Travel with Chichi

I spent my birthday at Stilts Calatagan, Batangas

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

So I decided to spend my birthday at the beach. I was looking for a resort and luckily DealGrocer introduced me to this resort called "Stilts" located in Calatagan, Batangas. It's just 3 hours drive from Manila (as if I drive! thanks bf!) :) As usual, I looked it up at tripadvisor, youtube and some blogs. Well, my taste approved it and so booked for one day. But then I decided to stay for another day so I called up Miss Mina Herrera and asked if I can get the same rate as DealGrocer's because it had been sold out.. Luckily, she gave me a discounted rate!

So here are the details.

We booked at DealGrocer for a stay in a Small cottage (Caliraya/Boracay) for P4,500
The second day, same room, Miss Mina gave it for P5,250
This includes breakfast, 2 hours snorkeling/kayaking activities, plus taxes.

When i checked their website, the small cottage is actually worth P7,000. Big thanks to Miss Mina! There are smaller and cheaper rooms, but they're built on land. Stilts are better. :D

Likes

The staff is extremely helpful and friendly. They level to 5 star resorts - always smiling and accommodating.
It's really peaceful and quiet (btw, there is no TV).
When you go snorkeling, a life guard will accompany and swim with you. He even taught me how to deep dive.
We stayed at the Boracay cottage and it has the perfect view and we can access wifi from there.
The room is huge! It has 1 double bed, 1 sofa bed, an attic, kitchen, dining table, sala. My favorite is the spacious veranda that has a hammock facing the beach. LOVELY!! I don't think they should call it as a "small" cottage. :)
The surrounding is clean, greeny, flowery, and well maintained.
Since it's my birthday, they gave me a mug and bouquet of fresh garden flowers. They're very pretty! Thanks again!

Can be improved

The corals at the front beach are heavily damaged because of dynamite fishing. There are only few fishes around the snorkeling area. I think they're starting to rehabilitate it that's why they keep the sea grass. Yes, there are sea grasses and the beach is really shallow (below knee deep) during the day. I think it's same for all Calatagan beach houses/resorts. Although the tides change during summer/rainy season.

To find out more about the resort: