La Playa, Paniman Beach

I stayed just overnight at this place on the 3rd night last time I was in Caramoan for a 5 day 4 nights visit. How it happened let’s not anymore retrieve my past, okay?! He hehe he he! Anyway, I just wanted to see how the place is and I thought this afternoon with nothing to do was my only chance. It’s a bit of distance from centro but not really that far. Just far hehe. Probably a little less than 10 kilometers but definitely more than 5. There are tricycles that regularly ply the route esp during school days since high school students from this barangay go to centro everyday for school. But the trikes that can load up to 20 or more are slower compared to “single” motorbike rides. That’s the reason I went there on a habal-habal. Shhh again, don’t tell the municipal tourism officer hehehe!

La Playa Camp & Picnic Grounds. That’s the official name of the place. But they do have accommodations that range from the normal luxuries of resorts to little huts with outside common toilets and even a wide expanse of grassy sand for those pitching tents. Nice unique place! And you can rent tents too, so there’s no need to lug your own along. The beautiful thing about this place is there is ample space… no no, make that a very wide space in the compound you can even do your team building there (I guess) and all are at beach front. As in just a few steps away from the water. There is a path that branches left from main dirt road but you can approach the resort via the sandy beach which I did. Funny part is you need to walk a few meters to the facility itself since the road stops short at the row of houses and little stores, and since it is sand everywhere, motorbikes can’t easily or safely negotiate getting any nearer hehe. Its just a few meters anyway.


The beach area, though not white sand (its more of brownish grayish) always has a very fantastic view out into the waters of the pacific. Don’t miss it very early in the morning for that big orange plate rising from the horizon called the sun! And it is also picturesque late afternoons, especially if you look to the right where the big rocks and ridges are. That is actually the only “partition” that separates this place from the famed Gota Beach. If you’re lucky, you could see those choppers (yep, helicopters) coming and going, so that your ‘imaginative juices’ will start working at trying to guess ‘who could be that passenger now?’ and so on hehe! Let’s stop that topic here and now, lest I start telling why on earth I stayed only overnight in La Playa sometime ago when I was at Gota for a 5D4N. See? Am so talkative am starting to reveal things. So let me stop myself here and now!

I love La Playa’s “Club House”. No its not a la yacht club nor golfers’ club house. Its just a simple hut made of native materials but cozy to the details inside. Like? There is a flooring, not just the ground! And that is made of bamboo just like the chairs! Tables are also made of bamboo but uniquely covered with plate glass after some decorative natural things from the beach are placed on the table-top. On the sides of this big hut, they take the form of lounge areas with sofa style chairs and coffe-tables, all also made of bamboo. Hey even the bar and counter is also made of bamboo but the ashtrays are shell! The walking paths around the facility are covered with crushed pebbles. Nice place, and the beer is always cold! Ah the beer? You can take your bottle out into the open where there are also benches and tables under the trees for a breezy 'drinking rest'! Plus Arnie and his wife (caretakers) are so friendly attentive you sometimes don’t need to tell them what you need and its suddenly there! Example? I left my beer bottle somewhere inside the clubhouse, but when I looked again, it was already beside me at those benches by the beach garden, together with an ash tray!

Wonderful place I even thought of staying for the night and just ask the habal-habal driver to get my things from Rex Inn. But I came to experience what I have not done so yet. So, since it was getting late, I reluctantly started back to my driver and return to centro!

But I still went somewhere else! Let’s do that in my next story!

For a chronology of this trip's stories, click these numbers:
01   02   03   04   05   06   07   08   09   10   11   12   13   14   15
16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30

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4 Comments

  1. ... when your vacation turns to an adventure, that makes a whole lot cooler. hehe! Thanks for vsiting CARAMOAN!

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  2. Cool! I love the fact that you can pitch your own tent! there arent many places in the philippines where you can actually go camping!

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  3. right! camping and nature...really cool! that's what we've learned and appreciate most in the other side of the globe.Good that we have it too...in Caramoan.

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