Playa La Caleta — Hotel in Morong

Beautiful place spoiled by management and how the place is ran. To begin, making a booking for day use (day tour as it is called) is an adventure in itself. The website will only allow booking for overnight stays. Try calling them, and it is luck of the draw if the sole staff member seemingly capable of creating a booking or answering questions about the process is available or on break or whatever for hours on end. Once you finally get a hold of the correct person, they will tell you to email them because they only handle bookings online. Eventually you will receive a reply email for a tentative booking that includes the usual details, but then also includes details of charges for an overnight booking? Hours of phone tag later, you will learn that they have a cookie cutter email that includes this info because their system only allows it that way. Okay, but then in order to pay for it, they include an account number to wire transfer funds to them and ask for proof of payment (screenshot). That's not scammy at all (sarcasm). No wonder we were the only “day tour” party there until the overnighters started arriving in the afternoon.

I digress. If you have ventured this far and secure a booking, you arrive and come to the road in. It's not that bad. Not like the other reviews make it seem. It is narrow and steep so plan accordingly for your vehicle and it's occupants as it may prove to be a challenge simply due to the ability of your vehicle to climb the hills with the typical Filipino family jam-packed inside. If you feel it is too much, they offer a shuttle service for 300 PHP per head round trip. Not cheap for what it is, but convenient nonetheless and about a 10 minute ride down. You will arrive in a parking lot and then need to proceed to the main office to check in. I was not there for that part, but I know I waited for my wife to come back for over 30 minutes. Once again, the sole employee capable of doing anything with bookings was nowhere to be found.

Fast forward past all that and you will thoroughly enjoy the nature aspect and scenery…. At least until that same aspect of nature takes over and you attempt to go order food at the so-called restaurant. Just like many places in the Philippines, a corkage fee is applied (300 per head) for any outside food or drink brought in. We knew this going in, and elected to not bring any as this trip is part of our vacation and we were okay with paying for food there. Big, big mistake. For starters, their menu is quite small; made only smaller by all the items they do not even have available and then the random substitutions for some of those items. Nothing is noted of course; just the staff informing you of the fact. What to do? Well, you better hope that you are there during their “open hours” for that meal because you cannot simply order food. You must wait until that time period. Huh? You can fill in at their convenience store with snacks and such for ridiculous prices of course. Luckily for us, one of our party was late so we asked them to bring food (pretty decent LTE/5g Smart coverage).

When you go to checkout they will inform you that they watched you consume outside food on their cameras and demand their corkage fee. Even though they have almost nothing to serve you and won't even serve that anyways if you aren't there at the right time. They even go so far as to withhold your checkout and will not allow you access to the road going out. Great, so now you are a hostage of the place. Another 30 minutes of arguing with them and it is past the checkout time of 4 pm so they just decide to run us out more or less since we would not cave to their demands.

If you are still reading at this point, it should be noted that cameras are all over, including inside, yes inside the cottage that you rent and are supposed to sleep in. I cannot make this up. There are many positives about this place, but these are the reasons why you should look elsewhere to avoid this hot mess.

There is more to this story, but of course character limits apply, so...

if I were going to rate playa la caleta for its beach alone I would rate it with 4.5 stars because of the ff reasons -crystal clear water -can spot fishes anywhere even in the shallow area -their beach is perfect for swimming and safe for kids, it is not maalon, not too deep but not too shallow unlike the beaches in laiya or calatagan -swimming area is sandy and not mabato so swimming is much more enjoyable -perfect for kayaking and paddle boarding because as mentioned their beach is not maalon -we tried paddle boarding for the first time and it is so easy to stand and balance on the board as the water is so calm and they have a very good quality life vest

but since we need to rate a beach resort as a whole, my rate is only 1star kasi they really have a super poor service, poor service + super pricey= 1star

