Where to stay in Laiya, Batangas: Sabangan Beach Resort

After biking through coastal areas and up steep mountain roads, it’s always great to just head back to a comfy base to have beer by the beach, enjoy meals, and chill out without having to drive back far to the city the same day.

Lately, we’ve been combining our bike trips with staycations, so we can do something new when we revisit places we’ve previously been to. While we no longer have the time to go on multi-day bikepacking trips because of work, leisurely bike rides where we can enjoy quick overnight or weekend stays in a resort afterwards are something we can look forward to.

One weekend this May 2022, to celebrate our wedding anniversary, we went for a scenic bike ride from Laiya to Malabrigo Lighthouse and back, passing by the venue where we had our beach wedding 12 years ago.

To maximize the bike trip, we stayed in Sabangan Beach Resort, a bike-friendly and pet-friendly beachfront resort, and caught up with high school friends for a mini-reunion and food trip after.

Table of Contents

Location

The area of Laiya in San Juan, Batangas offers a variety of accommodations ranging from budget guest rooms and camping spots to high-end beachfront resorts. It’s one of the top beach destinations for families those traveling by land from Metro Manila because of its relative proximity.

Sabangan Beach Resort is located along the main road in Laiya, San Juan, Batangas.

Getting here is about a 4 to 5 hour drive from Quezon City depending what route you take. Because of its location and distance from the main highway, it’s more convenient to get here by private transport.

Ambiance

Sabangan Beach Resort is one of the more established resorts in the Laiya area. The resort is well designed with a native feel set amid lush surroundings with private villas. The beachfront offers views of Mt. Daguldol in Mindoro. The 6,000 square meter resort offers guests a sanctuary enveloped in nature and rich in the comforts of home.

The main appeal of the resort is having all the creature comforts with easy access to the beach. You can enjoy the great outdoors, swim, walk along to the far end of the beach. go boating, and enjoy activities like banana boating, kayaking and more, but still have a cozy hotel-style room at night, decent bathroom, and all the meals prepared for you during your stay.

Yay, may kuha kami ng pic na swimming. Thanks for the photo, Liza!

For those with vehicles, the resort has a 24/7 secure car parking area. I found the resort to be bike-friendly, as we could easily bring our bikes from the parking area to the villas, which had spacious patios where we could park them even without locking them up when we went to the beach. We were also able to hose off bikes right outside the villa in the footwash area before leaving.

For those who want to go on vacation with their pets, Sabangan Beach Resort is also pet-friendly. There were several very friendly and healthy-looking resort cats on the premises who joined us for dinner and hung around our villa. We also spotted other guests who brought their pet dogs.

Sabangan is the very first resort in Laiya to welcome furbabies. Guests are allowed to bring a maximum of up to 3 small to medium breed dogs, who must be secure at all times. Dogs can swim in the beach and enjoy playing on the sand.

Guests bringing pets must adhere to additional guidelines:

Use designated areas for pets to do their business and pick up after them
Feed the pets only in the outdoor areas of their room/suite
Pets may swim at the beach but not in the pool
Ensure that pets are trained to be in public, with good behavior when exposed to other guests

Accommodations

For families who want a comfortable beach stay, the resort offers private and fully air conditioned villas and private bungalows with spacious patios. The resort options range from:

Bamboo: 2 pax (Bamboo kubo, queen bed)
Dao: 2 pax (Superior room, queen bed)
Guijo: 4 pax (Superior room, 2 full beds)
Narra: 4 pax (One bedroom bungalow)
Yakal: 6 pax (Two bedroom bungalow)
Molave: 8 pax (Two bedroom bungalow)
Acacia: 12 pax (Two bedroom loft)

Each unit is fully equipped with a private toilet and bath, hot and cold shower, coffee and tea making facilities, cable TV, Wi-Fi access, and a personal refrigerator. Rates are also inclusive of breakfast, afternoon snack and dinner.

We stayed in the Narra B Bungalow, which had two double beds (which could actually fit a 4 people), a clean and modern bathroom, TV, mini-bar.

The spacious patio had a cozy seating area and sink for hanging out and for keeping bike and beach stuff in so the room doesn’t get sandy. It was relaxing to just hang out there in the patio with view of courtyard.

Friends were booked at the Yakal 2-bedroom bungalow, which had a spacious patio and great location right in front of the beach.

Amenities

Sabangan Beach Resort provides 24/7 security on the beach and CCTV coverage throughout the resort.

For families traveling with with kids, Sabangan Resort has a small swimming pool in a secluded area semi-shaded by trees for those who don’t want to get too sunburnt on the beach. There’s an area where water is shallow for little kids and a 4-foot pool for adults. Pool use is only until 10:00 pm.

The resort also has a small kids playground area on the premises. Guests can also borrow a volleyball for beach volleyball activities with a minimum deposit. Water sports and boating trips can be arranged for groups.

For those who want to get a massage, the resort supports locally trained therapists and can arrange for massage in rooms by schedule or appointment (P400/hour).

Dining Options

Accommodations in Sabangan Beach Resort include meals timed for check in and check out. This includes buffet breakfast, merienda, and dinner for all occupants, so there’s no need to go out of the resort or worry about where to eat.

The buffet is now serviced (not self-serve) with meals served at the Pavilion. During our stay, there are 3 to 4 viands to choose from plus dessert or fresh fruits at every meal. Guests can also get free flowing coffee and refill water bottles and flasks from dispensers at the Pavilion.

We got to the resort past 6pm because of the long drive from Manila and bad weather, but the staff had set aside our merienda of lomi and turon, which was much appreciated. Dinner on our first night included laing, liempo, chicken, sinigang, etc. The next day, there was pinakbet, inihaw na manok, halaan soup and more. There was a good variety of dishes to choose from.

The resort also has a convenience store that sells snacks, beer (P100/bottle for San Miguel Pale Pilsen) and beach essentials.

Lunch is not served at the resort, but guests can order ala carte from the Pavilion or walk/drive to nearby establishments to sample the local cuisine.

Friends and I ate at Sinsay Shalom Food House, which was a quick drive from the resort. The local eatery specializes in Batangas lomi, bulalo, sisig, crispy pata, silog meals and more.

Another dining option recommended by the resort owner is Basilio’s Brick Oven Pizza, the first brick oven pizza parlor in San Juan, Batangas. It’s not along the beachfront, but it’s located in San Juan along the main road heading back to Lipa, Batangas, so it’s a possible stopover on your way to the resort or after you check out before driving back to Manila.

Connectivity

The signal for both Globe and Smart was a bit weak in the area. While the resort has WiFi, it only worked in the lobby and not in the rooms. It worked well on our first day, but the signal was very intermittent the day we left when we had to catch up on some work emails and deadlines, which led us to drive out to town a bit with laptops in town just to search for a signal.

Because of connectivity issues, the resort’s credit card and GCash payment options went down during our stay and they could only process cash payments. Thankfully there was an ATM right outside the hotel to withdraw cash. Guests planning to stay here might want to bring enough cash on hand.

For those who are just after relaxation and the beach, and don’t plan to work during their stay (I suggest you don’t), you can still enjoy the cozy rooms, beach, meals and private feel of the resort.

Check out the video below to get a better idea of what the whole resort and other rooms look like. Book rooms here.

Address and contact information

Sabangan Beach Resort is located at M97G+VJJ, Laiya, San Juan, Batangas, Philippines. For latest rates and promos, check out their website or book here.