AA Meetings in Dumaguete

Going for the first time

First Time at a Meeting in Dumaguete

A first meeting is usually less dramatic than people expect. The buildup in your mind is often harder than the meeting itself.

Choose one of the current meetings listed on this page. Arrive a few minutes early if you can, find a seat, and settle in. Most meetings follow a simple pattern. Someone may read a short opening. A topic or format is introduced. People share, and then the meeting closes.

You don’t have to speak at your first meeting. You don’t have to tell your story or explain your drinking history. You can simply listen. You may also want to read New to Dumaguete AA Meetings? and What Happens When You Walk Through the Door to Your First Dumaguete AA Meeting? before you go.

Valencia

Finding the Valencia Meeting at Rhed Flower

Rhed Flower Restobar, Valencia

The Valencia meeting is at Rhed Flower Restobar on Luna Street in North Poblacion. It is on the ground floor of the grey building with large glass windows. Valencia is uphill from Dumaguete, so give yourself enough travel time.

Rhed Flower is a bright, casual restaurant and coffee spot. Inside, there is open restaurant-style seating, a counter area, framed artwork on the walls, and plenty of daylight. You can come in, look around, find a seat, and settle in before the meeting starts.

If you arrive early, you can sit down, have coffee, order breakfast, or wait quietly. Food is separate from the meeting, and you don’t have to buy anything to attend. Until people begin gathering, it feels like any other coffee shop.

Rhed Flower is also a good place for coffee or breakfast. It serves western-style breakfast plates, Filipino meals, sandwiches, shakes, and simple drinks. The American breakfast is one of the better-value breakfasts around Dumaguete and Valencia. Menus and prices change, but these details may help you picture the place before you arrive.

You don’t have to buy food, explain why you’re there, or know anyone. You can come in, sit down, and listen.

Dauin

Finding the Dauin Meeting at Uzi Beach Resort

Uzi Beach Resort, Dauin

The Beach Sand AA Meeting is at Uzi Beach Resort in Poblacion 1, Dauin, south of Dumaguete City. This is a real toes-in-the-sand meeting. It isn’t held in a city meeting room. You’re going to the beach, so plan the trip that way.

Coming from Dumaguete, head south toward Dauin. After the Dauin public market, turn left toward the beach. The big Dauin church will be on your left as you pass through town. Veer right onto Lopez Jaena and continue toward the shoreline. Uzi’s is literally on the beach.

There are native-style beach cottages, tables, hammocks, shade trees, tree swings, and a gently sloping sandy beach. The place is quiet, family-friendly, and well kept. There are toilets, showers, changing rooms, and places to grill or prepare food.

There is no fee to attend the meeting or sit at one of the tables. You can arrive with a cup of coffee, take a seat, and listen. A small fee may apply if you want to use the resort facilities, including the toilets, showers, or changing rooms.

You can also stay for a beach day after the meeting. Bring a swimsuit if you plan to swim. You can stop for breakfast, bring food with you, or arrange food later if you want to stay. People bring grilled food, and restaurants and cafes in the area may deliver. None of that is necessary for attending the meeting. It is simply part of how the place works if you decide to stay.

The shoreline slopes gently, and there are places to swim or sit after the meeting if you aren’t rushing back to Dumaguete.

Leave early enough to find the beach road without rushing. You don’t have to know anyone before you arrive. Come to the table, take a seat, and listen.

Bacong

Finding the Bacong Home Group AA Meeting

Kusina Sa Payag Mini Resto (Small Hut Kitchen Mini Resto), Bacong

The Bacong Home Group AA Meeting meets every Sunday at 5:30 PM at Kusina Sa Payag Mini Resto on Inspection Street in Bacong. It is a local meeting using Bisaya / Cebuano / English, and newcomers and visitors are welcome.

This meeting also has some local history behind it. Public posts trace the Bacong recovery group back to June 22, 2025. The group has continued to maintain a Sunday evening meeting in Bacong as its venue has changed.

Coming from Dumaguete, take the National Highway south toward Bacong. In Bacong, turn left onto Plaridel Street toward the water. After about 77 meters, turn left onto Inspection Street. Kusina Sa Payag Mini Resto is just ahead on the left.

You are arriving at a small working neighborhood resto rather than a formal meeting hall. The frontage is open, with nipa and palm-thatch roofing, bamboo and wood structures, plants around the seating areas, and simple wooden and plastic tables and chairs. After dark, strings of warm lights are visible around the open-air areas. Hand-painted messages about faith, prayer, and taking life one day at a time appear around the venue.

The restaurant is already open and serving food before the 5:30 PM meeting, so you can arrive early, find the place without rushing, and sit down before the meeting starts. The menu includes familiar Filipino dishes such as lomi, pancit guisado, pork sisig, pochero, bulalo, sinigang pasayan, and tinolang isda, along with burgers and chicken dishes. The menu itself carries some of the personality of the small business: “Made with love, served with care,” and, at the bottom, “Thank you for supporting our small business.”

You do not have to order food to attend the meeting. Coffee and light snacks are provided, and sometimes local root crops such as cassava, camote, or gabi are served. If you do want a meal, regular restaurant food is available before or around the meeting.

The meeting gathers around a table rather than in rows of chairs. Younger, middle-aged, and older people attend, and attendance can change considerably from one Sunday to another. Sometimes there are many people; sometimes there may be only three. The host, Adam, puts it simply: “the important thing is that there is a meeting.”

Smoking is allowed outdoors; follow the venue’s posted smoking rules.

First-time note: If you are nervous about walking into a meeting for the first time, arriving a little early gives you time to find the restaurant, choose a seat, and see the setting before the meeting begins. You can order something if you want, have the coffee or snacks provided for the meeting, or simply take a chair and listen.

Listening is enough

Can I Come and Just Listen?

Yes.

Many people attend their first meeting and simply listen. That is one of the most common ways people start.

You do not have to tell your story. You do not have to explain yourself. You do not have to stand up and speak.

If someone asks whether you would like to share, it is usually fine to say, “I’ll just listen today.”

Showing up is enough. Sitting down is enough. Listening is enough.

Belief can wait

Do I Have to Be Religious?

No.

You don’t have to be religious to attend a meeting in Dumaguete.

You may hear people talk about God, trust, willingness, prayer, a Higher Power, or letting go. Some meetings may include a prayer or a moment of silence. You don’t have to arrive with any of that worked out.

A lot of people come in doubtful, angry, tired, confused, or not believing much of anything. They are still welcome.

Letting go and becoming open to help beyond your own control may be one of the harder parts. Most people don’t arrive cheerful, surrendered, or with their beliefs neatly settled. They arrive because drinking is causing problems and what they have tried hasn’t fixed them.

Before your first meeting, the question isn’t whether you believe the right thing. It is whether drinking is causing problems and whether you are willing to sit in a room with people who have been where you are now.

You are not alone. There is a meeting waiting for you to find the door.

You don’t have to settle any of this at your first meeting.

You can come in, sit down, and listen.

Before you go

Practical Local Notes Before You Go

Questions that may still matter

What Else Might You Want to Know?

One last thing before you go

You Don’t Have to Decide Anything Today

You don’t have to know what the meeting will mean for you.

You don’t have to speak.

You don’t have to explain yourself.

Find the meeting.

Find the venue.

Find an open seat.

Sit down.

Listen.

That is a good first meeting.