Pico Sands Hotel — Hotel in Nasugbu

We’re family travel vloggers from California visiting Batangas, Philippines for the first time. For a more detailed review with videos visit my IG account and YT channel @momduty.

We had the warmest welcome from the team! That always says a lot about a hotel when you have a smiling security like Sambo opening the door and greeting you plus also a happy front desk rep like Suzy:)

Our Premier Lagoon View room was ready when we arrived so that was a huge plus! Thank you Nick and Julius for escorting us to our room and getting us all settled in. The room has two queen sized beds perfect for a family of four. It has one modern bathroom with shower, towels and premium toiletries. My fav part about the room is the Lagoon View from the 6th floor. Absolutely stunning! Love that they got rid of the single use plastic water bottles and now use glass vessels to refill by using the filtered water dispensers on every guest floor.

We had lunch at Pico, the Italian restaurant. Pearl took great care of us, explaining every dish that was brought to us. The fried rice mozzarella balls were our family’s favorite dish. Wow! I highly recommend you try when visiting. You’ll love the texture and cheesy flavor!

We had a wonderful opportunity to go on a sunset cruise. It was the highlight of our trip! I can’t even begin to describe the luxury activity. You take a speedboat for a few minutes to a larger yacht. The water is super calm so you don’t have to worry about getting motion sick. They bring you cheese, meats, nuts , juice and wine and you get to enjoy the sunset while being in the middle of the most beautiful blue water. It’s absolutely magical and worth every penny!!

We ended the night having dinner in a globe! I also suggest you add this to your trip. It’s a very special and intimate experience that can be done with your partner or entire family. Thank you Erickson for the incredible service and for making this dinner extra special for us. You’re amazing!

Another great spot is breakfast at the Coral Cafe which is for members only. The view of the cove, water and mountains is absolutely stunning!!! Than you Laurence & Nicols for taking great care of us!

But if you have the breakfast buffet at the hotel, you’ll really enjoy it too. The variety is great! The fresh fruit is my absolute favorite but my kids enjoyed the egg and waffle station. Super yummy! Thank you Jhun for the friendly welcome to breakfast every morning!

We also had an intimate dinner as a family by the garden steps. We were the only table set up. Wow! It’s so magical to be surrounded by fairy lights looking out at the lagoon. This is great for special celebrations like birthdays or anniversaries. Chloe, our waitress was so sweet and attentive the entire time! You’re amazing! Thank you for your service!

The also have a ton of active things to do on the property such as playing: basketball (huge basketball court), pickleball (huge pickleball court), tennis ball (huge tennis court), and a game room. It’s a kid’s paradise for sure! Us parents also had a lot of fun:)

They even have a bowling alley on the property! Unbelievable! Just so fun! Plus they have unlimited complimentary filtered water for you.

BEST PART of our trip: The private beach trip to Satelmo Beach that has white sand and turquoise blue water. We stayed there for 4 hours and our family had the best time!!! It came with a boodle fight meal that included chicken, fish, shrimp and pork with rice fruit and cucumber juice. SO GOOD! If your kids live tide pools, make sure to do this activity and bring beach toys!

UNIQUE PART of this hotel: The Mangrove Tour is awesome!!! It’s a very authentic experience in the Philippines because it the largest mangrove in Nasugbu, Batangas. It’s absolutely breathtaking!!! Thank you Arthur, Sonny, Erwin and Jojo for the informative tour!

This trip wouldn’t be possible without great staff like Joseph & Janine. Thank you for making our...

Location - very secluded area but near m.manila; with a challenging zigzag and u-curve roads along the way. Very beautiful views as you get nearer to the resort. Ambiance - this place is very peaceful and serene. Perfect for that escape from the city. Very close to nature with all the trees around with birds chirping. Im just not sure if this place is crowded during weekends since our stay is sunday-monday. Entire place is very clean and well maintained Staff - very polite, accommodating, and helpful regardless if you are paying the regular or promo rate. Room - very spacious and clean. With free fast wifi but dont connect when you are in their veranda. We requested for additional towels with no extra charge since the beach and bathroom towels were just good for 2 but we booked for 4 guest. They even added additional toiletries together with the towels, great job on that extra mile! Though we experienced electricity interruption in our room only. But it was fine because their electrician arrived fast upon reporting to the reception and electricity was reconnected in a few minutes. Amenities - so sad that the amenities closes early at 10pm. We were not able to explore the sports amenities. Their pool though is spacious and very clean with great lagoon view perfect for that IG photos. The beach is okay, peaceful because of few guests; perfect for sunset watching. The sand isnt white but light brown and is not very firm like that of boracay and other unspoiled beaches but is fine. The beach water isnt very clear and have jelly fishes at a distance. Restaurant - we ate dinner at the restaurant at the ground floor of the hotel. It was extremely expensive and overpriced!! The pizza was 10" per their staff but looks smaller when served. Their cheapest is their rice toppings solo meal thats 300+ per meal. Its 1 rice with 1 meat-just enough to soothe your tummy. Their buffet breakfast has very limited choices of food. We dont know if its because weekday or because guests at that time were only few. Infareness with their bacon-its very crispy perfect. Dont eat their banana bread its bland and has an after taste with overdosed of baking powder i think. Price - this resort is very very expensive. Maybe because many of their guests here are foreigners. But if its the peace, nature, and great viee you are looking for, this is the perfect place. I just hope their stay hours is longer because check out...

First the positive feedback :-) The resort looks nice and the staff is nice, the room was as expected so no problems there, also the pools and the beach was great.

But i have some negative input to. After your uncomfortable trycicle ride of 30 minutes to the resort(Im a big guy). Before you enter the resort grounds you need to pay the resort 1200 peso for each person extra, so i needed to pay 2400 peso to the desk or we can not enter the grounds so enjoy our fully paid apartment. ( the lady at the desk called it a deposit so we thought we could get it back after the stay..but not) So after you pay 2400 peso, you think you can put your wallet away....when the shuttle bus arives for your transfer to the apartment you NEED to pay and extra 200 peso for the driver....sigh. Every time you want to get of the resort you need to pay 200 peso for a one way trip. So after paying 2600 peso extra you can finaly go.

Dont think your alowed to enjoy the full resort, there is a big off limit section at the beach you can nkt enter and enjoy, bec that is for members only...so forget about getting a drink at the beach, there a many umbrella but they cant be used bec of the wind, there are a few shadow booths you can use but there are only 4, so good luck getting them, if you dont want to burn to death dont go to the beach there is no hiding from the sun.

Also there are not much activities u can use for free, if you dont like to trow a frisbee you are done...unless you get your wallet again and pay for bowling, darts, pool, videogames...almost all the activities are paid activities.

The store at the resort is a Joke, there is not much for sale...and what u can buy is 3x more expensive then normal(dont think u can bing your own food and drink...its not allowed)

Also dot forget to bring your credit card, bec at alot of shops and at the restaurant they dont accept cash.. :-(

When our stay was over u need to go to the lobby and ask for a 200 peso transfer again for of the resort....we had to wait 30 minutes go get to speak to the front desk lady bec she was busy talking to a woman who is setting up a deal to buy a apartment for some people.

The overall looks of the resort are OK, you can see the wear and tear on the buildings and pool.

In short: the resort is nice...butnif u want to fully enjoy it...bring a big wallet with a...