Holiday Plaza Hotel – Tuguegarao City

It was my third time to visit Tuguegarao and just like the previous ones, I was here for my favorite pancit dish ever. So before I dwell too much on pancit batil patong, lemme share with you our temporary home during the trip.

There are tons of hotels, lodging houses and inns around town and looking for the perfect one is easy (if you plan your trip carefully). As for me and my buddy, this trip is all about food tripping and nothing else so we wanted a nice and cozy hotel in downtown Tuguegarao (for perfect slumbering after munching on our fave dish in town).

Holiday Plaza Hotel served as our refuge for this three-day trip. It is literally a few strides away from the main road of Bonifacio Street.

We were wilted and drenched in sweat after the 12-hour bus ride from Manila and entering the lobby of the hotel was a refreshing treat. The front desk officers were gracious in assisting us in our reservations. Checking in was a breeze and in no time we were ushered to our room by an attendant.

The first thing I noticed in our room was that there is no window. We were appointed at a Standard De Luxe Room and although our room didn’t have windows, we were quite happy with it because of its coziness. The light fixtures were quite dramatic and provided the perfect dimming effect.

The 4.0 x 4.5 meter-room was spacious with the huge queen-sized bed, two side tables, cable/satellite T.V., air-conditioning unit, vanity dresser, dress cabinet and en suite toilet and bathroom (check here for discounted room rates).

We dozed off immediately after settling in (we were planning to catch up on our writing assignments while abusing the free Wi-Fi of the hotel – didn’t happen).

It was almost sundown when we got up and realized that we slept the whole afternoon. You know that kind of sleep that only babies can achieve, that kind of sleep.

We decided to have early dinner in a panciteria somewhere and went back to Holiday Plaza Hotel and checked out the Café De Vié Restobar on the first level. We had a few bottles and chilled for some time before we called it a day.

It was a refreshing morning when we woke up, the hotel has partnered with a well-known restaurant chain and complimentary breakfasts are served there or in-room. I had my favorite Tocino Meal (tocino, fried egg, fried rice) while my buddy had his favorite Longganisa Meal (longganisa, fried egg, fried rice) coupled with some nice, hot coffee.

Tocino complimentary breakfast meal

Longganisa complimentary breakfast meal

And the cycle of snoozing, eating at a nearby panciteria, dozing off, pancit hunt for dinner, and then boozing up went on and on. It was really the perfect staycation at its best, only at the First International Hotel in the Cagayan Valley Region.