Me and my family took an overnight staycation in the mountainside of Tagaytay City, its our 1st time to hear about Cross Winds Resort Suites in Tagaytay, so me and my wife decided to try to stay there for an overnight and we haven't been to other side of Tagaytay. The location of Cross Winds Resort Suite is right after the Picnic Grove site and just 5 min going up to the mountainside having a right view of the Taal Volcano. I didn't kow that there's an up hill on the left side of Tagaytay-Calamba road, which is exciting because higher altitude means cold breeze in the morning and at night.
We researched more about Cross Winds Resort Suite, checking out photos online tru their official website and some blogs. We learned lots of things about this hotel resort, and we went there fully prepared and expected according to the reviews of people who stayed there before. For us, good or bad review, are still good, because we can avoid the bad experience from others and stay there with no problems and hassle. Thanks to the 1st one to stay there, now we understand that there's no restaurant in the afternoon and night time, you have to bring your own food - packed meals or you can cook it in your studio room, they have kitchen wares available for guest. But there's a convenience store near the hotel, you can buy your food there - the instant meals or the canned goods. Or if you have your own vehicle service, you can just drive and go the nearest restaurant or fast food along the Tagaytay road.
So we packed our meals and snacks for the day and went there fully prepared, we brought also our own plates, and also drinking water. Its summer time, so we also brought our swimming gear, its the best time to enjoy the pool during the morning sunshine, but take note around October-December is the coldest month in Tagaytay, swimming in the morning is like dipping inside an ice cold water from the refrigerator, so swim at your own risk hahahah.
We rented the Twin bed studio room, from Cross Wind's website it is priced at PHP 6,000, but in Expedia.com its just PHP 3000+ , in Agoda price is PHP 3,600+, but in a dealsite like in Deal Grocer its only PHP 2,995 per stay or overnight with free breakfast for two and plus free use of their swimming pool and car service.
Cross Winds Resort Suite can be easily spotted after 5 mins of travel coming from Picnic Grove, looking at the left side, you'll see their colorful diorama of an Alpine village and also the signage.
The Alpine Village is still on construction, it will be the next most visited site and attraction in the future, because people can go inside the Alpine Village and enjoy the Swiss-inspired cafe, restaurants and retail store, you can enjoy the mountainside community and also side trip to Swiss-style luxury. Above photo is just a mock up, but the Alpine Village will be located down hill inside Cross Winds.
The most interesting info here is that the whole area are full of pine tress. Its a total of 20,000 pine tress, planted manually by the developer - Brittany Corporation, all pine trees are imported from Australia, all pine trees grew up here starting as seedlings and young trees age 2-3 years old.
The hotel management of Cross Winds is managed and handled by Hospitality International, Inc, (HII).
We have our vehicle service when we went here in Cross Winds, the funng thing is that after the guard check our booking, they let us in and told us that we are scheduled to check in at 2pm. We arrived there at around 11am, we told the guard that we will just check out the whole area first. They let us in and then we got lost around the hills of Cross Winds, then the cafe guy at the Christmas Store informed us that we should follow the white paint line on the road, because that leads to the Grand Quartier bldg area, were the hotels and condo rooms are located. While we are lost, we spotted the play ground area and also the swimming pool, our son Ashton got excited when he learned about the play area and pool. It was hot that day for the month of April 2013, but the heat of the sun and cold breeze of the mountain are in battle try to break who will dominate the weather. The heat is bearable unlike the hot temperature in Cavite or Manila.
The roads goes down hill and up hill, remember that you are in a mountain range, so expect steep roads going up and then down. Experienced drivers know how to climb up, just be careful and not drive fast when you are going down hill.
We arrived at Grand Quartier 2, they have 25 room suites for hotel guest, other suites are for unit owners, they live there so expect a quiet and also activity of a local community. Each unit is priced at PHP 4.6 million.
Grand Quartier 3 is in construction and it will be completed on 2014, more amenities will be included after its construction, they will add a spa house and gym for unit owners and also hotel guest. The hotel room suites belongs to the unit owners, they are in program that they can have 30 day stay in a year and then they can allow their room suites to accommodate hotel guest and get a profit sharing scheme with the hotel. I heard they will add more rooms, because as of now they have 150 rooms and 25 of it are for hotel only.
Here's the front door of the Grand Quartier 2 - my wife entered first because she will request for an early check in at around 12nn. I'm glad that the front desk officer of the day allowed us to check in early. I also got a grant of having a late check out at 4pm for the other day, yeahhh!!!
Here's the front desk, don't expect for a nice lobby or a hotel lounge for guest, The Grand Quartier is a building type in Swiss style, so its not usually a 5 star hotel. Its like a condo-hotel.
Here's a selfie photo in a big mirror at the lobby infront of the elevator, ohh check out the fire place at the back.
We unload our luggage infront of the Grand Quartier 2 and thanks to the hotel staff for carrying it and placing it a luggage cart. See that ?? its like a hotel di ba ?
