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I Google searched for a place to spend a long weekend at Bolinao. Punta Riviera caught my attention with its professionally made website and pretty good photos. The rates sheet on the website was a bit confusing, though, but I was determined to book a room and made sure to secure my reservation via bank deposit.

After an adventurous bus ride, we reached the resort and I was pleased with what I saw. I can tell that the resort is rather new (found out later: it opened to the public in 2005), had a well manicured lawn and very pleasant staff. The room was elegant with a queensize bed, a satellite TV and DVD player (I never figured out how to work the TV, though – I don’t mind because I don’t watch much TV), and a shower that looked like one from a Jimmy Neutron or Jetson’s episode. There are some family rooms and dorm-type rooms too.

The resort has a bar and restaurant. There’s a nice 2-level pergola for a nice dinner by candlelight ;-). Here’s a tip: to avoid inconvenience, order your meals well in advance and tell the staff what time you want your meal to be served.

The infinity pool is pretty, host for a pleasant dip for kids and adults alike. At an angle, the pool looks as if it extends all the way to the sea and the horizon. The resort is right smack at the point where a river (Ilog Malino) meets the sea.

When you venture right outside the resort, you’ll find a nice white-sand beach. The resort has a couple of kayaks for anybody wanting to take a rowing adventure upstream Ilog Malino.

Within 20 minutes from the Resort are some Bolinao tourist spots like underground caves (bring your bathing suits for a nice swim in the natural pool inside the cave), the Cape Bolinao Light house at Patar, and the Cape Bolinao Beach which some have started to refer to as the “Boracay of the North”. Back in the town center, it’s just a few kilometers to reach the UP Marine Science Institute where you’ll see some giant clams!

When in Bolinao, Punta Riviera is a great place to relax and unwind. Look for manager Gener and proprietor Ian Smith, do mention that you found their place via ka edong’s article on PinoyTravelBlog .

ka edong

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This entry was posted on Sunday, December 16th, 2007 at 11:44 pm and is filed under Pangasinan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.