Thursday, May 30, 2013

Going Places - ViewPoint: Inn & Restaurant (Tagaytay)

Welcome to "ViewPont: Inn & Restaurant"!
There are tons of Hotels and Inns in Tagaytay City, if ever you wanted to spend the night on your visit there. Although I haven't lodged in any of the other Hotels and Inns, I can tell that ViewPoint is probably one of the best options around. I can even go so far as to say that to truely enjoy your visit to Tagaytay City, you must stay for one night in this inn. ...and I know everybody will be looking for pictures, so let's go and have a look around.

This is what the ViewPoint's entrance actually looks like. Yeah, it's hard to park here.
ViewPoint's Entrance Gate. We can already see the amazing view of the Taal Volcano from here.
Here's the reception area. You can order food here, too, if you just want to eat.
There's also a Karaoke area. Although you have to rent this area, and it is extremely expensive. ₱500 for an hour? A typical song is around 4-5 minutes long. That's around ₱40 per song. Most Karaoke here in the Philippines are coin-operated and you can sing for ₱5 per song.
To everyone looking for a relaxing weekend, spend a night at this inn. I can't recommend it highly enough. This is actually our second stay here. Our last visit was 2 years ago, I think. To tell you the truth, there's really no need for us to lodge in one of these inns. We can visit Tagaytay City from our house in about an hour and, quite frankly, there's really nothing much to see there. Most people visit the "Picnic Grove" to try out the zipline thingy, some people visit the "People's Park in the Sky" for a change of pace. There's the newly built "Sky Ranch" but the only interesting spot there right now is the "Sky Eye" which you will soon discover (or have already discovered) to be very disappointing, underwhelming and boring. There's also the "Puzzle Mansion", too, but again, what's there to see?

Most tourist (if not all) can scan the whole Tagaytay area within the day, dismissing the need for them to stay there for the night. But, what if one of the best experiences you could possibly have in your visit in Tagaytay requires you to stay in an inn overnight? That's a question we'll answer in a moment but for now, here are some pictures of ViewPoint Inn & Restaurant.

After going past the gate, you will be immediately greeted by Tagaytay's amazing view.
Looking down the fence. ...the Comfort Rooms.
Looking to the right, you'll see cottages. I bet the view is amazing there, as well. It seems that customers are not allowed in this area? But I was able to go here 2 years ago, though.
Let's check the left side now, which is the main area of ViewPoint. This is where the rooms are located.
Here's the Main Cottage and the main dining area where customers can order and eat their food. This is my favorite place in ViewPoint. It's just relaxing when you're just sitting there, for some reason. As you can see, the cottage's right side is under construction. They're expanding some of the areas to accommodate more customers.
Here's the Entrance's view from the bottom of the Main Cottage's staircase. The left pathway is where the Comfort Rooms can be accessed.
Time to go up the Main Cottage. It's not that big, mind you.
I like the atmosphere in this place. The sunlight hits the cottage just right and the air brings a cool breeze...
...and the view is amazing as always.
Here's the right side, again. This time, from the Main Cottage's POV.
There are rooms parallel to the Main Cottage. I'm not quite sure if this is also an area from ViewPoint. I think the upper area is from "Mang Max Restaurant" and is not associated to ViewPoint. I'm not sure, though.
Now, we walk the pathway to the rooms. I'm just going to take another picture of the Main Cottage from the back.
I'm sure that there will be other Hotels and Inns in Tagaytay City that have equal or better than the ViewPoint, but the difference between them and this inn is the number of customers. I don't know about you, but it's not quite relaxing if you have dozens of noisy tourists around you. This inn only accomodates a few customers so, most of the time, you'll have the place all to yourself.

