork and seafood kebabs whipped up ahead of my arrival by a team from the resort.
Another day, I join an ever-smiling staffer named Jerome for a drive around the island. Pear-shaped Siargao is not a big place—it’s less than a tenth the size of Bali—and we manage to take in much of it in a few hours. Our route follows a looping ribbon of concrete known as the Siargao Circumferential Road to a viewpoint overlooking a great carpet of coconut palms. “It’s nice to see how much they have grown back,” says Jerome. “After the cyclone, they looked like candles.” From there, we continue north past tin-roofed villages and primordial mangroves to a series of gorgeous beaches with names like Pacifico and Alegria, before circling back in the direction of General Luna. We arrive at Cloud 9 in the late afternoon. A long boardwalk—rebuilt after the typhoon—extends out over the rocky shallows to within easy paddling distance of the reef break, ending at a three-story tower from which we watch surfers, Filipinos and foreigners alike, riding the last waves of the day. Below us, a trio of local boys bob along on makeshift wooden boards.
A quick sampling of the food stalls that appear every evening at nearby Catangnan Bridge only whets my appetite for whatever dinner awaits me back at Nay Palad. The resort’s Thai-German chef, Thorsten Killian, doesn’t deal in set menus; instead, he changes things up each day depending upon what ingredients are available from his organic garden and from local farmers and fishermen. Nor is there any set venue for meals. The breezy open-air restaurant, with two upper decks overlooking the resort’s white-sand beach, is one option, but you could also find yourself dining on the sand or atop the tree house. Tonight, I’m led up a wooden ladder to a private thatch-roofed dining pavilion for a four-course feast that starts with a tuna-and-pineapple “lollipop” and crescendoes with steamed grouper and prawn mousse served in a yin-yang pool of lobster bisque and pil-pil sauce.
While Nay Palad’s all-inclusive rate means most guests will likely stay put come mealtime, General Luna’s energetic food scene is well worth exploring.
<figure id="attachment_145116" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-145116" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-145116 size-full" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Siargao-Philippines-CPH-4.jpeg" alt="Nay Palad’s beachfront at night, as seen from the resort’s sea pavilion; a boardwalk leads through the mangroves behind the property." width="1200" height="894" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Siargao-Philippines-CPH-4.jpeg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Siargao-Philippines-CPH-4-300x224.jpeg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Siargao-Philippines-CPH-4-1024x763.jpeg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Siargao-Philippines-CPH-4-768x572.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-145116" class="wp-caption-text">Left to right: Nay Palad’s beachfront at night, as seen from the resort’s sea pavilion; a boardwalk leads through the mangroves behind the property.</figcaption></figure>
“When we first arrived here, it was mainly carinderias, pizzerias, and burger joints,” Pintucan told me earlier. “It’s come a long way.” In 2023, Lokal Lab published a recipe book titled Lokal Flavor to spotlight the many restaurants and cafés that are putting native produce and ingredients to good use—places like <a href="https://www.instagram.com/cevsiargao/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CEV</a>, which turns out imaginative takes on kinilaw, a Filipino version of ceviche. One restaurant you won’t find in the book, though, is Siargao’s most exciting newcomer, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/RootsSiargao/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="broken_link">Roots</a>. Located about 20 minutes up the road from Nay Palad, it’s the brainchild of an eclectic team of talents—among them, a Spanish chef, an Italian chef, and a Dutch anthropologist—who first met in Lima, Peru. On the lookout for their next project, they became captivated by the Philippines’ culinary heritage and set up stakes in Siargao.
The tasting menu at Roots is European-inflected but driven entirely by Philippine ingredients, featuring items like malasugui (blue marlin) carpaccio with wild herbs in a chilled pili-nut ajo blanco; and “fake” risotto made from an endemic grain known as adlay and served with beer-aged goat’s cheese and wagyu beef from a farm on nearby Mindanao. Certainly, not the usual fare for a surf town.
Finishing up with jackfruit-infused cheesecake and a shot of housemade calamansi limoncello, I head back to Nay Palad. The ongoing blackout means the streetlights are still dark, but I can’t help feel that Siargao has a bright future ahead of it.
<figure id="attachment_145117" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-145117" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-145117 size-full" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Siargao-Philippines-CPH-5.jpg" alt="The Cloud 9 boardwalk." width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Siargao-Philippines-CPH-5.jpg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Siargao-Philippines-CPH-5-300x200.jpg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Siargao-Philippines-CPH-5-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Siargao-Philippines-CPH-5-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-145117" class="wp-caption-text">The Cloud 9 boardwalk.</figcaption></figure>
This article originally appeared in the <a href="https://subscription.destinasian.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">March/May 2025</a> print issue of DestinAsian magazine (“Hide and Seek”). Buy a single issue or subscribe <a href="https://subscription.destinasian.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

Siargao Steps Up

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