Monday, May 21, 2012

Tagaytay Weekend

Who doesn't love going to Tagaytay for the weekend?  Hub had to go to Nasugbu for his instructors' outing, and all hotels in that area were fully booked (Punta Fuego, Stilts, Pico de Loro), we thought of just staying in Tagaytay.  It was just less than an hour to Nasugbu.

As expected, Taal Vista was already fully booked, and staying at Highlands was out of the question since we wanted to be as near Nasugbu as possible.  Through Tripadvisor, we discovered the following: Summit Ridge and Lake Hotel.  Only Lake Hotel had rooms available but they did say that only standard rooms remained, all rooms facing the lake were taken, but this was good enough for us.

We left Manila at around 12NN, A was very excited, now that she's getting older, she enjoys going on trips.  After a quick lunch stop at the SLEX Shell, we were in Tagaytay at around 3PM.

We thought the the Lake Hotel would be farther than Taal Vista, so we were quite surprised when we saw the banners of the hotel just as we passed Tagaytay's restaurant strip.

As with all hotels on the ridge, this establishment was sloping down as well.  A nice small lobby greeted us with a spectacular view of the lake and the volcano.



Though our room was indeed quite small, it was clean, as well as the bathroom.  We had a king bed and a single bed, and the crib we requested was already there when we checked in.  A nice touch was the pocket garden by our window.  The hotel also provided smoke masks in the rooms, for err, hmmm, emergency volcanic activities.


Hub had to leave for Nasugbu after his and A's quick swim.  The kids, Ate J, and I spent the rest of the afternoon at the garden, there were free bicycles for in-house guests to use.  There was also a barbecue and a shake bar right on the garden.

(Photo from www.lakehoteltagaytay.com)

Dinner for us was at the cafe, and who can go wrong with bulalo(bone marrow) in this area?  I normally would not order Filipino food when dining out but hey, this was beef country so why not? :)  Besides, the kids love soup/broth with their rice.  The bone marrow was grrreeeeaaat!  Would have eaten more of there were more heehee. 

Breakfast next day was at the cafe, again, the homemade corned beef was splendid. Hub loved the tapa as well.  And I loved the coffee.  Just have to mention that service in this hotel was wonderful,  makes you feel like you were in a five-star establishment.

Our A had wanted to go horseback riding before heading home but it was way too hot still so we grabbed lunch at Taal Vista first.  Food was wonderful as usual, and since Hub did not get his bulalo fix the night before, you'd never guess what we ordered :D

I just love the service at Taal Vista too, everybody seems to be well-trained and are always ready to 'go the extra mile'.  Since we ordered ala carte, we had no access to the dessert buffet, and I really wanted to order the ginatang tutong with monggo (sweet risotto with mung beans), but our server gladly gave us a bowl.  Thank you!


With it's proximity to the metro, we love going on  'on a whim' trips to this city.


THE LAKE HOTEL TAGAYTAY
KM 58 GENERAL EMILIO AGUINALDO HWY
TAGAYTAY CITY
CONTACT NOS: (632) 5844470/ 7257080-81
(6346) 4134680-81
EMAIL:  reservations@lakehoteltagaytay.com


Taal Vista Hotel
Kilometer 60, Aguinaldo Highway
Tagaytay City 4120, Philippines
Tel No: +63 (46) 413-1000
Fax No: +63 (2) 886-4325
              +63 (46) 413-1225
http://www.taalvistahotel.com/