Archive for Batangas Destinations
Talisay, Batangas Corporate Event Venue
Posted by: | CommentsThere are venues for business meetings and conferences. Then there is Talisay Batangas world-class Club Balai Isabel, where meetings become more than meetings, and conferences become more than conferences.
Talisay Batangas Corporate Event Venue
Club Balai Isabel offers refreshing settings that make for well-organized and memorable experiences so clients get the most out of their business meeting or conference.
Housed within the spacious layouts of the club hotel and country club buildings are function rooms and outdoor venues that cater to intimate gatherings or large groups.
A function hall that can sit more than 300 guests opens to an expansive balcony with a panoramic view of the lush fairways and the distant Taal Volcano lake range with its jagged peaks.
Talisay Batangas Corporate Event Venue
The Mediterranean Pavilion can sit as much as 500 guests for medium-scale weddings, social events, conferences, product launches and other corporate assemblies or exclusive get-togethers.
The subtly elegant charms of the Club Terraza restaurant and coffee shop for a relaxing dinning experience by the lake.
Al fresco functions turn more elegant and posh at Club Balai Isabel outdoor venues. These attractive settings feature well-manicured greenery, pocket gardens, and charming water features. The water garden patio and gazebo, the poolside and lawn areas are picture-perfect choices for large outdoor events and after-six convention socials.
Talisay Batangas Corporate Event Venue
Apart from the award-winning architecture and the scenic surroundings, the function rooms and other venues of Club Balai Isabel enjoy distinct advantages — cool climate, the privacy of an exclusive resort community, and the club’s culinary offerings and service.
Club Balai Isabel is located in Talisay, Batangas. For inquiries, call (0918) 928-12-96 / (0922) 865-26-85 or (046) 432-32-89
Awesome Family Destinations
Posted by: | CommentsCreating an awesome family experience this summer is easier than you think. No need to fly or drive for more than three hours to enjoy your summer getaway with the family. All you need is a little bit of imagination and inspiration to create a summer vacation that your kids will remember and love you for. Here are 10 awesome family destinations that will surely be a hit:
Balai Isabel, Talisay, Batangas
Balai Isabel is the best resort around Taal Lake. You can enjoy kayaking on the lake, swimming in the infinity pool with a level view of the Taal crater, or you can dip inside the Taal Lake via the floating Mobideep pool. They can arrange a hike up to the Taal summit through a private, shaded and cleaner path. A good massage after the hike will definitely put you into a deep slumber. They offer various types of accommodation to suit your budget. Makati Skyline caters the food at Balai Isabel. The resort is conveniently located 9km away from Tagaytay, where you can enjoy Tagaytay’s little foodie secrets.
Club Balai Isabel Resort Talisay Batangas
Balai Indang, Indang, Cavite
It is a secluded retreat house, similar to Sonya’s Secret Garden, located in Indang, Cavite. The only distinguishing mark is a number 88 sign along the road. You can indulge in Marge’s innovative and improved home-cooking all day long. In between meals, you can dip into the pool or just laze around and enjoy the fresh air. Kids are more than welcome to play around the garden. You could ask Marge about Yoki’s collection of treasures and perhaps she could even give you a tour of the place. Balai Indang is 30-minute drive from the Mendez intersection in Tagaytay.
Pool of Balay Indang
Playa Calatagan, Calatagan, Batangas
The young and fun beach community resort created by Landco is coming to life in Calatagan. It has a cool blue river and infinity pool that kids will love. They serve the best food in the Calatagan area, using Manila standards in quality of food and presentation. Nice cabanas are setup to take advantage of the cool Calatagan winds during summer. You can also drive to the Calatagan lighthouse nearby. The best asset of the place is watching Calatagan’s golden sunset while chilling out on the beach with family and friends. You need to be a lot owner or accompanied by one to enjoy this Calatagan hideaway.
