Last month, I went on a 10-day trip back to the Philippines and one of the places I went to was Camaya Coast in Bataan.
My friends arranged the trip and we decided that we wanted to go on a day tour initially, but ended up staying overnight at the resort. It was a 2-hour ferry ride from SM Mall of Asia Seaside Esplanade Terminal (check-in starts at 5:30 AM; departure is at 7 AM) and we arrived at the resort around 9. If you're doing a day tour, the ferry ride back to Manila is at 5 PM.
We went on a weekday and only paid 599 pesos (around 11 USD!) for each person and it already included the roundtrip ferry transfers as well as access to their pools, water park and activities. This rate was for the day tour. The rates vary when you stay overnight, go by bus, or go by your own car. Weekday and weekend rates also vary.
Since we decided to stay overnight when we arrived at the resort, we had to pay extra for our hotel and ferry transfer for the next day. There are cases when the ferry gets fully booked with day tours, so if you're thinking of staying overnight and not bringing your own car, I suggest that you book the overnight tour right from the start. Otherwise, you'll have to go back to Manila by bus the next day.
The activities are subject to availability but the resort wasn't crowded when we went and so we were able to do kayaking and biking with no problem at all.
I've never been to a lot of beaches, but I though that the resort vibe was very similar to Boracay except without the walking vendors, lots of people and loud music. I also only saw two foreigners. Maybe it's different on weekends, but when we went it was really quiet. The beach wasn't that clear but it wasn't rocky which I liked.
If you didn't know, it's been five years since I went back to the Philippines since moving to Japan and so the food was heaven for me everywhere at Camaya LOL. There's Pancake House, Potato Corner, Yellow Cab, Nacho King, etc.. I think they were renovating Max's Restaurant at the time but they still offered their menu when we ate at Pancake House. However, the food was pricier than usual.
The hotel we stayed at was Aqua Fun Hotel and the water park was right outside. The resort also has pools and slides which both kids and adults can enjoy. I personally thought that the water park is perfect for kids and so I really recommend this resort if you're going with family. The hotel, water park and some of the pools are also located on top of the hill. They do have free shuttle transfers and it doesn't even take five minutes to go up the hill so it's nothing to worry about.
They also have a bar near the beach and there's plenty of tables and chairs too, so we ended up hanging out by the beach eating nachos and drinking mocktails at sunset.
I would say that this trip was very worth it, especially for the price, and I would definitely go back again.
If you want to know more about the resort, you can check Camaya Coast's website by clicking here.
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