Our room is located only at the 1st floor level, here's our room - H2
Its funny that we are at the 1st floor but when you look at the window, you'll realize that you are in a level of a 5th floor hahahaa. The Grand Quartier sits on top of a hill and the view from the window is the whole horizon and mountain field.
Here's the look inside room H2, its a twin bed studio room.
Its so nice and the bed is soft and comfy.
Here's the kitchenette area, complete with a refrigerator, microwave oven, electric stove, and dining wares.
There's also an extra chair located near the window. There's no dining table, so you need to use the dresser table or the office table. There's also a mini bar, contains instant noodles, chocolates and mini wines, we hide it from our son because there's yummy chocolates at the mini bar.
Here's my favorite area - the office table + mirror, and here's the refrigerator, I placed our food bought from Teriyaki Boy, water and macaroni salad.
They have free WIFI for hotel guest, just ask for the password access at the front desk, but the connection is not reliable, so I suggest that you bring your own Wifi or internet dongle. The wifi speed they offer is soooo fast!! yep! I downloaded some cool media while I stay there for two days.
They also provided 2 free bottled drinks and free instant coffee. The Samsung LCD TV is so small, but perfect for the room, also equipped with cable TV and DVD player.
Here's the bathroom and wash area. They have water heater for both, the heater of the wash area is located below the sink, the shower have its own,but the hotel uses centralized water heater, so if the heater is not working, you can call the front desk to turn the heater ON for your room.
Here's the toiler and the toilettress are also available - soap, shampoo, lotion, toothbrush, tootpaste, shower cap and cotton buds.
We settled down and did a relax hour inside our room, its cozy and nice perfect for the 3 of us - me, my wife Lace and baby Ashton. Also our companions enjoyed the room and viewed, they stayed with us for some hours and then they left us here in Cross Winds.
Here's the view from the balcony, this is view from the right. You'll see the mountain range, hills, Cross Winds houses, the constructing Alpine Village and cold wind.
Here's the view from the left of the balcony, you'll see more trees and residential areas below the hill and mountains. Geez...one house unit might cost around 7 million pesos. ( I think..) Watch out for my other blog post as we will feature one house standing in Cross Winds Resort Suites.
Our sister Liza enjoys the view.....malayo ang tingin... akala mo ay....
Family photo op, our day at Cross Winds Resort Suites just started, we are excited to experience a different hotel - without butlers, without nice city view, without food delivery and restaurants, its just us living in a mountainside inside the Quartier. Our son Ashton brought also his toys and dolls so that he can play something indoors and in outdoors, he's now a converted hotel fan.
For hotel guest, especially those who don't have a vehicle service, are entitled to use the hotel car service, that's free, you can ask the front desk to call the car service if ever you want to go around, or drive to the pool area. The pool and playground area are located at the other side of the hill. You can get the mobile number of the car service and just contact the driver if ever you want to be pick up and drive back to your hotel suites. The car service is always busy so make sure you get a reservation for your schedule. They have one car service for the entire hotel.
Here's the playground area located near the pool area
The Pool area for adults and kids. The adult pool is this big pool circle, pool height is around 5 feet, while the pool for kids is located at the right side, its just 3 feet, perfect for kids. There's a cabana for everyone located at the left, you can leave your things or have a picnic there. Rest rooms and showers are on the right side. There are no life guard present during times, so make sure you watch your own kid whenever they are playing in the pool. We went here on our 2nd day of stay, we dip in the pool after our breakfast and the weather is just perfect. Not too cold and not too hot.
We stroll around Cross Winds Resort Suite and here they have this Christmas Store set up, its a cafe with a long day decoration for Christmas.
While we're having a nice chillax at the Christmas Store, we got a nice treat of some muffins and cold beverages.
The place is nice...so we did some cool photo ops!
They also have this Santa House near the Finds convenience store, above the hill near the hotel. Its a play area for kids. But when we went there,the Santa House is closed :(
Here's my wife above the hill of Cross Winds. Check out the down hill road and the Swiss inspired homes and also lots of pine trees!
At the heli-pad area, its the top area of Cross Winds, here they held the recent Holy Week event - mass and station of the cross, the heli-pad area is also a venue for weddings and parties.
me and wife Lace did some Hadou-ken photo op fun shot! hahahhaha. Also my son loves to do some jump shots
There's lots of things you can do while you live here in Cross Winds Resort Suites, since there are no bars, disco, restaurants, malls or retail stores, the only thing they can offer to you is nature and cold breeze.
Here's what you can do:
1. Jogging in the morning going up hill and downhill
2. Practice mountain hiking, you can walk around and also try the mountain and hill terrains
3. Fun photo ops with the view
4. Picnic - there's a flat land every where, you can take your family there and place a picnic mat and eat your food while you enjoy the sun and cold breeze
5. Bird watching - there are lots of birds in different species roaming around the trees, just bring your zoom in lens for a nice photo capture.