Playa Calatagan Calatagan Batangas
Bamboo Beach, Nasugbu, Batangas
Bamboo Beach is the best beach in the Nasugbu, Batangas area. Its 650-meter beach cove is exclusive and 80 percent privately owned by Kawayan Cove Seaside Estates. A small part (20 percent) of the beach is for public use, but it can only be accessed via boat. The beach cove is simply perfect—clean water, calm waves, gradual sloping beach, beige colored fine sand and awesome sunset. The beach is abundant with small fishes, which you can feed with small slices of squid. The resort serves simple grilled Filipino food. This could have been the Boracay of Nasugbu if it were open to the public. While in Kawayan Cove, don’t forget to explore the giant cross and rosary at Meditation Point. This is where a lot of memorable weddings are held, with a cliff side view of Nasugbu bay.
Bamboo Beach Nasugbu Batangas
Cali Rana, Lake Caliraya, Cavinti, Laguna
Cali Rana is a private resort hidden inside the forest of the man-made Caliraya Lake in Cavinti, Laguna. The relaxing 30-minute Caliraya Lake ride to the resort is an experience in itself. The resort offers basic accommodations and swimming pool amenities where power is supplied by generators at night. This resort is best for families or barkadas that would like to bring and cook their own food. You can introduce your kids to the cement sculptures of old Filipino folklore characters like Malakas and Maganda, Maria Makiling and others. Most of the structures are cemented to protect them from decay, which gives the resort a cute oldie appeal. I would recommend that you take the speedboat tour of the entire Caliraya Lake in the morning.
Cali Rana Lake Caliraya Cavinti Laguna
Wonder Island, Calamba, Laguna
It is the only resort located on an island in the middle of Laguna de Bay. You have to drive all the way to the busy city of Calamba and take a boat going to the island. The accommodations and swimming pool facilities are clean, simple and surprisingly maintained well over time. It is best to lower your expectations going to this simple Laguna de Bay escape. The best assets of the resort are the therapeutic natural spring water of the swimming pool and a boat tour of Laguna de Bay during breakfast. On your way back to Manila, make sure to pass by Jose Rizal’s Shrine in Calamba City.
Wonder Island Calamba Laguna
88 Spa and Resort, Pansol, Laguna
Paradise Resort, Pagsanjan, Laguna
The best resort in Pansol, Laguna is the Chinese/Korean-owned 88 Spa and Resort. You pay for exclusivity to avoid the typical large crowds during the summer season. You’ll love the kiddie pool with Mt. Makiling as a background. Most of their multinational clients avail of the day tour package. This consists of the transportation to/from Manila, lunch/dinner in the resort’s Korean restaurant and the two-hour Pagsanjan falls tour. The resort has a special partnership with Paradise Resort in Pagsanjan, Laguna which handles their hassle-free tour of Pagsanjan falls. Summer is the safest time to go to Pagsanjan and experience the free full body massage of Pagsanjan falls. Don’t forget to take home some buko pies from your favorite store: Letty’s, D’ Original, El Mare or Collette’s.
Hidden Valley, Alaminos, Laguna
Hidden Valley is an all-time favorite. It is a secluded private resort with a natural botanical garden, natural thermal pools, and a hidden waterfall. This nature escape in Alaminos, Laguna serves Filipino buffet lunch and merienda for day-trippers. You’ll spend the day swimming pool-hopping around its hot and cold natural pools, and hiking into the virgin forest, through century-old trees and giant ferns, to find the hidden waterfalls. From Hidden Valley, you can decide to drive a little further to explore the Viaje del Sol foodie destinations in San Pablo, Laguna and Tiaong, Quezon.
Hidden Valley Alaminos Laguna
La Luz/ Palm Beach/ Virgin Beach, San Juan, Batangas
The San Juan Batangas beach resorts are a popular destination because of their clean, calm waters and because it’s the best beach area closest to Manila. La Luz resort continues to be the most popular because of its value-for-money overnight packages, commitment to maintain its natural habitat, and the marine sanctuary directly in front of the resort. For a more secluded high-end escape, the Palm Beach resort is recommended. This is the farthest resort and enjoys a quiet isolation from the main stretch of San Juan Batangas beach. The Virgin Beach is also recommended because of its wide white beach area, its nice restaurant, and its limited room capacity to avoid that crowded feeling.
