Summer is here again and before school lets out and the beaches get crowded, the husband and I trooped to one for my birthday weekend. We had been looking for a pet-friendly beach so that our ten-year-old labrador retriever, Bishop, may experience how it is to frolic in the sand while he is still able to. When I saw that a friend was a fan of the Facebook page of Stilts Calatagan in Batangas, I looked at their photos of the place and saw that they are open to bringing in pets. I was excited for my babies!
It took about 3 hours from our house in QC to the resort via the Tagaytay-Nasugbu highway.
These lovely trees lined the road along a hacienda in Batangas owned by Enrique Zobel
It was our two dogs’ first long drive so while we had them do their usual bathroom routine before we left, we braced ourselves for ‘surprises’ along the way. My husband was great at sensing when Bishop wanted to go, and true enough, when we pulled over the first pit stop along SLEX, it didn’t take long for Bishop to do the deed at an empty space behind Starbucks. We didn’t know that pets aren’t actually allowed in the area but they gave in to us anyway.
Finding our way to the resort was a cinch with our trusty Waze app. (TIP: There probably won’t be any data connection at some areas of the trip so to make sure you don’t lose the navigation on Waze, plot your trip at home while you still have internet connection. You will lose real-time traffic updates but the directions will stay on the app due to GPS.) The road was rough for about a kilometer before the gate but it wasn’t too bad.
This is where the rough road begins
We arrived at past 10am and were prepared to camp out in one of the outdoor cottages until check-in time at 2pm, but we were told that our room was ready and they allowed us to check-in early. Great!
Photo of the gate – pardon the white streak. I took this shot from the car.
Love this pathway leading up to reception!
Look who met us at the door!
They gave us the Passion cottage right on the beach which the husband really loved. I would have preferred one of those on the stilts but those were only for 4+ people. Next time then!
I loved the all-white motif inside our cottage. And the striped hotel linen! The bath and toilet were in separate rooms so that was very convenient. The room was clean enough. While we appreciated that they also have heating in the shower, sadly the shower head was set to jet stream that it felt like being struck with tiny needles each time we showered. And there was no way to adjust it. I used the bucket and ‘tabo’ (dipper?) instead which were thankfully available.
We had lunch at the resort restaurant and liked the cooking. As expected, the meals were a little pricey but that’s resort food for you. You may bring your own food and cook at the resort, albeit for a price. The entire afternoon was spent playing with the babies on the beach.
We had hoped that Bishop would happily play in the (shallow) water, but perhaps 10 years is too long a time to wait to bring him to the beach. He did attempt to wade in but didn’t last long. Although, there were a couple of times when he was chasing after a ball and some birds that he ended up in the water without noticing. His retriever instinct kicked in! Ava wouldn’t budge though. I had to bring her in a couple of times but she would always swim back to shore (that was fun to watch too). It was a joy to watch them though, especially when they would play with each other on the sand.
Since our cottage was right on the beach, we also enjoyed the pretty sunset.
Leaving the next day proved difficult as we had grown attached to the place. It was almost deserted – perfect for a getaway from the busy and noisy city. We do hope to be back soon and stay longer than a day.