Summer 2012: Balai sa San Juan (Part 1)

Our first “beach” summer getaway last April 7 (Black Saturday) and 8 (Easter Sunday) was at Balai sa San Juan (formerly called Balai sa Laiya). They changed the name of the resort when they transferred to a new location in Brgy. Abung in 2011. Trivia: “Balai” is a Visayan word which means house or bahay in Tagalog. From Alabang, it was only a 2-2.5hr travel via SLEX and Star Toll (that’s already with a stop over in Puregold, San Juan) instead of the usual 3-3.5hr trip to Laiya.

Balai sa San Juan (resort sign located at the Billiards area)

Balai rates

It was my first time to go on a swimming outing out-of-town with the hubby’s family. We arrived a few minutes before 12 noon just in time for lunch. The parking lot for the guests staying over night (they have a different area for day tour guests) is very near the rooms. The rooms, facing a wide fish pond, were a few minutes walk to the reception/dining area.

View of the rooms from the reception area

Check-in time was 1 pm so we took our lunch first. The dining area is located at the 2nd level of the reception area. We were given welcome drinks while waiting for lunch to be served.


View of the reception/dining area while walking on the bamboo bridge

Near the reception area is their swimming pool. Kelsea and Amelie immediately wanted to go there. I felt their excitement at that time but they can’t go on a quick dip because of the very hot weather.

Swimming Pool

Closer look

The structure above has 3 levels. 1st level is the cashier and recreational area. You can find the videoke room and the billiards table there. 2nd level is the reception or receiving area with tables and chairs where you can borrow books (old ones!), Word Factory/Boggle or Scrabble. The comfort rooms are also located in this level. The 3rd level is the dining area where buffet is served. Each group of guests are already assigned a table permanently throughout the stay. I like that so we don’t have to be early just to get a seat or table. Guests are not allowed to bring food except for snacks and non-alcoholic drinks. Food per head costs Php 950 inclusive of lunch, dinner and breakfast meals. All served buffet style.

Dining area

I wasn’t able to take pictures of the food but Mark and I rated the lunch as only 6. They served rice, porkchop, sort of a kimchi, and ginataang gulay. Desserts were banana or watermelon. I was a little disappointed that the free drinks are only water, coffee and choco drink (Milo). I was expecting fresh fruit juices since it’s summer. But guests can buy drinks such as sodas, bottled juices and alcoholic drinks.

After lunch, it was time to go to our rooms and settle down our things. Since check-in time is 1pm, you would expect the rooms to be made-up on or before that time. Unfortunately, our rooms were still messy from the previous guests. But the staff made their apologies and quickly cleaned up the rooms.

Too bad I wasn’t able to take a picture of the rooms. We took two (2) air-conditioned rooms wherein we stayed with my sister-in-law and her family while the other room was occupied by my parents-in-law and bro-in-law. We wanted the 2 kids to stay in one room so they can play together. The room was simple but spacious and its flooring is just made of cement. It has no tiles on it since guests are expected to be wet and with sand when entering the room after swimming. It has 2 double beds, 1 single bed and 2 mattresses under the double beds. From the looks of it, maximum accommodation is up to 9 persons (if they will allow it). It has it’s own bathroom with heater (that’s not working). Downside of the room is that it has no cabinets or storage area where you can safe keep your things.

It was siesta time then so we rested for a while before hitting the beach in the afternoon. Kelsea didn’t want to sleep but Amelie did. I know our daughter is too excited to play on the sand. She brought her pail, shovel and rake and been planning on building a castle. She was also excited to use her cousin’s sand castle maker.

All about our afternoon in the beach and dinner meal review on my next post…..

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