Tondol White Sand Beach / Treasures of Bolinao

[OnMyWay]

Week before last we drove from Subic to Tondol White Sand Beach in Pangasinan, for a 2 night beach outing.  My BIL and his family of 5 met our family of 5 there.  BIL had been there before and wanted to go back with the kids because it is a kid friendly beach.  You can walk out very far or walk on the sand spit very far.  You can even walk in shallow water to a nearby island, but we didn't do that with small kids.

The kids did love the beach and water, but daddy was not that impressed.  I have seen pictures that were very alluring, but up close it was not that good.  There was a lot of grass in the water and it was not that clear.  There were no fish except for minnows.  A bit of trash around but not enough to worry.

The beach "resorts" there are all low end, catering mostly to Filipinos from the area.  We stayed in the same resort my BIL stayed in last time, and I would not stay there again.  Really nice old lady running the place and it could be nice, but they have not spent a dime on maintenance.  My wife happened to pick (based on location) the worst room with a barely working tiny air con.  My BILs room was much nicer with a good air con.  The rooms had an asking price of p2500 and we got them for p2000.

Here are some pictures of Tondol beach.

 

 

There is absolutely nothing to do at Tondol except go to the beach in the morning and evening, so on day 2 we took a drive to Treasures of Bolinao Resort.  I had seen pictures and it looked really nice.  If you are going to this area of Pangasinan, don't bother with Tondol and go to this place.  It will, of course, cost more.  They let us in for lunch and the food was relatively expensive, but for p2200 (4 adults, 2 teenagers and 4 small kids) we had enough to take out for dinner, and that included a few beers.

They were promoting a paid discount card that seemed to be worth it if you would stay a few days.  p1200 for the card would get 30% off the room, so one night of discount on the cheapest rooms would pay for the card.  I'm not sure what else the card covered but if you go, ask about it.

It is a very nice location on a rocky point, with good snorkeling all around (I assume there are fish!).  The water was crystal clear and they have a small private white sand beach.  They also have two pools with one being an infinity pool overlooking the ocean.  The have a very unique "bridge" built up over the rocky point.  I didn't see the rooms but they look nice on the website.  The only bad thing we saw was that the public restrooms we used were in need of cleaning, but the rest of the place was spotless.

Here are some pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

[intrepid]

50 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

The kids did love the beach and water, but daddy was not that impressed.  I have seen pictures that were very alluring, but up close it was not that good.

Don, thanks for the beach report. Unfortunately many of the resorts we have been to over the years have left us with the same impression.  My daughter is a swimmer like me and loves the water.  However, because of huge tidal differences here there are fewer places with our type of deep water swimming beaches.  So now we usually try to find a resort with nice beach views and a good swimming pool.  From your pictures and description it certainly appears Tondol Beach would not make the cut.  However, Treasures Of Bolinal sure looks like a nice place to relax a day or two for us.  Hopefully we can make it there in the near future.
Thanks again. 

 

[JJReyes]

It is nice to learn about beach resort development that caters to the Philippine middle class market. Too often the publicity is about "prestige & luxury" projects designed for the elite. They charge international prices and as a result, have very few customers.

[Jack Peterson]

10 hours ago, JJReyes said:

It is nice to learn about beach resort development that caters to the Philippine middle class market.

 It would be nice to learn of these places for ALL, this is what is wrong with things here, CLASS distinction, many moved to get away from this sort of thing, this is to me, where the Discrimination of so many comes in 

[OnMyWay]

Why, why, why....., Delilah??

I'm back in Tondol.  I can't even follow my own advice!

My wife and BIL planned this and I didn't pay much attention.  Boracay of the North?  The kids like the shallow water beach and we don't have to worry about them.

Visitor in the house we rented.

 

[OnMyWay]

We took the coast route up through Zambales to Pangasinan.  On the way we noticed fewer and fewer motorcyclists wearing helmets.  In Anda where we are, there are no helmets.  None.

Tonight my BIL, his wife, son and my step daughter went for a walk on the beachfront road.  They came upon an accident.  Dead motorcyclist.  Head splattered.  Lots of crying people around, who apparently knew him.  Not a high speed road and apparently no other vehicles involved.

[Jollygoodfellow]

1 hour ago, OnMyWay said:

Tonight my BIL, his wife, son and my step daughter went for a walk on the beachfront road.  They came upon an accident.  Dead motorcyclist.  Head splattered.  Lots of crying people around, who apparently knew him.  Not a high speed road and apparently no other vehicles involved.

What? no photos. Cant have dead people splattered on the road without photos in between tears.

Helmets do save lives or prevent major injury in most cases but if people want to take the risk and the consequences I dont have much pity for them.

[Mike J]

7 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

We took the coast route up through Zambales to Pangasinan.  On the way we noticed fewer and fewer motorcyclists wearing helmets.  In Anda where we are, there are no helmets.  None.

Tonight my BIL, his wife, son and my step daughter went for a walk on the beachfront road.  They came upon an accident.  Dead motorcyclist.  Head splattered.  Lots of crying people around, who apparently knew him.  Not a high speed road and apparently no other vehicles involved.

A few months back (mid January) I posted about my bro-in-law who was in a motorcycle accident, was not wearing a helmet and suffered serious brain damage.  He came out of the coma after a couple weeks in Chong Hua hospital.  The hospital bill was about 1.5 million peso.  He is at home now and is basically a human vegetable, being fed thru a tube, and requires 24x7 nursing care.  A real tragedy and huge financial drain on the family.

[sanagimo]

6 hours ago, Mike J said:

A few months back (mid January) I posted about my bro-in-law who was in a motorcycle accident, was not wearing a helmet and suffered serious brain damage.  He came out of the coma after a couple weeks in Chong Hua hospital.  The hospital bill was about 1.5 million peso.  He is at home now and is basically a human vegetable, being fed thru a tube, and requires 24x7 nursing care.  A real tragedy and huge financial drain on the family.

Sorry to here that story. Makes a guy want to put 8 cylinders in front of you.