-no coordination among employees, their office peeps in ortigas who will accommodate your booking has no idea pretty much about the scope of the services the PLC gives to its customers, for example we ask about the boodle fight bec we want to avail it and it says in their website that it has to be booked in advance but the two people who answered our query about it told us that they don't know the rate for the boodle fight and that we can only book it once we are in the resort, ending we didn't get to experience it bec we didn't book it in advance daw kasabay ng reservation. -shower rooms do not have maayos na door, they only use shower curtains, hello its super windy in the beach malamang madalas hanginin yung shower curtains, super hassle -food in their resto is very pricey and only has small portion, well understandable because location is really far and we saw how hard the stores in the port area get their supplies -their special service van was always late, and there's no waiting area in the port, we were standing for 30mins sa kung san san lang dun -bawat kibot may bayad and super priceeeeey.. -they advised that we could walk to the Miguelito island when its lowtide, but when we went there we didn't even know how we could be able to reach the part of the island where the natural pool is bacause there's no signage man lang to help as a guide, for us to know if its safe na lusungin yun tubig para makatawid sa kabilang side, wasted so much time going there by foot because we didn't see what we wanted to see, the natural pool -the bangkeros- naninigaw sila and aside from that super disappointed na sa rate nilang 900, which is really pricey na nga for a one way 10-15min ride only, they have the audacity na hindi magbaon ng panukli sa amount na 1k after all 100 lang naman need nilang ipangsukli, pero no, and it looks like na they were expecting a "keep the change" na lang

TIPS: -if you are going to commute and you have many things with you, its best and sulit to avail their special van service from the terminal going to the port because it is really far instead of riding passenger jeep and trike -if you want to try their boodle fight it should be booked in advance -its hard to reach the natural pool in the miguelito island by foot even if its lowtide because there are still part of the trail where you need to swim sa gilid gilid and do a little bit of rock climbing, unless you are really adventurous best to avail the boat service 150 per head -bring water and foodies -overcrowded camping site, well we went there ng holy week, so if you want more peaceful vacay, dont choose peak season as they do not limit their tent accommodation but there are reviewa na pag di peak season some of their amenities are not available like their resto -dont forget to bring water resistant gadget for taking pics and vids, place is really beautiful -dont expect much about the sand -try their water sport activities, kayak or paddle boarding, this is one of the best resorts to try such water sports for first timers as they really have a calm water -if you want to go to their nearby giant clam reserve, which is just really near but is 14 feet deep, have a sidetrip in there when you avail the kayak,...

General review, trying to include i formation valuable for the visitors and for the management as well:

From the main route you will need to take a small route made by cement/concrete, so an SUV, a crossover or a 4x4 is recommended. I went with a crossover (not 4x4) and I didn’t have any problem (either going down or up). Near to the tents there is plenty of space for parking. If you believe the route is neither for you nor for the type of car you have, you still can visit the place. Just beside the main route they have a parking space and they have a van service that will bring you to playa la caleta (PLC), so you can park, transfer all your things from your car to the van and enjoy the ride to PLC.

The place has several family tents that I will recommend as the best option for a family trip. There are other options available, so you can check in their web page. The people is very kind, and they will make sure you feel comfortable. In our experience the aircons were not as cool as we want but with the combination of the fan, it was ok. I have been in other glamping tents and this one is quite big, so if your family is big, these tents might be good for you (max of 8 pax I believe). In glamping I prefer comfort over size, and there are opportunities of improvements in PLC tents.

The place has several things to do like a playground for kids, a small zoo, a trekking to the waterfall and of course the beach and the natural pools.

Note about the pools: pools are “natural” meaning to say they are fed by the river, so expect the water no to be crystal clear, instead assume you are in a river but in a comfortable pool form. These pools are under maintenance at the moment of this review (july 2023) and only one is active. Be in contact with this place to know more about the updates about the pools.

Note about the beach: Expect the beach to be a combination between sand and rock. While the sand is present, a very important number of rocks are also present, so bring your hawaiana or even beach shoes. Even knowing is not management fault, the presence of plastic is noticeable. Our family filled up 3 bags of garbage (mainly plastic) in just 2 days. If you are like us, bring your trash bags and help the place and the beach to be better… more than leave no trace mindset, in this case is clean the trace others left.

Note about the restaurant: the menu is available so you can ask for it and you will see what are your options. If you are pinoy I believe you will find several options for you. If you are not pinoy and you are looking for international options in the menu, they are limited. Be in contact with the place if you are following an specific diet. I will also recommend you to mention to management your desirable options from the menu before your trip, so they will have them available. In our visit some items were not available.

Hope this review help you to be prepared in advance for your vacations...