We haven't been to a beach (overnight) in a long time. The last time was in Nasugbu and my son had just turned 1. He's turning 4 soon. Yes, it has been years. Now the kid loves the water. We'd bring him to the pool every now and then so he still gets his water fix minus the sand.
Most of the time, we'd look to Batangas for a beach getaway. Seems like everybody else are looking in the same direction. Most resorts are either booked or too expensive for us so I thought of maybe looking the opposite direction - North. Not too far north though, so we settled with Subic, Zambales.
Driving through SCTEX now gets us to Subic in 2 hours. In Subic, you have a lot of choices of resorts, from lower to higher end. We are on a budget and selected a mid-range priced hotel along Baloy beach, Mangrove Resort Hotel.
Aside from the price, we chose Mangrove hotel due to the size of the room, the pictures and most reviews were pretty positive. We are relatively easy to please so I would say the only negative part about this was that very short shoreline. It wasn't the prettiest beach but it was clean enough. We just felt that had we gone on a more busy day, it would have been extremely crowded.
We left the house at around 7 AM on a Sunday. We had a late breakfast stop near Harbor Point Mall inside Subic Freeport at around 9 so we got to the beach past 10 AM. Check in was at 2 PM but we were already allowed to use the facilities and leave our bags in the office beside the reception.
It was a busy weekend so we were not able to check in early. Cleaning of our designated room was prioritized and we were able to settle in at about 1 PM.
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| Pool deck at the 3rd floor |
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| Left side of the beach towards the freeport |
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| Right side towards the other hotels along Baloy beach |
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| Boats for island hopping |
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| Catching the morning sun |
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Kiddie pool and adult pool
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I like that they have a separate kiddie pool to accommodate the younger kids, though small. It can be too tight with the parents in there as well. The adult pool is about 4 ft deep and was level so that's as deep as in goes which was just right for wading. There were rooms surrounding the pool side. If you are concerned about the noise level, the pool closes at around 6 or 8 PM. If you prefer resting at noon, not too sure if the noise gets to an uncomfortable level. We were on the next floor and we didn't really hear the noise at the pool.
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| The bar at the second floor |
There are rooms at the "beach front" which is really the second level because you had to go down one more flight of stairs to actually get to the beach. There's a restaurant/bar next to the rooms. I am not sure what time it closes and if the noise can be heard from the rooms in the same floor.
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| Beach-front rooms at the second level |
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| De luxe room with King-sized bed |
This was our room at the fourth level. It was nice and comfortable. The king size bed was just enough for the 3 of us. They provided robes, your usual bath towels and separate beach towels. I like that the beach towels are inside the bayong (you can see a peek in the picture). It makes it easy to lug around the towels (and snacks) up and down the beach, pool and our room. We were on the fourth floor and there is no elevator nor ramps. Needless to say, this isn't a PWD friendly hotel.
I didn't take a picture of the bathroom but it was nice and clean. They also provided usual toiletries except shampoo and conditioner. They also did not provide bedroom slippers. You might want to bring extra because you do not want to get sand all over the bedroom floor.
I had booked through Expedia mobile app. Published rate is Php 4350 net but we got a 10% discount from a BDO promo if you use a BDO debit/credit card. We booked in the middle of summer and this was the cheapest room still available. You can get their budget rooms as low as Php 1942. They also have bigger rooms for bigger families that can fit up to 2 king sized beds. You can check their rates
here.
The downside of this rate is that no meals were included. Looking at their website, it does not seem that the packages include meals at all. We decided to eat at the resort's restaurant for dinner and breakfast so that we can maximize our swim time and the kid hardly wants to get out of the water.
Resort food is a bit expensive but taste was alright. Nothing to jump up and down about but at least it was not bad. If you want to save up, there is a 711 about 5 minutes walk from the resort. If you are feeling lazy, you can wait for a tricycle to drive you there. There are also a few restaurants and carinderia along the main road if you want to dine out of the resort. Harbor Point Mall inside the Subic Freeport is about 15-20 minutes drive.
We had room service for both meals. What's great about it is that there is no room service charge. Especially if you are staying in the upper floors, do not forget to tip the server. The kitchen is on the second floor and is a long way up (and down for that matter) if you are carrying all that food :) If it were just us, I'd rather eat outside looking at the nice view. We didn't want the trouble of a kid crying about swimming again so we just settled for room service.
Here's what we ate for dinner.
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| Pansit canton Php 275 |
The pansit canton was good. A little on the salty side but you can just add some calamansi to balance it out. It was also a huge serving that could be enough for 2-3 persons.
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| Club house sandwich Php 275 |
The club house sandwich was also a pretty hefty meal. Nothing special.
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| Hungarian sausage Php 295 |
The side salad was a nice combo with the sausage. Also a filling meal for one. It was sausage, salad and rice. Again, nothing special.
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| Mango shake Php 150 |
It's almost a sin not to have mango shake when at the beach. It was delicious with a good amount of milk. It can be a bit expensive but shakes in Manila are priced about the same.
We had tapsilog, which is rather expensive at Php 305 for breakfast. Hubby says the tapa was on the sweet side and not to his liking. Unlike our order from the night before, this was the only meal we had that seemed pricey for the amount of serving.
We also tried pasit bihon mixed (with canton). It was bland this time. I prefer the canton from dinner.
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| Menu |
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| Menu |
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| Drink menu |
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| Resto bar at the second level beside reception |
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Beach view from our room balcony
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I think overall, it was a great trip without breaking the bank. We had fun. We were comfortable. Most especially, the kid had so much fun. We allowed him to swim and wade in the beach and pool for hours and hours. This will definitely be a memorable trip for all of us.
Baloy Long Beach Road Olongapo City, Zambales, Philippines
Reception: (047) 222 2724 or (047) 222 2733
Manila: (02) 404.4784
SUN Mobile: +63.922.858.5858
GLOBE Mobile: +63.917.832.8050
SMART Mobile: +63.939.908.0373
Hours: 7am - 11pm Every day*
*except Christmas Day and New Years Day