6. Stargazing and star photography - you can do this at night , but make sure you have your tripod. There are some light pollution present, but you can still capture a nice star trails at night
7. Biking - just mountain biking, its a downhill drop or go way up the hill, bring your own bike and also helmet if you want to go mountain biking
8. Swim day in the pool area
9. Sleep
10. Work all day with your laptop - bec. they have fast internet, you can finish your work and continue to do more.
Or if you want to go out and have more adventure, I suggest you try the Sky Ranch amusement park. Or you can go horse back riding in Picnic Grove, or food trip in a bulalo house or dine in a nice resto, interact with animals at Residence Inn and try their zipline. There are lots of outdoor adventure in Tagaytay, you can go back at Cross Winds if ever you want to rest after each out door fun adventure.
On our 1st day, we ate our dinner inside the room, because its dark and light post are available on the road and outside the building, we didn't tried going out at night and we just bought our food in Finds convenience store before the sunset. Its a quick rice meal snack for a price of PHP 45. Its not good..not yummy... I suggest that you bring your own Rice or just cook your own rice at the hotel and bring your ulam, or just buy canned goods here at Finds.
At night its play time with my son Ashton, here he enjoys playing his block toys
We just relax and stay the room for the entire day on our 1st day hahahaha.
Taking a selfie photo
Siesta time...... on our 1st day...we got tired..because we went to the other side of Tagaytay before we went there in Cross Winds. You can see my son Ashton sleeping beside his stuff toy doll named Travis, and my wife on the other bed looks at me with an annoying look hhahahaha.
Sunset time!!! I'm glad that the sunset is located infront of the balcony, my son is amazed at the sunset and he told me that the sun turns orange and red and then everything from the sky turns black
During sunset, I got caught eating our baon snack...a yummy cold macaroni salad. My wife Lace made this a day before we went here in Cross Winds...yeah we are super prepared!
During sunset viewing....look at our happy faces!
we super enjoyed the view and our son is still in hyper mode.
At night we just eat and eat and eat and then watch cable tv. Sometimes we just play games on our tablet and smartphones. We just enjoy the luxury of a 4.6 million twin bed suites. I'm happy that the air conditioned is working perfectly fine. Cooling us to the max level.
Dusk time...the view of the Quartier after sun down...
Here's the Finds Village convenience store, it is open til 12 midnight
Here's what you can buy inside the convenience store
Just showing you what they sell so that you won't worry carry lots of items in your bag.
The night time is our star gazing night, we love the view from the balcony and we can see the so many stars at around 8pm .Also lots of airplanes passes by. Although there are still lots of light pollution coming from the other side of Tagaytay.
Here's my 2nd attempt in star photography... I was hoping to catch a good of a constellation of stars, but that works only if there are no light around the area.
Awesome view!!! my son loves it and his first time to see lots of stars at night
The next morning.....
We ate our breakfast here, located just infront of the building. We have a two FREE breakfast buffet coupons for hotel guests.
Its just a regular breakfast buffet meal - rice, eggs, tapa or chicken.
there's also coffee, tea and some cereals.
We're still amaze on the set up of Cross Winds, me and my wife are planning our next visit here and we just plan it right there when we stay in Cross Winds and haven't got the time to travel back to our home. We want to go back because of the nature tripping and awesome view. It feels like that we are located in a far away place, but the truth is that we live an hour away from home. Tagaytay City is just a common place for us who lives here in Cavite, but our concept was changed and it belongs to Cross Winds now, not just the Taal, but also the Swiss-inspired living and new community.
Cross Winds Resort Suite is not your 5 star hotel or mega resort, its like glam camping with a luxury twist, instead of living in camping tent, you'll live in a weather coated quadrilles that is built for cold and hot weather in the mountains.
Don't forget your back packs, food and money when you stay here, bec. if you don't have food or some playthings... or creative ideas on how to enjoy the outdoors....your stay will be boring.
Thanks for reading my feature and see you soon Cross Winds!
Thanks to Pia, Pam and Lhodie for assisting us here at Cross Winds.
read my 2nd day post here at http://azraelsmerryland.blogspot.com/2013/04/2nd-day-stay-at-cross-winds-resort.html
CROSSWINDS RESORT SUITE TAGAYTAY
http://www.facebook.com/HII.CrosswindsResortSuites
http://crosswindsresortsuites.com/
reservations@crosswindsresortsuites.com
Crosswinds, Brgy. Iruhin Central Calamba Road Tagaytay City 4120
Tel # (02) 856 9601
Things to do in Tagaytay - http://crosswindsresortsuites.com/things-to-do
How to go to Crosswinds Resort Suite Tagaytay
Crosswinds Resort Suite Tagaytay is located right after the Picnic Grove, if you have your own vehicle service, it will take around 5 min going to Crosswinds if you passed by Picnic Grove, you'll see on the leftside the green hills and the Crosswinds giant letters on top of the hill.
If you are going there via public transport, coming from Olivares, Tagaytay City, just rent a tricycle and they will take you there up to the gate only. Tricycle fare will be around P150-P200. The resorts private car or coaster will transport you to the front desk. If you are leaving the resort after check out, you can request for a transpo service going back to front gate or to Olivares.
