If you are looking to go the beach to surf or swim and the usual Elyu and Baler choices have already been exhausted and you just want to go somewhere else, try San Narciso, Zambales.

San Narciso, Zambales is just about a 3-hour drive away from Manila. Zambales, generally, has a lot of beautiful beaches, one of which is my favorite, Potipot. Some years ago, Anawangin and Nagsasa coves became popular among local adventure seekers as well.

Beautiful Serendipity

Last Saturday, my friend and I went on a road trip. We had both wanted to go to the beach and planned to drive to Subic to look for a place to stay overnight by the beach. Midway through the trip, since we were way too early, we decided to go to Iba, Zambales where she had been before. On the way there though, we saw the signage for Crystal Beach Resort in San Narciso. We both had been there before and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed the waves there the first time I went. We both squealed while we shared stories and then we knew, we were never going to Iba. We decided to just check out the resort to see if there were any rooms available. As this was a spur-of-the-moment trip, we didn’t have any reservations.

Needless to say, several other people also had the same plans as us and the resort didn’t have any rooms left. The only available accommodation they had was space to camp if we had our own tent, which we didn’t. There were places outside that rented tents at P300 though, but we didn’t feel like camping. The staff said, we could try another resort which was Prince JB. The resort shared the same beachfront as them and was just a block away.

So we went there and inquired about their rates and they had available rooms! We checked in, dropped our bags, and went out to look for food!

Foooood!

We walked over to Crystal Beach Resort to eat at their restaurant. There were a lot of choices but we settled for chopsuey, buttered fried chicken, pot roast beef, and dessert.

After lunch, we walked along the beach to take some pictures of the place. It was about noon, so there were very few people swimming. The place has improved a lot compared to how it was when we first went there.

Sunset-Watching

After a few hours of swimming and lounging in the sun, we capped the day by watching the sunset with beer and snacks.

We then ate a light dinner of isaw and pancit canton at a nearby carinderia before retiring for the night.

Definitely coming back

I think this could be a potential favorite. It is very accessible to Manila and it has waves!!! For the most part of 2017, I had been obsessed with La Union because I really like swimming in wavy beaches (PS, I don’t surf though, and I don’t really swim. I just like playing with the waves, and enjoy the occasional wipeouts. Teehee). It’s good to know that I have another option. Although next time, I’d probably reserve rooms at Crystal Beach in advance. As much as I liked the people who assisted us at Prince JB, the place isn’t really recommended if you want to have a quiet time at night. We barely had rest because the room in front of ours was singing videoke the whole night.