Discovery: Secret Spa in Antipolo !!!!
UPDATE AUGUST 23, 2009 – Very interesting development – Callospa left a comment saying that Susan (the lady with the very negative Callospa experience, read June 3, 2009 update below) has apologized for her strong words. Susan and Callospa are asking me to delete the negative comments and I will do so.
But just one thing before I delete them – My hubby and I spent our wedding anniversary last July 23 at Callospa to get away from our BUSY BUSY BUSY lives and we had ANOTHER wonderful experience. The staff was verrrrry courteous – they have this amazing way of blending in with the Jacuzzis so it’s like as if you’re all alone…
Happy Anniversary to US!
UPDATE JUNE 3, 2009 – Recieved a highly negative comment regarding Callospa from Susan – please check it out at the end of this article. In fairness to Callospa, I will forward the comment to them and update you on thier response.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Callospa” is beautiful little spa resort hidden in the hills of Antipolo. Not many signs lead you to the place but if you keep a sharp eye out and ask questions, it is worth the search. Ron and I discovered it online; thier website had a map that we religiously followed but… we still got lost. Thankfully, it was quite temporary.
Click here to get accurate directions to the place.
Outside the walls of Callospa, there’s not much to see. But as you enter the giant wooden doorway the resort lies below you in a sort of mini valley. The garden is lush and ponds filled with koi greet your first few steps.
Photo from ourparadisephilippines.com
Overlooking the poolside
Down we went over a set of wide gray stones into what seemed like the welcome room. A woman with the air of authority helped us choose a spa package; what a relief for Ron and I who are famous for indecision when it comes to little things like where to eat lunch. Ron and I quickly agreed that she must have been the owner.
We settled for the basic package – The Affordable Escape which is a 2-hour pampering and massage package which was priced at P650. That’s only $13USD; a major bargain, at least for us!!! Then we added on a 30-minute Body Scrub (which was 15% off at the time) for P425. So, basic math tells me that this 2-and-a-half-hour of spoiling myself would only cost P1075!!! For USD earners, that’s about $22. Oh, you have to double that because Ron got the same package.
First things first – a hot shower in the hydromassage room followed by 15 minutes of DELICIOUS sweating in the sauna.
The red hot sauna PIT
Wishing heaven was this HOT!
My Sauna Partner
Sand Clock! How charming!!!
Notice the outfits we’re in? They were provided by Callospa. Not my idea of classy spa fashion but the outfits were crisp and clean and smelled like Downy. I wondered though, what they would do if a client was too big to fit into them. The one I was wearing was the biggest size they had!!! But all those concerns quickly evaporated when our guide plucked us out of the sauna and ushered us into the STEAM ROOM!!! Ooooh this was getting BETTTTRRRRRR!!!
Posing in the wet HEAT!!!
Angel RON 
Welcome to my parlor guys!!!
After every single pore in our bodies were wide open, it was time to hop into the Jacuzzi. Make that the HOT and the COLD Jacuzzis!!!
Aerial view of the Hot and Cold Jacuzzis
Me in the Rose Petal Jacuzzi (cold)
Ron in the Pandan Leaves and Lime (hot) Jacuzzi
Tea service while Jacuzzi-ing!
After swapping Jacuzzis a couple of times and enjoying a few cups of steaming green tea, our guide came in with fluffy orange towels saying it was time for the BODY SCRUB!!!
Rock Salt City!
Ron taking a moment before the MASSAGE!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you don’t know how it feels to be spotlessly clean and 100% bacteria-free, then you NEED to have a body scrub. After my scrub I was deathly afraid of stepping on the floor and picking up a spore or something. My nails were white (they only turn white after a manicure) and I felt pepperminty alllll overrrrr. The scrub included a shampoo so even my scalp was tingling. Every bit of me, head to toe was very happy. But it wasn’t over YET!!!
Next stop – the Massage Room!
Can't wait for my turn!!!
Neck stretch... ahhhhh...