ViewPoint is not that big. Not that small. It's just the right size. That's a Goldilocks reference, right there. You'll almost always have the place all to yourselves.
Lots of trees. I like trees.
You'll have access to this great view almost anywhere you are inside ViewPoint.
Here are the main lodging areas. Our room is in the middle path. Let's go check the other areas, first.
Here's the upper lodging areas. Looks nice, with all the flowers and plants. This place is well-maintained. Kudos!
Here's a view of the lower lodging areas. That's ours in the middle. Let's go check the lowest lodging areas next.
Here's the pathway to the lower lodging area. A VewPoint staff was accidentally included in the shot.
I think that's the Pavillion's roof. We'll check that in a minute. I remember there's a great view of the Taal Volcano behind the lower lodging areas.
Hey, there's also a great view of ViewPoint's front building from the lower lodging area's pathway.
Here it is! I need to be very careful here.. I don't want to fall off the cliff, now. (...and silent, too. I don't wanna disturb the lodgers here.)
Let's zoom in a little there...
Alright, enough of the cliff. Here's the Taal Lake, with the Taal Volcano in the middle. What a sight.
A little closer... Zoom, zoom, zoom...
Behind me, you can see the windows of Room No. 6. That's our room! But we'll get to that last.
Now, let's go back to the pathway a bit and go check the Pavillion. It's right down this pathway.
Near the Pavillion, there are more areas undergoing renovation.
Here's the Pavillion. Let's go inside.
Is this another place where people can eat? Looks deserted.
This part is not well-maintained, but is not dirty. I can understand why people don't want to eat here. Although that may be because of the low number of customers.
The Taal can be seen from this area, as well. All places are strategically positioned.
A little zoom-zoom there... Cool.
I hope more customers come in. It'd be a waste not to be able to use this place...
Alright, let's go back up. This time, we'll go to the highest point of ViewPoint.
...and it's just up this staircase. You can see the Main Cottage and the Entrance from here.
There are more Dining Areas here. Although, the Taal is blocked by the upper lodging area rooms.
Just climb the remaining steps and... Viola! The highest point of ViewPoint!
Let's point the camera down to see how far up we are.
As you go further towards the cottages, the trees starts to block the Taal Lake.
Here are the other cottages. No Tagaytay view here.
There are 3 cottages here.
Just in case you'd like to have a barbeque, you can use these. Filipinos like barbecues.
There's also a Comfort Room right over there, in case you need to go no.1. (...or no.2.)
I think we've covered most of the place. Shall we head over to the middle lodging areas?
ViewPoint only has a handful of rooms. The best rooms available, in my opinion, are Rooms 5 & 6. If you're going to stay here, be sure to check if these rooms are available, because these rooms have the greatest view of the Taal Lake and Volcano among the other rooms.

Time to check the middle lodging areas!
You get to have a roofed area where you can hangout just outside of your rooms with a great view of the Taal.
Again, nice view.
Tables and a place where you can cook barbecue, with a sink right next to it to clean your food with.
That's where I was typing one of my latest reviews. LOL. (Gotta make more Gunpla Reviews while I still have free time!)
Here's our room. Room No. 6. Let's go inside.
There's a tiny TV (you won't be using that anyway and, allso, you have to get the remove control from reception before you can use this), a little refrigerator, a few stools and a table.
There's a Bathroom inside, as well. For some reason, it has a window.
There are 2 beds, 1 of which is a bunk bed. A took the lower deck, just in case I need to pee or take a picture quickly, I don't need to climb down the top bunk.
I think we've covered everything. Hmmm.. Oh, here's my phone. I don't have a Samsung Galaxy S VII! (Coming soon! ...seriously, people are changing phones faster than changing undies. LOL.)
Hmmm... I wonder what else we can do... Oh, right. I saved the best for last.
Most people visit Tagaytay City for the "Taal Volcano". There are a handful of tourists spots you can visit and you can see Taal's amazing view at most of these places. Like I said earlier, most poeple can scan the whole Tagaytay area within a day. They usually go to Picnic Grove, the People's Park, and the Sky Ranch. ...and that's about it. There's pretty much nothing else to see. That's why most people will arrive around morning, then leave for home in the afternoon.

But one of the best experiences you can possibly get in your visit to Tagaytay is during the night and I'm glad that I was able to do this for a second time. The Taal Volcano during the night and during sunrise is just simply stunning!

The middle lodging area during night time.
The area is well-lit.
...and look at all that pretty lights in the dark.
The ViewPoint looks awesome at night.
Here's the Main Cottage. It's so peaceful out here.
Here's Viewpoint's Entrance from the Main Cottage.
...and here's Tagaytay at night. (A little blurry...)
Stunning. I'm sleepy, though. So, it's time to hit the sack. Then, daybreak...

Oh, it's almost dawn. Time to get up!
Let's turn on the lights!
Wow! One word... Stunning.
There's not as much fog as before, when we stayed here 2 years ago.
Such a relaxing atmosphere... Although the air is not as cold now as before.
Everything's all blue!
Here's the Moon looking down upon Tagaytay City. Beautiful.
Here's the Main Cottage and the Moon. Let's go up there! The Main Cottage, I mean, not the Moon.
The view is amazing... Oh, that's my Nexus 7. I just thought it would look awesome if I took a picture of it like this.
Here's the rest of the view....
...and the rest of ViewPoint. If the Main Cottage is not undergoing renovation, this picture would look perfect.
Lastly, here the Taal Lake before daybreak. Stunning.
As of this writing, ViewPoint is undergoing renovation. We don't have a DSLR Camera yet during our first visit here. I only have my iPod Touch, but I think I was able to take more pictures back then. I'll try to look for those and post them here, just for the heck of it. A "Part II" of some sorts or a "Prequel".

Saving the best picture for last. "The Moon over Tagaytay". Come see it the next time you visit.

Highly recommended. Looking forward to our next visit. ...and I'll see you in the next post!


  1. contact number po for this inn? thanks

    1. Hi Genesis! Sorry for the late reply..

      We've seem to have lost the contact numbers of Viewpoint Inn, but I did a Google search and saw this: (632) 662-1111

      Here's the link to where I got the number, if you'd like to check it out yourself.

      Hope that helps you! :)