The best places in the world would require you to ride a boat in sickening hours, drive until your butt hurts or fly until you no longer feel your legs. 

That’s exactly how I felt last week when we visited Bolinao to check out the new resort club – Birdland Beach Club. A 7-hour drive from Manila to Bolinao (less the boat and plane ride – but still it is still 7 hours or maybe 5 hours if Waze have already located the spot), Birdland Beach Club is just right there at the edge of the map. 

Situated perfectly kissing the sun rays and West Philippines Sea is the Birdland Beach Club. I could not complain about the 7-hour drive because the view is just so worth it.

The Bolinao #SeaUrchin Crew: #isitreally?
MJ, Rodel, Edward, Rodel and Ruth 

First off, we were greeted with the resident dogs who wiggled their tails as if they were happy to see us. We walked down the pathway surrounded with corals and bird houses. I spotted the cozy cottages made of Cogon, there’s a two-storey resort house and bungalow-type houses around, and some nice spots for taking your #ootd, having a plain conversation with friends or just a good space to chill and relax (and forget about the stresses of the city). The best part about Birdland Beach Club, the rocky access to the West Philippine Sea where we can take a dip and float away our worries.

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The couple, Michael and Joanan Ledesma soon welcomed us. I always love meeting owners of businesses because they are always much warmer and welcoming – and their stories are ones for the books (or for the blogs :)). 

Over dinner (of traditional Filipino food of fish and sea food), they shared how they started building the paradise that is Birdland Beach Club. They are building it little by little by adding new facilities, rooms and buildings each year. I am excited about the pool which they are planning to add in the coming year. The surprising fact about Birdland Bolinao is that the couple didn’t really planned out the landscaping of the resort, but everything seems to work. I love the cottages with hammocks and the public restroom. 🙂

.. and it is true, you catch can one of the best sunsets in Bolinao.

Birdland Beach Club Bolinao is also promoting eco-culture by planning to host jazz festival annually. They started with Birdland Jazz and Blues Festival in which they invited jazz musicians from Manila to perform in an intimate gathering. More like your favorite Malasimbo. I am crossing my fingers (and toes and eyeballs) to attend the next one. 

Photo by @ednything

Joanna prepared the two-storey building for us but we decided to stay in just one room at the second floor where we have access to veranda and the beautiful sight of the sun and the sea. They are so accommodating with our requests 🙂 

There’s comfortable bed (with interesting head board), a family ref (mind you, not just mini bar), a huge LED TV with cable, hot and cold shower (with shampoo, conditioner and Lysol Hand Wash — it does matter to me!). The room costs around Php 5,000 to Php 6,000 which is good for 4 to 5 pax.

The morning after, I woke up to the freezing temperature of the room and the sun rays kissing the walls of our rooms as if they were telling us to rise and shine. It felt like waking up from a honeymoon because the place is so private, the view is fantastic and the atmosphere is so romantic… 

except that, I woke up with 4 other guys in the room 🙂

Joanna served us with the “usual” breakfast from Birdland Bolinao. There’s suman with mangoes, longganisa, salted egg and tomatoes, tortang talong.  If you will be staying at Birdland Beach Club, Bolinao, this is the kind of breakfast that will greet you in the morning. 

I know Joana had a great time observing us how we enjoyed the food in Birdland. She is a cook and specializes in Filipino, Thai and Western dishes. She knows her food and she can cook special dishes to her guests (by request). It is one of the things I love about Birdland Bolinao. It is as if we just visited a relative’s resort house.

There are also a lot to do and explore in Bolinao. We just didn’t have the luxury of time to explore. But we did check out the River Cruise Lunch. En route, we took this fun tricycle. We felt like superstars on this ride. People were curious and taking photos of it. Too cute!

We made the most of our time by taking a dip in the sea. If you are looking for a resort with nice white powdery sand, this is not the place to go (you should visit Bohol). But Birdland has its own charm that gives you a different sea experience. 

You can ride a balsa or Banana Boat to sail to the floating cottage where you and your friends can enjoy the beautiful sea (and maybe take some awesome travel photos). Funny how we all went gaga on how we could bring our phones for photos when Edward was actually carrying a Go Pro 🙂

still waiting for more photos 🙂 

I had a little adventure and (almost) encounter with sea urchin. This kind of adventure makes travel a lot more memorable especially when you are with a group who just know how to have fun (and take good photos). Thank you sea urchins!

If you are visiting Birdland Bolinao, I would suggest that you bring lots of sunscreen and aqua shoes for walking down the coral pathway. And a nice flow-y dress for that dramatic photo opp 🙂

How to Get to Birdland Beach Club, Bolinao via Commute?

From Manila, take the Bus going to Pangasinan. We took the Five Star Bus going back to Manila which has a terminal in Cubao. Once you get to the terminal in Pangasinan, you can take a tricycle to Birdland Bolinao. 

Fare is Php 450 for air-conditioned bus with 2 bus stops. Round trip would cost you around Php 900.

Travel Time is approximately 5 hours. 

Thank you so much Birdland Beach Club for the sweet weekend escape!