Ahhh... just a little more to the left please...
I must say that their signature massage is to DIE FOR! My masseuse, Emma was very efficient and made sure to stick to medium strength pressure. She made me squirm only twice because of her powerful thumbs but it wasn’t all that bad anyway.
The massage beds are also excellent – they have a padded cylinder attached to the head of the bed where you can rest your forehead on. Much better than the beds with face holes, at least for me.
At the end of the two and half hours of pampering, Ron and I felt loose as a goose on juice!
Getting ready for some zzzzz's........
For more pictures of and reviews on Callospa click here:
http://www.callospaweddings.com
http://callosparesort.com/spa/
http://kerms.multiply.com/reviews/item/9
http://houseonahill.net/callospa-resort/comment-page-1/
http://www.geocities.com/callospa/main.html
Pingback: ABQ’s Cellphone Review: My Best Photos on the HTC 8x! | Adventures of a Beauty Queen
CAN I GET URE CONTACT NUMBER
Pingback: Discovery: Callospa – Secret Spa in Antipolo! « SPAdventures of a Beauty Queen
Will Callospa respond to this? Had a very bad experience with them. I already texted them as in 4 pages long texts to inform them but I never heard from them. Here’s my story:
We got there at around 4:15 pm and went straight to the reception area. I told the girl in charge that I called earlier for a reservation. I had the New Wing Suite reserved as well as their affordable escape package + ear candling. The manager gave the staff the key and we followed her to our room. We even took pictures coz we were sooo excited to get pampered and finally have a relaxing weekend.
I told Mich that the room looks disorganized. She said it looks fine. So I went to the bathroom to check if it’s clean. I didn’t like the smell so I called Mich. She said it’s only because the floor is wet. I told her to lift the toilet seat coz I wanted to pee. But surprise! There are feces in toilet. They let us check in a room that was not yet cleaned. The room was damp and the sheets and pillowcases were not yet changed! I was not even that angry (I’m sure other guests would be fuming mad after that) when I went to the reception again to talk to the manager. I didn’t want to tell them about the situation so as not to embarrass them. I just asked her if we could look at the other rooms. A nice staff showed us the rooms (there was one with a dead cockroach in it). I told her I still like the suite we were in earlier but that it’s still dirty when we checked-in, she told us someone just checked-out of the room. If someone just checked out of the room then why are there clean towels and 2 robes (see pic) on the not clean sheets?
I’m not a hotel owner or spa owner but I know that if someone just checked-out of a room they should clean it first before giving the next occupants the room. Right? They said they’ll clean it so we didn’t make too big of a fuss. While waiting we decided to avail the spa packages first. I brought up the dirty suite situation to the manager but she didn’t say anything. If the real owner was there (whom I met last Feb.) she would have been gracious enough to apologize or offer us something to appease our anger. I still let that go. I told Mich I just want to get a massage.
Unlike our stay last Feb. no one was attending to us. We looked like lost kids. We had to look for someone to ask for water when we were in the steam room. Last Feb. it was served as soon as we got in. It’s a good thing a nice girl attended to us after wards.
It’s a good thing the jacuzzi was still nice. ‘Coz before that I was telling Mich I didn’t want to spend the night there anymore. That I just wanted to go home. But we thought it might get better after. It did. Someone nice attended to us after the jacuzzi. She even showed us our clean room. So I told Mich we’d just spend the night there.
