Rizal province

LOOK: This Airbnb in Rizal will take you on a Bali-inspired getaway

Steph Arnaldo

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LOOK: This Airbnb in Rizal will take you on a Bali-inspired getaway
Check out this gorgeous and cozy industrial-Balinese villa just an hour's drive away from Metro Manila!

MANILA, Philippines – It’s giving Bali vibes…in Rizal! Balai Urunjing, an industrial-Balinese pool villa tucked along Teresa, Rizal, is letting Airbnb customers feel like they’re vacationing at the famous Indonesian tropical paradise, but just a drive away from Metro Manila.

INDUSTRIAL-BALINESE VILLA. Photo from Airbnb

Check out Balai Urunjing’s Airbnb page and the photos already do this humble haven justice – it looks straight out of a travel magazine! The tropical villa is beautifully designed, both inside and out, and the infinity pool in the front yard is easily the main attraction once you walk in.

AT NIGHT. Photo from Airbnb

The 373-sqm lot is well-kept and clean, and the warm, modern lighting at night accentuates even more the minimalist yet cozy feel of the whole place.

POOL DECK. Photo by Steph Arnaldo/Rappler

The drive is a bit far from the city proper, with an average of 1-1.5 hours if you’re coming from Katipunan Avenue/Quezon City. You’ll be driving up a few long and winding mountainous roads and will have to inch your car through a few side streets to get to the villa. But it’s worth it!

VIEW. Photo by Steph Arnaldo/Rappler

The Balinese villa is situated along a side street at a dead end, so it’s secluded from the main town in a way, but you do still have neighbors, so it isn’t completely noise-free or private. The gates of Balai Urunjing are tall enough to offer some privacy, but you’ll still be able to see some parts of the adjacent structures across. But once the gates are shut, you will instantly feel like you own the place for a night!

Welcome to my crib

Balai Urunjing offers an open two-car parking space by the patio, right beside the pool and across a small, lush patio with two outdoor tables good for four, an outdoor shower, and a comfort room. You can even request for a grill for ihaw nights with the group!

PATIO. Photo by Steph Arnaldo/Rappler
OUTDOOR CR. Photo by Steph Arnaldo/Rappler

The gorgeous infinity pool is made with natural green sukabumi stones from Indonesia, and is easily one of the main highlights of the stay. I wasn’t sure if it was a heated pool, but the water was warm enough for a relaxing afternoon dip. It also comes with a wall fountain and lounge bubble pool that’s almost like a jacuzzi, great for late-night kwentuhans or even drinks by the pool.

LOUNGE BUBBLE POOL AND POOL. Photo from Airbnb

The pool can be admired from inside the villa, as both the bedroom and living area come with ceiling-high sliding glass doors for an unobstructed view of the outside.

LIVING AREA VIEW. Photo from Airbnb

The windows also open straight to the pool’s grey patio, which make for a great view in the morning. The bedroom windows are adorned by curtains, but the living area’s aren’t, so expect bright, early morning sun and heat, especially since the living area doesn’t come with an AC.

LIVING ROOM. Photo by Steph Arnaldo/Rappler

The villa can house up to four guests comfortably, and maybe two more if they don’t mind sleeping on the living room sofa and on the floor.

STUDIO SIZE. Photo by Steph Arnaldo/Rappler

The living area is simple and furnished according to its industrial-tropical vision – concrete surfaces mixed with wooden elements and tropical, locally-inspired decor, like a beautiful fig plant and a banig mat.

Living the life

It’s a chill, cozy spot that offers the basic staycation amenities, like a 55″ HDTV that comes with Netflix and HBO Go, fast WiFi, towels, bed linens, hot water, bidet, and a gracious SuperHost available nearby for any concerns or questions. The villa also comes with two CRs – one in the living area and one in the bedroom.

KITCHEN AND CR. Photo by Steph Arnaldo/Rappler

The living room shares the villa’s working kitchenette, which has almost everything you’d need for meals – a rice cooker, refrigerator, freezer, air fryer, microwave, electric kettle, and a fancy induction stove that’s easy and cool to use, plus an exhaust. However, counter space for food preps is a bit limited, since most of the appliances are set on the counter.

