On my fourth vacation day though, my feet were itching to go out of town so I agreed to join my family to a trip to Batangas.After a two and a half hour ride, we found Virgin Beach Resort in San Juan, Laiya, Batangas. White sand, clear waters and a wonderful cloudless sky made me smile. The water had some jellyfish but not enough to scare me.
We only went there for a day trip and Virgin Beach Resort is very accommodating to day trippers like us. They have cottages and grills all around the area. The day trippers area is a bit far from the private area of the overnighters but our area is not bad for a few hours stay. It gets packed though so make sure that your ears are ready to hear the different kinds of music coming from every cottage.The smoke of the grills can either annoy you or can remind you of the good old days.
BRING LOTS OF FOOD AND COOK IT BY THE BEACH! :-) That means, marinated chicken, liempo, bangus, kamatis at bagoong and salted egg! UMM!!! YUMMY!!! Oh... and fruits like watermelon, mangoes and turnips (singkamas)!You can rent a cottage for P1,000 a day. The grill has been set up so you can share it with other people within your area. I guess that's fine since there are a lot of grills all around. They also keep the grounds clean all the time with two posts of trash bins in every cottage and care takers changing the bags every hour.
Parasols can be rented with a mattress and a wooden bed. You can sleep here the whole day for P1,200.Bathrooms. They have showers and toilet areas. Not the best that you can find in the world but clean enough. I wished though that they have a space where you can place your toiletries inside the shower.
If you don't have food with you, you can avail of their set meal for P600/head. They have a nice restaurant that serves good mango shake and mais con hielo. The restaurant is fronting the beach so just sitting down there on a hot summer day and sipping your shake is like being in paradise!
For those who wants to go on an overnight trip, they have airconditioned casitas (P6,600.00 a night) for 4 people and fan rooms called Bamboo cabanas (P4,400.00 a night) for 6 people. Check in time is 1:00 pm and Check out time is 11:30 am. Additional P1,100/ head for packaged dinner, breakfast and lunch.
If you stay overnight, the area where the lounge chairs are --by the beach-- is perfect if you want to just relax and watch the sunset.The staff seems to be very nice and accommodating. I've read an article online with the nasty email and I was worried about their service. It turns out that they are very friendly and always ready to help you out.
I can't wait to go back and enjoy the beach and the resort! :-)
Check out additional photos at http://www.pbase.com/lysh/virginbeach.
For reservations, you can call them at +632 815-2584 or 815-2587 or visit their website at http://www.virginbeachresort.com/.
Here's the breakdown of the cost for the day-trippers:
a. Entrance fee: P100/ head
b. Corkage fee if you have food and drinks: P70/ head or Php600.00/head if you're eating at the restaurant
c. Cottage fee: P1000.00 for a whole day
d. Parking fee: P50/ car
For overnighters:
a. Airconditioned casitas: P6,600 for 4 people - (P1650/ head)
b. Food: P1,100/ head (lunch, dinner, breakfast)
*** Add around P500/ head for gas and toll fee in SLEX and Star Toll Way.