Palm Beach Resort La Frondosa
Subic, Olongapo City
When the four-lane Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTex) opens this summer, it would cut the travel time from Manila to Subic to less than two hours. This would make Subic accessible and the most favorite beach destination in the North. It would now be easy to organize beach outings to Club Morocco, Anvaya Cove, Lighthouse Subic or White Rock Resort. While in Subic, the kids will love the tigers in Zoobic, and the Dolphin and Sea Lion shows in Ocean Adventure. Don’t forget to eat at the Meat Plus café (best restaurant in Subic) and shop for imported goods and chocolates at the Duty free outlets. Also, you can drive to the Pawikan Conservation Center in Morong, Bataan to release young sea turtles into the sea.
Subic Olongapo City
Regatta Set at Taal Lake
Posted by: | CommentsThe placid waters of Taal Lake will once again burst into action and color as the Club Balai Isabel Round Taal Volcano Regatta and Governor’s Cup unfolds on Nov. 29 and 30 at the Taal Lake Yacht Club (TLYC) in Talisay, Batangas.
Club Balai Isabel Resort Talisay Batangas
Now on its ninth year, the annual two-day regatta will see Filipino and foreign Hobie Cat teams encircling the picturesque Taal Volcano Island and promises to be another action-packed adventure tourism event, TLYC Commodore Peter Capoposto said in yesteday’s PSA forum at the Shakey’s UN Avenue branch in Manila.
Also joining the race is the growing fleet of home-built boats, optimists, streakers, dinghies and toppers from all ages, added Capoposto in the session sponsored by Aspen Spa, Brickyard Gym, Accel and Med Central Diagnostics Clinics
The regatta will also feature a 34-kilometer kayak marathon and a 10-kilometer novice run organized by the Philippine Kayaking Association on Saturday.
According to Techno-Asia Construction and Development Corp. president Nelson Terrible, developer of Club Balai Isabel, the unique twin events will highlight Taal Lake as a water sports haven.
Pinoy, Aussies Rule Balai Isabel Regatta
FILIPINO hobie cat sailors Norman Jaravata and Jenny Franke topped the Governor’s Cup of the Club Balai Isabel Round Taal Volcano regatta recently at the Taal Lake Yacht Club in Talisay, Batangas.
The Governor’s Cup, a 35-kilometer circumnavigation of the picturesque volcano, is the annual international sporting event’s main attraction.
Now on its ninth edition, the two-day regatta saw Filipino and foreign teams of home-built boats, optimists, streakers, and dinghies competing for honors. Aside from the Philippines, the event also drew entries from the United States, Portugal, France, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Italy and Germany.
The Australian father-and-son team of Andrew and Brandon Locke of Team Papua New Guinea bagged the grand prize in the inshore racing legs around Taal Lake while the tandem of Ernie Sarmiento and Zaldy Dela Cruz of Team HIETA topped the 35-kilometer kayak marathon division organized by the Philippine Kayaking Association.
The team is based in Alaminos City, Pangasinan and was supported by DOT Region I office. According to Club Balai Isabel president Nelson Terrible, the twin events highlighted the potential of Taal Lake as a water sports and ecotourism haven.
Club Balai Isabel and TLYC are among the stakeholders in the forefront to preserve Taal Lake, whose fragile ecosystem is besieged with pollution and siltation due to the proliferation of chemical-rich fish cages.
Lakeside Living Club Balai Isabel
Posted by: | CommentsONE special summer weekend worth looking back to was my visit to 10-hectare Club Balay Isabel in Barangay Banga in Talisay, Batangas. This spur-of-the-moment day trip, with events organizer Bernard Supetran, his son and his niece, again brought me face-to-face with Taal Volcano, the world’s smallest and deadliest volcano, and Club Balai Isabel, opened in 2007, was to be our jump-off point.
We left Manila early in the morning, got tied up in South Luzon Expressway (Slex) traffic. We took the Santa Rosa Exit, drove along the Santa Rosa-Tagaytay Road, turned left along Aguinaldo Highway and drove down Ligaya Drive. We still managed to get to the resort in time for a Filipino breakfast at its full-service restaurant within the clubhouse, with its magnificent view of Taal Lake and Taal Volcano. It also has a business center and a novelty shop.
