There is a particular kind of birthday celebration that does not involve a restaurant with loud music, a crowded venue, or a fixed program nobody follows. This was that kind.
We had eleven of us in May 2026: my immediate family, my senior parents, a toddler, and my daughter, who has sensory processing disorder. Finding a place that works for everyone in that group is not easy. It needs to be calm enough, spacious enough, and run by people who understand that not every guest moves at the same pace or needs the same things.
Honea Bee Farm in Catigan, Toril, Davao City was all of that. And then the bee tour happened, and it became something else entirely.
A Farm in Toril Worth the 27-Kilometer Drive
Honea Bee Farm sits in Sitio Malinan, Barangay Catigan in Toril, about 27 kilometers from downtown Davao City. There is no public transportation that goes directly to the farm, so you will need a private vehicle, a Grab, or a taxi. Budget time for the drive, especially on a weekend morning. It is not far, but it is not around the corner either.
What meets you when you arrive is not a manicured tourist park. It is a working farm, honest, green, and alive in the way that places are when they are genuinely cared for. The bees are real. The honey is real. Some of the ingredients come from what they grow and harvest. The place feels thoughtfully prepared for visitors while still keeping its relaxed farm atmosphere.
We had booked a private dining experience, which meant the farm was ours for a couple of hours. Eleven of us sat around one long table with the familiar sounds of nature all around us. Crickets filled the air while distant voices from nearby homes remained soft and indistinct, creating a peaceful atmosphere that our family truly appreciated.
We also had the privilege of building their website. So we knew the farm’s story before we arrived. Knowing the vision behind a place makes you look at it differently when you are standing in it.
The Bee Tour: From Nervous to Holding a Frame of Live Bees
After the food, the bees.
I will tell you honestly: not everyone in our group was eager for this part. In fact, we did not sign up for it. My sister, my niece, and my mother were hesitant and nervous. The kind of nervous where you stand slightly behind everyone else and laugh a little too quickly when someone makes a joke about getting stung.
The farm owner was patient with this. He did not rush anyone, and he did not minimize the concern with false reassurance. What he said instead was simple and true: these are gentle bees. He said it matter-of-factly, the way someone speaks when they have worked with bees long enough. They just need you to trust that for a few minutes.
We suited up. And then met the bees.
The Moment That Changed Everything
Nobody got stung. That is the first thing anyone asks, and the honest answer is: not one of us, including the toddler who watched from a careful distance.
What nobody had prepared for was the queen bee.
The guide pointed her out on the frame: larger, unhurried, moving differently from the rest. There is something about seeing the queen bee in person, in an actual hive, surrounded by hundreds of workers that exist entirely in relationship to her, that stops a conversation mid-sentence. My son, who is probably the bravest after me, was the first one to hold the frame.
And then we tasted the honey directly from the wax.
If you have only ever eaten honey from a jar, even good honey, you are not prepared for what it tastes like pulled fresh from the comb. It is warmer, more complex, and less sweet than you expect. It tastes like something alive. That sounds strange to write, but it is the most accurate description I have.
The nervous energy in the group dissolved somewhere between the queen bee and that first taste of honey. Before long, we were all taking turns posing with the bees in the background and enjoying the moment.
The Food Is the Other Reason to Come Back
The dining experience at Honea is a pre-arranged buffet, chosen ahead of your visit and served family-style. Each dish is connected to the farm, to what is grown there, what the bees produce, and what is in season. That coherence is rare in farm dining, and you taste it.
We chose the 750-peso-per-person brunch package. There is also an 850-peso option and a lighter breakfast at 300 pesos per person.
The Chicken Bee-nakol
I’ve had it before and knew I needed my family to try it. And it didn’t disappoint them either.
Bee-nakol is their version of binakol, the Visayan soup of chicken cooked in coconut water with soft coconut meat. Honea’s rendition is exactly what binakol should be, and it is rarely found outside of someone’s home kitchen. The coconut meat is soft without falling apart. The broth is clean and slightly sweet in the way that coconut water is sweet. Nothing has been added to it that does not belong. It was served hot, and the long drive in the morning made every spoonful better than it would have been anywhere else.
My honest recommendation: if you go to Honea, order the bee-nakol. Do not skip it for something that sounds more interesting. This is the dish.