Our ear candling session was great. The massage not so much. I asked the masseuse for a soft massage and to minimize the pressure but I think she didn’t understand me. When I asked her to decrease the pressure (coz I’m all bones and the pressure goes directly to my bones kaya it hurts) she just said “Masakit po talaga yan mam kasi lamig yan”. So I had to endure the pain. A staff was also fighting with someone on her cellphone that it can be heard in the whole floor. I was thinking, “Stress free ba to?”. I don’t know what happened but the last time I was there I really had the best spa experience and now–this. I can’t wait to go to our room after and eat. The manager was the one who called up Pizza Hut for our orders. So while we were watching TV our food arrived. We ordered pasta and pizza and a bottle of Pepsi. I was expecting them to serve us water or bring us glasses for our Pepsi but they didn’t. And we had to drink straight from the Pepsi bottle. I also just let that go since I was hungry. But there was no fork for the pasta! So I asked Mich to go to the reception to borrow a fork. She came back with tiny tiny dessert plastic spoons instead. I said, “What the F?!”. So I myself went to the manager and asked if we could borrow a fork since we can’t eat our food. She said they don’t have any. WOW. Unbelievable. So we ate pasta using plastic spoons. An extreme talent. Wow.
I was so tired and stressed I slept like a baby. I woke up at around 9. Mich woke up an hour before me. I asked Mich to ask for our breakfast. She came back saying our breakfast is ready. If Mich didn’t go down we wouldn’t know it’s ready. I was hungry so I still let that go. Mich said the utensils are dirty. And they didn’t serve us water. Only coffee. How can I eat all that food and drain it down with coffee? So we were turning our necks to find someone who could help us. A guy passed by (a worker there) and we asked if he could ask someone to bring us water since we already started eating. He just pointed at the reception area so Mich stood and looked for someone to help us instead.
We were out of there within an hour out of dismay. I am really sad and disappointed. Coz I loved that place. I even chose Callospa over Nature Spa Tagaytay. I even blogged before that the experience is better than any spa I’ve been in. It was my number 1 spa before the whole thing happened. It saddens me because I was really expecting a memorable stay again. And I because I have high respects for the owner. I love how gracious she was and accommodating when we went there last Feb. And I don’t think she knows what’s happening when she’s not there. I don’t know why they didn’t give us the service we deserve when we paid naman.
My mom said, “Ambait niyo naman kung ako yung nagwala nako dun!”. Oh well.
Hi there! So sorry your experience was bad. When I did my two reviews on Callospa, I was a regular paying client and they had no idea that I was going to review them. I happened to have a great experience. Hmmmmm…. Anyway, I hope they do respond to this because Callospa knows about my reviews. Thanks for sharing your experience and again I am sorry it was bad for you.
Our apologies for your disappointment. We were short of therapists during that time because of the spa party held at the family spa, which intially booked for 10 but eventually ended up with 15 persons. Their wedding will be held for the next day and they had all treatments done, body scrubs, eyelash extensions, body waxings, nails, etc. Our body scrub is wet body scrub, unlike the scrub some spas are offering wherein its done in the same bed you will be using for massage. We appreciate you liked our Massage. Rest assured that we will take as constructive criticism the remote negative impression you had during your stay. Sincerest thanks and more power to you too Ms. Joyce!
Callospa’s Response to Ms. Darlyn:
Our apologies for your disappointment. We were short of therapists during that time because of the spa party held at the family spa, which intially booked for 10 but eventually ended up with 15 persons. Their wedding will be held for the next day and they had all treatments done, body scrubs, eyelash extensions, body waxings, nails, etc. Our body scrub is wet body scrub, unlike the scrub some spas are offering wherein its done in the same bed you will be using for massage. We appreciate you liked our Massage. Rest assured that we will take as constructive criticism the remote negative impression you had during your stay. Sincerest thanks and more power to you too Ms. Joyce!
Unfortunately, I had a different experience…
I read lots of good reviews so my sister and I decided to try Callospa for a relaxing night…but unfortunately, it was a night full of disappointment. Very bad experience!
a) Despite setting an appointment, we had to wait until therapists were available. Pagdating namin don, pinaupo lang kame and hindi welcoming ang staff nila. Kulang daw sila sa staff kase may spa party. I think there were only 4 therapists available..and based on what I saw, parang may 2 other clients lang na andon din sa place.
b) Body Scrub – the body scrub room (or whatever you call that) was not appealing. The srubbing bed was wet (obvious na ginamit na sa previous client) and di man lang nilinis for the next client. The rolled towel where my head was supposed to rest was wet too…kadiri. Di man lang pinalitan after the previous client.