We were welcomed by resort owner and Talisay native Nelson Terrible and his wife Cecille. After breakfast, I still had time to explore the resort’s accommodations and facilities, which include residential houses and two boutique-style clusters: the Sampaguita Manor, with its six hotel-type rooms with minirefs, hot and cold shower and balcony, all nestled on a garden of different trees and ornamental plants; and the Ylang-Ylang Villa, which offers six two-story, kitchen-furnished studio units, all ideal for families.
Club Balai Isabel Talisay Batangas
Since the long lake shoreline is not recommended for swimming (because of the murky and deep water), the resort has put up, aside from its free-form swimming pool, the Mobideep, an inflatable swimming pool with separate pools of different depths. Its deepest pool, measuring 21 feet, is even used for scuba-diving training. The challenging Balikatan Course, consisting of five different obstacles, is mostly used for company team-building. Apart from its swimming pools, the resort also has tennis, badminton and basketball courts, and guests can also rent a kayak to go around the lake.
Then, it was time to go. Aside from the other resort guests, we were with distinguished company, as joining our trek to the volcano were the three Filipino women who conquered Mount Everest just a year ago. This was to be my third visit to the volcano and my second to the viewpoint (the other was a trek to the crater lake itself). To get to Volcano Island, we used a number of the resort’s 32 accredited motorized bancas.
After a 30-minute trip that took us around the island, past the 311-meter high (the island’s highest point) Mount Binintiang Malaki (seemingly featured on most Taal Volcano postcards like an island but actually connected to the real Volcano Island), we arrived at the Welcome Center. From there, it was all 45 minutes of hiking, first along the beach, then into a shady forest and, on our last leg, up a steep, dusty and treeless trail up to the viewpoint. The viewpoint was a cool welcome relief for its shade and its magnificent bird’s-eye view of the beautifully azure and seemingly peaceful crater lake with its small island. The trek back to the Welcome Center and our boats was faster but very slippery.
Once back at the resort, we all proceeded to Kasay-Kasay Hall, one of the resort’s two function rooms (the other is Kasili Hall) for a buffet lunch. After lunch, a press conference was held centering on the three Pinay Mount Everest Team members—Janet Belarmino-Serdenia, Carina Dayondon and Noelle Wenceslao—who narrated their trials and tribulations before and during their conquest of Mount Everest. During the presscon, Mr. Terrible also expressed his concerns regarding the environment. To encourage environment protection and conservation from the community, the resort has started a Solid-Waste Management project wherein Talisay residents can avail themselves of support from the resort in the form of loans or financial backing for community projects on the condition that they turn in a certain amount of recyclable waste materials to the resort. According to Terrible, this concerted effort will make people realize that nature and Taal Lake should be protected to be able to retain their livelihood, especially fishing and tourism. The resort, on the other hand, also addresses the water shortage problem (one of the biggest environmental problems that the country has to face in the coming years) by using filtered lake water for the swimming pool as well as for Mobideep. They also make sure that they are using low energy-consumption equipment in the resort.
Club Balai Isabel Resort Talisay Batangas
In the near future, Club Balai Isabel will be adding more facilities, including a recreation center equipped with videoke, a movie room, billiard tables, Wi-Fi and Playstation 3 rooms, an Internet shop, a tea lounge and a library. Wi-Fi will also be made available in the public areas. The resort will also be building facilities for skim and wake boarding. A wellness center, offering medical spa and traditional medical facility as well as noninvasive therapies and executive checkups for tourists and guests, will also be opened. Terrible is particularly excited about the opening of the Spa Suites, eight roomy huts which will have a queen-sized bed, private bathroom and a private Jacuzzi in a lush garden setting. Club Balai Isabel will soon offer the Taal Lake Cruise using their 20-person Cancun that is equipped with washroom and minibar.
To also get to the resort from the Slex, you can also take the Greenfield/Asia Brewery exit and head toward Tagaytay City. Turn left at Calamba Road, then turn right at Ligaya Drive and head toward Talisay. Turn left at the junction of Talisay National Road and look for the entrance of Club Balai Isabel, which will be at the right side of the road.