It was nearly December and I was thinking of a quick family escape before the year ends. I suddenly felt like I want a nature friendly vacation instead of just having a staycation to the nearest hotel, and so I search for a resort that offers nature feels ambiance but still enjoyable for kids and kids at heart.
I end up seeing Mountain Lake resort currently having their promo on Metrodeal, I purchase the voucher for 1,999 for an overnight stay for 2 in their standard room with breakfast and activities such as zipline, hanging bridge, fishing, biking and swimming, I just added 800php since Yuri is already counted as an Adult. The resort have many good reviews so I did not think much longer before I picked it. I called their office 3 weeks before to reserve but sadly, all their standard room is already fully booked and my only option is to have their Boat House which has a higher cost, so I ended up reserving another date and moving it to Sunday-Monday schedule, I was also thinking that their could be lesser people on that date so we can enjoy the resort more.
Here comes December 11... we woke up early, ate our breakfast and depart by around 7am. We rode at LRT and drop by Gil Puyat station, then on DLTB terminal, we ride on a bus with signage "Stacruz Laguna" fare is around 140php per person up to Stacruz terminal.
The trip took us less than 2 hours before arriving at Stacruz terminal, we ate our lunch first then headed to Lumot terminal and there we rode a jeep with "Lumot" signage then ask the driver to drop us on Caliraya Mountain Lake resort, seems like the drivers there are already familiar with the resort in that area, fare as I could remember is around 35php.
Arriving at Caliraya Spring, you just have to walk a few steps to the guard house and then they will call the shuttle service that will take you to the resort.While riding the shuttle I just figure out that the whole resort looks like as big as a subdivision.
The driver will drop you here (I took this photo before we go home)
Arriving at the hotel, I handed the voucher to the receptionist then we were taken to our room downstairs. Aside from the hotel, the other part of the resort is what they called 'Marina', it's where the activities and camp accommodations were located. When you are check in at the hotel, you just have to tell the receptionist so the shuttle will take you there.
When we were taken to our room, we choose to rest for an hour. Then we go biking so we can explore the resort first, they have a different kind of bikes you can choose from. Our eyes were filled of beautiful scenery and it feels like everything is as green as the leaf of the tree.
This is their standard room
After taking almost an hour biking around the resort, we pack some clothes and foods to go to Marina and do some activities. We tried their swan boat for 30 mins, took some pictures and opted to swim already since kido is already excited on trying their swimming pool. It was raining very light but that does not stop us from enjoying the pool.
After a few hours, we went back to the hotel, order food from their resto and have it deliver in our room. They don't have much food choices that time so we just ordered fried chicken.
The next morning, we had our breakfast on their dining area overlooking the golf course, a kind of morning I always imagined...
We just rested a bit while sipping on hot brewed coffee before going to Marina again.
At Marina, since it's slightly raining again, we were not able to try their Zipline because the staff said it's slippery, so we just tried Kayak for 30 minutes and took a lot of picture on their hanging bridge. After that we proceed on their boat house and try to catch some fish, we were assisted by the staff and teach us how we can catch a fish, and yeeaahhh! we were able to 'Find Dory' and catch them as well!! You can opt to buy the fish you catched for 150 per kilo and have it cooked in their resto for some charge. We catch two Dory and have it grill for lunch.
While waiting for our food, this kido go for swimming again while me and chi is having a relax time sipping a coffee and watching Yuri swim.
Here is our food serve at the dining area of Marina with the view of the lake, I never thought this fish was this delicious.
After eating our lunch, we rested for a while, pack our things and get ready to go home.
This was a total adventure, we enjoy our stay and we will surely go back here! One thing I noticed, all the staff in this resort are very polite and accommodating, one factor most of us considers when finding a very good resort like this!!