Everything Else on the Table
The sweet chili shrimp was on the sweeter side, thanks to the honey in the sauce. It suited those who enjoy mild, sweet flavors, but for those of us with higher spice tolerance, a bit more heat would have elevated it. The aglio olio pesce was pasta with Spanish sardines, which dissolved into the oil and garlic without overpowering the dish.
The mixed greens salad with pansit-pansitan and stingless honey is the one I want to tell you about specifically, because it came with a small discovery.
Pansit-pansitan is a plant, technically a medicinal herb, though most people who pass it on the ground every day do not know that. I had seen it in my own garden for years without knowing what it was. I was focused on the bee-nakol during lunch and ate the salad only briefly.
Dining at Honea means bringing home whatever food was left, one of the things they do that I appreciated. It was only at home that I realized that one of the greens looked familiar. As if I’ve seen them in my garden!
I asked my husband what it was. He is an agriculturist, and I trust him on these things. He confirmed: Yes, it is edible. Yes, it grows easily and is often treated like a weed. Yes, people have no idea we can mix it in our salads.
That is the kind of thing a farm like Honea offers that no restaurant can replicate. You leave knowing something you did not know before.
The lemon and cucumber water was on the buffet table throughout: cold, unfussy, and exactly right for a warm Davao morning on a farm.
The Mango-Cashew Artisanal Ice Cream and Turon
The hot banana-langka turon came with Honea’s artisanal ice cream. We had the mango-cashew flavor, made with their own honey. The pairing of hot turon and cold honey ice cream is the kind of combination that sounds simple and is actually very good. The ice cream has a natural sweetness that processed ice cream does not. The honey rounds it out rather than sharpening it into something too rich.
For my daughter’s birthday, Honea gave her a chocolate truffle cake as a gift. It was unexpected and a kind gesture. The sort of thing that turns a good visit into a memory.
Why This Works for Families Who Need a Quieter Kind of Day
I want to say this carefully because I think it matters for the right families reading this.
While having our lunch, the owners had prepared background music for ambiance. It was a thoughtful touch. But my daughter has sensory processing disorder, and loud or unexpected sounds are one of the things that make a day hard for her rather than good.
We asked if the music could be turned off.
They turned it off without hesitation, without making us feel like we had asked for something unreasonable.
That is a small thing that is actually a very large thing. In most public venues, restaurants, events, and parks, this kind of request is either impossible or met with the kind of polite reluctance that makes you wish you had not asked. Here, it was simply done. The owners understood without needing an explanation.
The private booking also meant no other guests, no strangers to navigate, and no unpredictable crowd energy. For a family that includes a toddler and a young adult with special needs, that kind of control over the environment is not a luxury. It is the difference between a day that works and a day that does not.
Honea Bee Farm is not specifically marketed as a special needs-friendly destination. But in practice, for the right group and with a private booking, it functions as one. That is worth knowing before you go.
Practical Information Before You Book
Where: Purok 9, Sitio Malinan, Barangay Catigan, Toril, Davao City. Approximately 27 kilometers from downtown Davao City.
How to get there: A private vehicle is the most straightforward option. A Grab or taxi can get you there, but confirm availability from Toril going back before you commit. The area is semi-rural, and the ride home is worth thinking about in advance.
When they are open: Thursday to Saturday, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM for regular farm tours. Private events like ours can be arranged separately. Contact them directly to discuss.
Dining packages: Breakfast at 300 pesos per person. Brunch packages at 750 and 850 pesos per person. For 11 guests, including a birthday celebration, the 750 package gave us the bee-nakol, shrimp, pasta, salad, turon with ice cream, and drinks.
Leftover food: They pack it for you to take home. Do not leave without it.
What to wear: Comfortable clothes you do not mind getting a little farm dust on. Closed shoes for outdoor walking. Bring jackets or a scarf just in case the weather gets cold.
Booking: Contact Honea Bee Farm directly through their website at honeabeefarm.com to arrange a private event or reserve a slot for a regular farm tour. For groups, especially those with specific needs or a celebration in mind, reach out early. They accommodate thoughtfully, but they are a small operation, and their time fills up.
At A Joyful Life, we write about travel the way we actually experience it, with a toddler at one end of the table and a birthday cake at the other, and everything in between that makes a day worth remembering. If you run a farm, resort, or experience in Davao or anywhere in the Philippines and want to be featured, we would love to hear from you. Reach out here.
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