APPLIANCES. Photo by Steph Arnaldo/Rappler

The cabinets also come with good quality cooking pots and pans, utensils, dishware, cups, mugs, cooking tools, and even salt and pepper. It wasn’t a hassle to make dinner at all – I managed to make chicken parmigiana for two, with a side of mashed potatoes and garlic lemon French beans.

CHICKEN PARMIGIANA. Photo by Steph Arnaldo/Rappler

Cleaning up is also no problem; cleaning supplies and sponges are provided.

DINING AREA WITH BAR STOOLS. Photo by Steph Arnaldo/Rappler

Dining is done on the concrete slab/bar stool beside the ref, which has a nice window view of the lush tropical plants at the back. There’s also a display rack of wines, spirits, and liquor that guests can consume upon request.

BEDROOM. Photo by Steph Arnaldo/Rappler

The air-conditioned bedroom is modestly-sized, with a queen-sized bed, four pillows, and a blanket provided (the blanket itself was a bit thin, so if you’re easily cold, I’d suggest to bring your own).

SLIDING DOORS. Photo by Steph Arnaldo/Rappler

Furniture-wise, it’s more basic – it comes with just two night tables and an artistic piece of wooden hanging art as the room’s ceiling lights. The room opens to the closet and sink, and leads to the CR, which has both the toilet and rainshower in one room.

RAIN SHOWER. Photo by Steph Arnaldo/Rappler

The bedroom can accomodate two more guest mattresses on the floor upon request.

EXTRA MATTRESSES. Photo from Airbnb

Just a heads-up, especially if you’re sensitive to morning light – there are parts of the ceiling-high windows that aren’t covered by the curtains, so the room will be quite flooded with sunlight in the morning. Best to bring your sleeping eye masks, just in case!

Everything is clean, organized, and well thought of. For the reasonable price of P6,429 a night, it’s a nice out-of-town destination (that feels like you’re out of the country!) for a fun private getaway with family or friends.

Balai Urujing’s humble origins

You’ll notice that Balai Urunjing is well-maintained, clean, and even seems untouched – its advantage is that it’s relatively new, as it only finished construction in March 2022 after starting in June 2021. Since March, the place has been practically fully-booked every day.

You might also wonder: why a Balinese villa in the far-flung area of Rizal? This Airbnb was actually a personal wish of a Filipino family, who every Good Friday would go on Visita Iglesia with all eight grandchildren and then check in a private pool resort as a Holy Week tradition. But since the pandemic, the trips stopped. 

The mother of Balai Urunjing’s current owner, Michael Sto. Tomas, thought of building a swimming pool at the lot across their house, which was initially a truck garage converted into a garden with a kubo. She already contacted someone to build the pool with no engineer or architect assigned, but Michael disagreed. He wanted a swimming pool too, but it had to have a house and design in mind. 

During the start of the design process, it was only meant to be a small house where Michael, his wife, and young son would live, so they could live right next to Michael’s parents. But when Michael’s father passed away during the pandemic, Michael’s family decided to keep his mother company, and lived with her instead.

“Since no one would be staying in the Balai anymore, we decided to list it on Airbnb and surprisingly, received warm and positive compliments and they all loved the Bali vibe,” Michael told Rappler.

It was named Balai Urunjing after Michael’s late father, Roel Sto. Tomas, who was known to many and by the nickname Urunjing. “The idle land that houses Balai Urunjing was previously his garden and kubo where he always sits, waters plants, and sweeps fallen leaves,” Michael said.

Michael wanted an industrial-themed house and pool at first, but the architect suggested to incorporate a Balinese theme to make it warm, cozy, and homey. If it were completely industrial with only concrete and steel, the villa might come off too “manly” – therefore, wood was added to soften the features.

The design process started from scratch – planning out the layout involved avoiding where the sun shines and prioritizing the quality of materials used – natural wood (tanguile) and natural stones (charcoal stone) for Balai, and also the green sukabumi stones for the pool imported from Indonesia through a distributor supplier in the Philippines (Kaufman Stone) – all within a budget.

It’s no surprise that Balai Urunjing’s current stellar rating on Airbnb is at 4.92 stars! To see the place for yourself, you can book a stay via the website. – Rappler.com

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Steph Arnaldo

If she’s not writing about food, she’s probably thinking about it. From advertising copywriter to freelance feature writer, Steph Arnaldo finally turned her part-time passion into a full-time career. She’s written about food, lifestyle, and wellness for Rappler since 2018.