Miked's Travel PH

Caleruega
It's still raining but we need to hit the road again. Our next stop is our last stop in Nasugbu. A lot of people mistakenly think that this place is in Tagaytay but it's actually outside Tagaytay. Caleruega in Brgy. Kaylaway, Nasugbu is a retreat center. The place does have a relaxing and romantic ambiance. It's a perfect place to have a pre-nuptial shoot or if you want to have a spiritual reflection.

Getting here is not quite easy though. It's around 2 kilometer from the main road and the road going there is not in a good condition.

Rough roads ahead

By commuting, you can ride a jeepney from Tagaytay bound to Nasugbu or the bus from Pasay which is bound to Nasugbu then just ask the driver to drop you off at Evercrest Golf Club (after Petron). From there, tricycles can drive you to the place.
The entrance fee is PhP 30 and parking is free. After paying the entrance fee, they will hand you a brochure with a map of the place. On the map are some must see sights, It's a quite big place.

Lobby Building

There is also a souvenir shop inside the lobby building which you can also buy some religious stuffs.

Dominicum's Grand Stairway

Way up to the chapel

Transfiguration Chapel

Stained glass inside the chapel

Our Lady of the Holy Rosary

Walkway will lead you to the hanging bridge (there's also a koi pond below)

Hanging bridge Entrance

Hanging bridge

DIY pre-nuptial shoot (kidding lol)

We didn't explore the whole place since it's still raining that day. But I think there's more lot to see. I recommend to see this place whenever you had the chance.

Lee Boutique Hotel
It's almost 5 pm when we left Caleruega and arrived at Lee Boutique around 6 pm. When checking-in they will ask you to deposit PhP 2500 either by cash or credit card. They upgraded our rooms to Deluxe. I asked how it got upgraded, and they just said they just do upgrade rooms (cool).

Hotel Reception

Hotel lobby waiting area

The hotel staffs are nice, our room were clean and comfy, wi-fi is not that strong though, but overall it's a nice hotel. There were just some annoying guests staying in the room next to ours that were partying very loud so we asked the hotel staff to deal with them.

Nuel Bolm Korean Restaurant
We went to a Korean Restaurant near Sky Ranch for dinner. We ordered grilled side pork for PhP 350 and Bulgogi for PhP 350 also (a minimum of 2 orders for this meal).

Inside the restaurant

Grilled Side Pork (slices are kinda thick)

The food was good and I think It's also cheaper than most Korean restaurants I've eaten before. By the way they don't accept credit cards.

It's getting late, the fog is already appearing, so after eating, we went to back to the hotel to charge up for tomorrow.

It's getting cold

After having a good night sleep, we had our breakfast in the hotel. Our room includes the breakfast. The don't have a buffet so you just have a menu to choose from. You can choose from Filipino (tapa or tocino), American (bacon and sandwiches) and Chinese (congee or noodles) breakfast. I chose bacon and just ordered extra garlic rice (their rice is expensive, PhP 50 for the extra garlic rice).

Day 3: Tagaytay

Mahogany Market
We checked out at 12 pm and went to our next destination, Mahogany Market. We went there to have our lunch. A Bulalo would be perfect for a rainy weather. When we arrived, we were immediately approached by a lady and asked us if we were going to eat. Since she's very persuasive that their Bulalo is very delicious, we eventually got convinced to eat there. There are vendors that are also selling some "pasalubong" stuffs around but beware that once you entertain one, many will flock to you.

Mahogany Market Bulaluhan

We ate at Alegre's Canteen (the lady in blue near the bulalo pots was the one I'm taking about haha). The Bulalo costs PhP 350 but you can have it for PhP 200 without the bone marrow. We also had Crispy "Tawilis" for PhP 120. Coffee ("Kapeng Barako") and small bananas ("senyorita") are free.

Tagaytay's Bulalo

Bone Marrow

Crispy Tawilis

Kapeng Barako and Senyorita

You can take out you left over and ask to add veggies in the Bulalo. My rate on this place, yes it's good and cheap. You don't need to a view to have a good Bulalo.

Puzzle Museum
Back on the road again and time to see some puzzles. We're heading to Puzzle Museum where the largest collection of jigsaw puzzle is. Here you can find a lot of puzzles like 3D puzzles, wooden and more. They have an entrance fee of PhP 100.

Inside the museum

Aside from the puzzle another thing to go here is their Coconut Cream Pie. A buko pie that has a cream top layer. It cost PhP 50 for a slice and PhP 350 for the whole box.

You'll come back if you just bought 1 slice (like us)

You may read my post: SIDE TRIP: Puzzle Mansion Tagaytay for more about Puzzle Museum.

Sonya's Garden
Next on our trip is Sonya's Garden. Sonya's Garden is a bed & breakfast with a bakery, restaurant and spa. It's quite far from the main road like Caleruega but don't worry cause the road here is not that bad. The place is quiet and nice. We went there to buy some of their bread, and wander a little around.

The bakery (Panaderia) is just beside the parking lot. They are also selling some common "pasalubong" items in Tagaytay there. But we went their to buy some of their breads.

Panaderia

Hopia

Hispanis Bread ( I thought its Spanish)

Their restaurant is an eat all you can buffet for PhP 683 per person. Menu served it sit down style. I don't know that that means haha, I just got that from their website. There's also some info about the food in there.

