Who is not obsess with the combination of white and blue colors? Especially when you had been eyeing to visit the Island in the Southern Aegean Sea which is at Greece. Well, thankfully, we don't need to go that far to see these heaven on earth colors that we used to dream of. With the popularity of Santorini all over the world, there are local destinations that are inspired from it. And if you are from the Metro Luzon, what a lucky you because there are few from North to South and one in the South is just a road trip away.
L o c a t i o n
Since we are from Cavite, Batangas is one of our nearest vacation destination if we wanted a day or days of rest and relaxation. Camp Netanya is located at Brgy. Ligaya, Bauan - Mabini Rd., Mabini, Batangas, Philippines, a 3 hour bus ride from Manila. From Buendia Bus Terminal, we took a bus bound to Batangas City. We took off at Grand Terminal and rode a jeepney to Mabini. The jeepney ride was around 45 minutes. Most of the resorts are known to drivers so you can ask them where to drop you off. For Camp Netanya, you will be alighted at Mabini crossing or Anilao market and from there, you can take a tricycle to the resort. It takes another 10-15 minutes trike ride to reach it. You'll definitely know that you reached your destination because of the white color structure.
C A M P N E T A N Y A
I admit to be a frequent visitor of Mabini and Anilao, a popular diving and beach escapade location. With its popularity, most of it's resorts and hotels are in the mid to high when it comes to accommodation prices. Camp Netanya is on the mid range resorts paying P13,000.00 for a night with our group of four.
L o b b y
The parking area will be the one that you will first walk on once you enter the premise. Not far from it is a huge blue colored door that will welcome you inside the Greek-inspired structure. Another large lobby area will welcome your sight and will definitely make you say "owww!" There were two parts of sitting area which composed of large cozy couches and beautiful chairs. The details were enormously nice and elegant.
Even the restroom in the lobby looked so lit!
The huge balcony in the main lobby facing the ocean. Wow!
G r e e k a A l l D a y D i n i n g R e s t a u r a n t
Beside the lobby is the resort's restaurant. Our accommodation includes complimentary breakfast. We ate here during the duration of our stay and despite the look of the resort, the meal tasted ordinary. We were expecting better with its price. The restaurant's size was quite small but it extends up to the balcony that it shared with the main lobby.
Loved the natural lights that coming in especially in the morning.
Our breakfast and dinner plates.
P r e m i u m V i l l a
We booked for a premium villa for the four of us. The room was big, with one bedroom door and 2 king size beds. If I wasn't expecting it to be as described on the booking site, I would have loved it. It was stated that there will be window with a view. Unfortunately, there wasn't. And the worst of it all, a big water tank was just beside our room, that gave us a free annoying noise once in a while. I complained it with the staff, but they insisted we were on the right room.
The closet room (right end photo) was big enough that another bed can fit on it.
Bathroom was spacious with cream and blue colors.
P o o l A r e a
This infinity pool of Camp Netanya is one of the most picturesque area of the resort because of the overlooking Batangas sea and where you can have also a vantage point of the landscape of Greek-inspired structure of Camp Netanya. Sunset was also dope!
The progress in colors of sunset. Stunning!
At night, they have a free movie screening at the pool.
K i d d i e P la c e & D e c k
The kiddie place was lack of ventilation that's why we never stayed longer. But I'm glad they put this place for children.
Someone was already felt home. :D
I loved this Moroccan-style living area. This was located on the 3rd floor where the kiddie place can also be found.
V i l l a g e
This area was also one of the most Instagrammable spot of the Resort. It was located on the side with some nice and colorful details. We accidentally found it after coming from the kiddie place. We just followed a corridor that leads to a door outside. There was no sign or anything that says there was something out there. Glad we explored it.
This cute little signs!
We enjoyed it too much, we went back twice in this place for more photo shoot.
F a c a d e
By just looking at the facade, Camp Netanya achieved their Santorini style structure. The white and blue was truly captivating, will make you instantly eager to book for a stay. But wait, please stay with me until the end as I will rate this resort after I show you all these pretty photos before you decide if this was worth a visit.
W i n d m i l l
We went up to the windmill to see the view of the sea front and the vastness of Batangas ocean. Since we knew it from the start that Mabini, Batangas shore is mostly rocky and is more on the diving spots, we didn't got disappointed finding the Camp Netanya's absence of shore and white fine sand. We didn't even tried to go down. If you wanted to find nice beaches, you can opt to do an island hopping which the resort's also offer.
So, did you enjoy the scenery? Because honestly Camp Netanya was pretty and a nice place to fulfill your kind of Santorini/Mykonos dream photos. If that's the only thing that matters, I would definitely give them a 4/5 rate. But sadly, everything was superficial. The service sucks! Sorry for the choice of words but we left the resort with a written notes of all the things that we experienced badly, and it was quite a list. They were lack of customer support, they were lack of efficiency, they were lack of promptness, they were lack of warmth. The room was not we expected and there were lapses on the room amenities. The food was ordinary and the pay was not worth it. It was disappointing. We were so excited to be there and ended up wanted to leave the soonest. Badly needs a lot of improvement.
Camp Netanya for me is at 2/5 rate. Yes, we tried to enjoy what we paid even on those lapses and we were glad that we at least took home some nice group memories and stunning photos but service is such a big factor for me. I can stay on the simplest hotel and resort and would definitely give them a 5 star rate if I felt welcomed and pampered. I hope they take care of that or else they will be just like a one-nighter engagement place. So I guess I can say that, yes, it deserves a visit but not for a stay.
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