Looking for a cheap getaway spot for the upcoming summer? Here's Laiya beach in San Juan, Batangas. Laiya is surrounded by many different private and public resorts. It is my second time visiting here with my family. Why? Simply because of its beautiful white sand and clear sea water!
We traveled to Batangas via Lipa. Yes, we took the long road instead of SLEX to save us the burden of paying ridiculous amount of tolls. We left at 12:30 am and it took us 4 hours to get there (including quick stopovers.)
We arrived at around 4:30 am and had to wake the caretakers up since we came too early. After short scanning and negotiation we finally decided to rent a table under a nipa hut for Php 1,500. By the way, we are around 20 and 1/4 of us are kids. We need not to pay the entrance fee as this is a public resort.
What's cool in arriving in the morning dawn is that you save yourselves from paying enviromental fee which costs at around php 30 per head because the tourism office is closed by that time. (They tend to block the road and make a new one, passing to their office so every single vehicle that will pass would not escape paying the charge unless you are a local resident in Laiya or a member in one of the private resort clubs there. What's cooler is that you get to witness the dramatic sunrise for free!
Picture taken at 6:00am in the morning.
There are lots of activities which are offered by the neighbor resorts ranging from 300-1500 per head. That includes boat ride, kayaking, banana boat ride, flying fish and parasailing. Use your charm and you might get a good bargain from the opertators. Lol.( Price may vary depending on the season.) I did not try any of it because I'm saving for my Puerto Galera trip for the next weekend! There's also a volleyball net so I suggest bringing a ball if you don't want to spend a lot while having fun. Some of us played the cards which my brother brought to let the time pass under the nipa hut during the sun's hottest hours (12-3pm.)
The nipa hut costs Php 1,500 per table.(We are the only one who rented for nipa hut that day as the other visitors stayed overnight and rented for a cottage room so we occupied almost all of the cottages.
There were 4 restrooms for girls and 3 for boys, I think. It is well-maintained inside although I find it disgusting to see the open water way which is filled with moss and algae outside the restroom.
All in all I would rate Laiya as 3 out of 5.
So there! Have fun on your upcoming adventure!
