I have been to Caliraya Resort Club more than 18 years ago. I've seen a recent review on TV that it has changed a lot since then. I looked up the club's contact number online and browsed their website. I wanted to make sure that it is still a good place for families to visit.
I called up the club's office and asked about their rates. It's good that they had a promo during that time. The promo rate is P995 per person for the day tour. The day tour package included:
- Entrance Fee (from 7am to 5pm)
- Buffet Lunch (eat-all-you-can!) including hot coffee and tea during meal time
- Free access to 3 swimming pools
- Use of Free facilities - Earth Ball - Slide Pinoy (Mini-zipline) - Slip 'n slide (mud slide) -Obstacle course - Hanging Bridge - Children's Playground
- Use of house of prayers
- Ferry boat transfer to and from the resort (2 to 3 mins. boat ride)
- Jeepney transfer inside the resort
I actually booked on December 8, 2017, a Friday, thinking that it was a holiday here in our city. But the city government did not announce it as a holiday, so my kids had to go to school. There's no other choice but to request a rebooking of our schedule. Initially, I worried because I read in the terms and conditions that there's a rebooking fee. I was relieved that the kind lady rebooked our trip without charging any fees.
My father, sister, brother and sister-in-law slept in our house on the night before the scheduled day tour so we could leave early in the morning. We embarked on our journey at about 5:00 AM. From Pasig to Lumban, Laguna, we took the route via Taytay - Angono - Morong. We reached Lumban, Laguna at around 7:30 AM.
When we reached our destination, we first ate breakfast in a nearby carinderia. Then, we rode a ferry boat across the lake to Caliraya Resort Club. Even if it was just a two-minute ride, the kids enjoyed it since it's not usual for us to ride a boat.
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| This is what welcomed us to Caliraya Resort Club. Obviously, they offer horse riding activities. |
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| The boys somewhat enjoyed playing basketball in the pool even though the ball is already broken |
The wave pool in Splash Island is better. There's a beach from which you can walk to where you can manage the water depth and the waves. We enjoyed the wave pool there.
While swimming in the pool, we saw the other facilities available. There's the Slip 'n Slide, which is the mud slide. It's free to use but my kids don't want to. Beside that is the Super Slide. It's not free. The payment per slide is P50. The two girls tried this one. The sit on an inflated ring/boat and slide on the right side, then they walk up on the left side. Again, Splash Island has a facility like this which is more enjoyable and you can use it as many times as you want.
While swimming, we also saw people on the Sky Bicycle above us. This is what the kuyas and ate would like to try, that's why they didn't go for the Super Slide anymore. This activity is P100 per person. Since it's not allowed for people in wet clothes, we had to wait to try it later.
Before 11:30 AM, we decided to take a shower and change clothes in preparation for the lunch buffet. Lunch is served from 12 noon to 1 PM only. We didn't take the jeepney ride anymore. We just walked to the hotel main building. It was a steep walk up, but it's ok.
The menu for the day was good enough for us. If I remember it right, there was pancit, fried chicken, pork adobo, rice, brownie and banana. Brewed coffee and hot tea were also available.
After eating lunch, we visited the viewing deck. It's at the top of the hotel main building. Here's the view we saw from this area.
We really enjoyed the fresh breeze up there.
The next activity we decided to try was fishing. But before going fishing, we stopped by the hanging bridge. We walked across the hanging bridge and it was a bit scary because some of us were making the bridge sway. It was fun also because many of us were screaming and laughing.
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| This is my sister |
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| The three girls in the middle of the hanging bridge. |
After that bit of fun, we went to the man-made fish pond. It's not high tech fishing. They only had bamboo sticks and chicken pieces as bait. The man in-charge of fishing said that there were catfish in the pond and it usually takes hours just to catch one.
The kids would like to try it so we let them wait for the fish to bite the bait for at least one hour. But they caught nothing.
After giving up fishing, we went up to the snack bar and ate ice cream. Then, we paid the tickets for the Sky Bicycle - the activity my kids are really waiting for. They were not disappointed with this activity and really had unique fun.
After the Sky Bicycle, we went to the Slide Pinoy (mini-zipline) area. It's free to use this facility. The kids tried it two times and then they had to wash their feet. It was muddy in this area because of the slight rain.
Then we just walked through the children's playground and the tree house to the resort entrance. There were other activities to try like the horse riding, kayak ride, banana boat ride and zipline. But it's almost 5 pm so we just decided to wait for the next ferry boat ride to go home.
For my overall impression,
1. The place is very big and there are lots of activities to do. One day is not enough so staying 1 or 2 days is recommended.
2. There are some facilities that are no longer available like the giant swing that we really wanted to try. Regular rates are expensive unless they have promo rate offers.
3. Since the place is a combination of new and old facilities and buildings, some places are not that well-maintained like the shower room at the pool area.
4. The food is good but not that fancy.
I'm not sure if we would like to go back. I'm not saying that we did not have fun. WE DID. But perhaps I would have second thoughts of going back. It would be better if we explore other places. I can't wait to have our next out of town adventure.
Til next time,
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