c) Massage – the service itself was OK..but the music they played was sooo un-relaxing. Pang-horror. We had to ask the staff to change it pero di daw sha marunong. Later on pinalitan nga pero pang-horror parin. Geesh! And…nag-iisa lang ata yung song na pinatugtog nila. Same music playing for more than an hour! Paulit ulit lang.
d) Facial – Only one staff was available to do our facials kaya take turns kame ng sister ko. While the therapist was applying cream on ate’s face..nagaantay lang ako, then nung pinapa-steam sha, ako naman nilagyan cream..then balik sha sa sister ko for pricking habang ako naman steam. Basta obvious na minadali ang buong session to accommodate both of us. Boo!
e) Foot spa – We had to sit and wait for at least 30 minutes for the therapists na magfo-foot spa samin kase they were massaging 2 other clients pa. Yon nga, kulang daw sila sa tao that night kaya ganon.
oh well. A truly disappointing night! It was a long drive pa naman to go there. Never will I visit this place again.
Hi adventuresofabeautyqueen! Of course my sincere apology and asking for forgiveness above is meant for Mrs. Garcia and the Callospa Resort. I highly recommend Callospa in Antipolo, and I know that Mrs. Garcia, the owner, is a highly respected businesswoman who has been in business in Antipolo for many years. If anybody is looking for a resort spa in Antipolo, this is a link to the Callospa Resort website: http://callosparesort.com/spa/main.html
good evening, my name is susan, and im the one behind the callospa negative comments and i would like to ask for forgiveness to the blog authors and some youtube account holders that i would like to ask if they could delete my comments regarding callospa resort because i believe i made an honest mistake writing unconstructive comments towards callospa.
i apologise to you and i wish that you could delete my past comments regarding callospa.
i believe it’s a misunderstanding because mrs. garcia asked me if i had a good experience and i said “yes”.
i just wanted to ask you that you could please delete all bad comments towards callospa. thank you for understanding.
more power to bloggers.
Hi Susan! I’m glad it’s all okay, I appreciate your honesty, God will honor you for this and He will lift you up for it. Hope to see you in Callospa one of these days!
Good day, Ms. Joyce and Sir Ron! Thank you so much for your time and effort. You deserve our heartfelt thanks for posting your experience with us. Actually the account holder of the “highly negative comment”(Susan/onlythe truth/other aliases) is with us right now, apologizing and retracting their post. I shall be posting the link of their video asking the negative comment to be removed from your very respectable blog after this. We shall be contacting you soon as our way of thanks.
Thanks Gigi, this is an unusual request for me but I’m glad the whole thing with Susan has been fixed. Susan’s comments except for her apology have been wiped out!!!
A spa connoisseur myself, I truly agree Callospa is a great discovery! Thanks a lot Ms. beautyqueen, I found a spa we Filipinos can be proud of. Been to many spas here and abroad, after reading your comments (and hearing my sisters’ friends rave about it), off I went to Callospa with my hubbie and kid to give it a try. My, our experience was “heavenly.” My kid enjoyed swimming while my husband and I relaxed at the spa. The massage was great, the staff was hospitable, the ambiance was relaxing. Overall, I must say Callospa can compare to top caliber spas here in the Phils, even in Bali and Hawaii. I feel sorry for the woman, isolated cases like hers must’ve been related to personal issues.
Hi Susan and everybody. We actually just got back from Callospa this afternoon and I must say that we had a fantastic experience there! The massage was perfect and the tubs were working just fine. The ambiance was calming and very relaxing. We definitely will be going back with more of our friends! =)
That’s strange Susan, but all my friends who went after reading my blog enjoyed the spa.
My Infared Sauna has helped me a lot.
That looks really nice! I have my own Infared Sauna and it has a built in timer. It would pretty cool to get one of those sand timers for it. I gotta find one!