Restaurant Entrance

Inside the restaurant

Garden outside the restaurant

They also have a souvenir shop where you can find a lot of stuffs. Outside the shop is this bench.

We didn't took a picture there, since my girlfriend said she heard a frog. lol

The souvenir shop

Stuffs for sale

They have a lot of Malunggay products

Other products

They also sell shirts

Sky Ranch
After the garden, we went to the ranch. Not a real ranch though. Sky Ranch is just besides Taal Vista Hotel and has a great view of the Taal volcano (that's probably what the PhP 50 entrance fee is for). There aren't many rides here just like Star City or Enchanted Kingdom, just a few. Probably the most popular ride is the Sky Eye. For PhP 150 each, you can have a great view (if there's no fog) of Tagaytay for 10 minutes.

Taal Volcano

Sky Eye

Zip line 300 meters long for PhP 500

Good Shepherd Bahay Pastulan
We took a short break in Starbucks Tagaytay after Sky Ranch. Then we drop by to Good Shepherd for some home made "pasalubong" goodies. It's location is good since It's on the way going to Manila so you can remember to buy there.

View in Starbucks

Can't miss it before going back

Store Counter

Homemade goodies

That concludes our Road Trip to the South. I've summarize our expenses for the whole trip below. I didn't include the transportation, "pasalubong" stuffs and the souvenirs since they're optional. Thanks for reading!

Location	Description	Expense (PhP)
Nasugbu Resort	Canyon Cove Overnight Stay	3800 (2 pax)
Bag of Beans	Buffet Brunch	1150 (2 pax - 575/pax )
Convience Store	Foods and Snack	300
Fastfood in Nasugbu	Dinner	350
Day 1 Total:		5650
Kainan sa Dalampasigan	Lunch	660 (2 pax)
Caleruega	Entrance Fee	60 (2 pax - 30/pax)
Tagaytay Accomodation	Lee Boutique Overnight Stay	2100 (2 pax)
Nuel Bolm Korean Restaurant	Dinner	800 (2 pax)
Day 2 Total:		3620
Mahogany Market Bulaluhan	Lunch	530 (2 pax)
Puzzle Museum	Entrance Fee	200 (2 pax - 100/pax)
Sky Ranch	Entrance Fee/Parking	150 (50/pax for entrance)
Starbucks	Coffee Snack	400(2pax)
Day 3 Total:		1280

SEE PREVIOUS PART HERE!

Here's a side trip in Tagaytay you might find interesting. The Puzzle Mansion located in Cuadra St. Barangay Asisan. This place is home to a lot of kinds of puzzles and the owner Gina Lacuna got the world record for largest jigsaw collection last November 2012. The collection consists of 1,028 puzzles (and probably counting).

How to get there

If by car, from the rotonda, take Tagaytay-Nasugbu Highway and just drive straight ahead. You need to passed by Sky Ranch and Mushroom Burger. After Bag of Beans, look out for Maglabe Drive. Turn right there and the road will take you to the place.

If you're taking the public Transport, ask the driver of the bus bound Tagaytay/Nasugbu to drop you off in Maglabe Drive. Then from there, you can take the tricycles to the place. By the way, if you have a big group, you can call them for their shuttle service instead. I'm just not sure how much it is.

What's inside?

Aside from having a puzzle museum, Puzzle Mansion also offers accommodation (Puzzle Mansion Bed & Breakfast). They also have a restaurant, garden, pool and a souvenir shop(selling a lot of puzzles!).

Pool for guests

Wishing well in the garden

Flowers and plants are also for sale

Souvenir shop full of different kinds of puzzles

There is an entrance fee of PhP 100 for the museum (honestly, I think the entrance is a little too much) . The collection is located in the ground floor and the biggest jigsaw puzzle in the collection is in the second floor, near the photo booth and souvenir shop.

Here's what you can find inside:

Upon entering the museum

Second largest jigsaw puzzle (18,000 pieces)

Want some soda?

Beers of the World

More beers (no Red Horse)

3D Puzzles

Leaning tower of Pisa

Golden Gate Bridge

Taj Majal

The White House

Big Ben

Japanese Castle

Neww Yooooork! (Empire State Building)

Saint Basil's Cathedral

????

Colosseum

Sydney Opera House

Pent house of Barad-dûr

Hobbit House

Another Hobbit House

More 3D Iconic Structure Puzzles

Wooden Puzzles

Windmill Wooden Puzzle

There is a kiosk outside the souvenir shop that takes a picture of you and turns it to a jigsaw puzzle. The smallest one costs around PhP 500. The biggest puzzle is in the collection is the second floor. I has 32,000 pieces.

Keith Haring Double Retrospect

When you visit this place, make sure you to try out their Coconut Cream Pie. This upgraded version of buko pie is really really good. The crust is soft and the cream has just the right amount of sweetness. A box costs PhP 350 and a slice is PhP 50. This was also featured in 'Byahe ni Drew.

Coconut Cream Pie

So that's what you can expect on the Puzzle Mansion. The puzzle collection was amazing but I think I'll be going back to this place because of the Coconut Cream Pie. Thanks for reading!