Out of town: Mangrove Resort Hotel in Subic

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.

Pool deck at the 3rd floor

Left side of the beach towards the freeport

Right side towards the other hotels along Baloy beach

Boats for island hopping

Catching the morning sun

Kiddie pool and adult pool

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.

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. 

Beach-front rooms at the second level

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.

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.

Club house sandwich Php 275

 The club house sandwich was also a pretty hefty meal. Nothing special.

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.

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.

Menu

Menu

Drink menu

Resto bar at the second level beside reception

Beach view from our room balcony

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.

Mangrove Subic Resort Hotel

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

Out of town: Datu's first trip to the beach

I have been extremely busy with a whole lot of things with work and personal stuff that a month went by and I have yet to finish this supposed summer post. But all's good. Almost done with my tasks so hopefully my rest days can be fully spent with family and not just running errands. We are still in the middle of summer so I am not exactly late yet for this review.

Thing is, we actually took this trip back in January. We had attended a Tagaytay wedding and Mr. S and I decided to take a long weekend, spend one night in Tagaytay and then another in Batangas. We did have that Canyon Cove voucher we bought last year and decided to use it for that weekend.

We were so excited since it was Datu's first out of town vacation and his first ever trip to the beach. I was looking forward for the trip for my son since he loves the water so much and he's never even been to a pool yet at that time. I just know he will be so happy wading in the water.

Nasugbu is about another hour's drive from Tagaytay so around 2.5 to 3 hours drive from Manila. I would say that drive is well worth it. The pool is so picturesque and the beach was nice and clean. But it was cloudy when we got there so we weren't able to enjoy dipping in the water too much as it was too cold. We did enjoy the beautiful view though.

Took this picture with my phone from the balcony of our room. No filters.

The kiddo enjoying the water.

We had to take him out of the water since it was too cold.

As expected, the little boy did enjoy himself even for just a little while. In the afternoon, Mr. S and I attempted to take a dip at the beach. We took the boy with us but we just played in the sand as it was still chilly. I didn't want him catching a cold.

Room with the king size bed and day bed

As far as the accommodations go, do not expect a whole lot. We did just pay Php 2999 for our voucher so pwede na rin. The bed we got was rickety. There was a noisy sound every time someone moves or maybe we were just too fat :p The size of the bed was perfect for us and the boy though. I loved that we were really comfortable. The hotels we've stayed in the past had queen sized beds so it was a bit too cozy sometimes.

The bathroom is...yes, you guessed right--old. There were a lot of rust but most of the stuff work. I did not take a picture anymore. There is an enclosed shower area and a bath tub you wouldn't want to soak in. The shower head in the actual shower area was busted so we had to use the one in the tub. Problem is, there was no shower curtain so we had to take care not to get the area beyond the tub wet.

They did provide towels, tissue paper and soap. That's it. Also, you can only ask for extra towels/pillows if you paid for the additional person who joined you. So if you are smuggling a companion in, do not ask for one so you don't get caught or be ready with an alibi. Extra person is Php 800. The person gets "free" breakfast though. No, the voucher users will not get free breakfast. Although, the newer vouchers they are selling includes breakfast and so one of my officemates say.

Two kids can stay in the day bed or two short adults :) We brought our nanny with us so she slept there. Be careful not to eat on the bed though. She fed the boy with grapes in the afternoon before we went for a swim. When we got back, there were ants in the bed. We were able to get them all out of the room so thankfully no one got bitten.

For the food, as per resort rules, you cannot bring your own inside. We were able to smuggle water, bread and chips. A friend of mine who has been in Canyon Cove at least thrice told me that I can stow the food inside the baby's bag as they don't normally inspect that. And make sure that you hide the food under the baby stuff. 

We went to the town proper for lunch. Found a great local restaurant, Kainan sa Dalampasigan, in Google (will blog about that soon). And ate at the resort's hotel in the evening. They have a tie up with Max's restaurant so there's no guessing in that area. Food was fine.

I will recommend Canyon Cove as long as you have no issues with staying in an accommodation I described above. The beach and the pool are great and seemed well maintained unlike the rooms. When you buy a voucher (bought mine through Metrodeal), try to book your trip as soon as possible as weekend slots get taken too fast. I didn't have that much of a problem booking ours as we went there on an off-peak season and we were there on Sunday.

We are planning another out of town trip very soon. This would be our first family summer getaway. Super excited. Will blog about that maybe in two months! Haha!

Enjoy the rest of your summer!