Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Club Balai Isabel

club balai isabel

Went on an overnight trip with my family to Club Balai Isabel in Talisay, Batangas. It's a lovely little resort community across the lake from Taal Volcano with that small village feel. The club embraces its tropical-ness and pays as much attention to landscaping as to other details: wood, stone, tile details, and colored glass. The themes are consistent--no scrimping on materials here.

coconuts and huts infinity pool and beyond coconuts rising flags and villas
multi-colored new plants tires flower 1

We ate three times at the coffee shop and had good meals every time: laing, fried chicken, boneless bangus, tocino, biya, longganisa. My mom's only comment was that there was no kangkong in the sinigang. Given the many coconut trees, the buko juice cannot be fresher. On the downside, the HSM2 soundtrack playing in the background evokes summer but doesn't quite fit. Warning: there are plenty of red ants everywhere, on the beach, on plants, on tables, so you have to be careful where you rest your feet.

cent trellis, lamp, sea vince and the volcano the bridge cleaner
look away light mobi-deep chandelier 1 lamp
mirror lamp and sea 2 almost sunset 5 dusk

We stayed in a cramped room for four with two queen-size beds, but the villas and cottages are comfortable. The condotels under construction look really nice. What to do? The swimming pools make up for all the seaweed on the beach. There are outdoor tennis courts and an obstacle course for team building. But certainly Club Balai Isabel's best features are the view and the breeze.

purple sky almost sunset 6 almost sunset 7 mobi-deep dusk 1
two fisherman, a bird and the volcano colors of the lake taal volcano two fisherman, a bird and the volcano
pool at night almost sunset 4 fire in the sky dramatic sky

Best viewed large. Complete Flickr photo set here, slideshow here.

17 comments:

  1. Quite a pretty place to go for the weekend.. I am guessing this is a new one?

    So many places to visit when I come home!

    -Marie

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  2. yep, marie, it's new. it's mixed-use, so there are also residential lots that are still vacant. do come and visit. :)

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  3. It looks great and thinking of going on saturday. Is the construction of the condotels nearby and noisy? My husband is allergic to noise!

    thanks
    Elena

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  4. hello, elena! the condotels aren't close enough to the rooms and houses to disturb guests and residents. enjoy!

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  5. the food? the sisig there tasted like tocino...seriously.

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  6. glad i didn't order that. i suspect they re-used the oil...

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  7. hi! i've been browsing about club isabel and happened to visit your blog. we want to hold our team building there. so what can you say about the prices? how about 1 day stay only. no plans for overnight so far. Hope you could give some advice. Thanks!

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  8. though i'm not familiar with the rates, but i wouldn't be too keen on a day tour unless you live nearby. they have facilities for team building, but the place is more suited to relaxing. then again, it's probably more built up now than then, so i don't know if there will be many people. :)

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  9. we're book our trip on april...is it true that people are not allowed to swim in the lake.

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  10. they just do not recommend to swim in the lake but its okay if u want to...

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  11. erasmusa, ur pics are as pretty as u... ;)

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  12. @erasmusa: hello! ask ko lang pwede bang walk-in sa lunch sa club balai isabel? wanna go there on Monday! kindly inform me by leaving a tag on my blog. i am really interested. thanks po!

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  13. nicely, i can't open your blog because your profile is private. best to call them first: http://www.balaiisabel.com/contact.php

    thanks for stopping by!

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  14. I just came from this place two weeks ago and all I can say is EXPENSIVE! :P

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  15. Saw your post, Missy. Based on the published rates, I must agree.

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