Why you should stay in this beachside "town" in Mactan Island, Cebu.

Cebu. It’s exciting how the R&R landscape along the Mactan Island coastline is flourishing. There is always a new bud sprouting and offers a whole new experience— something that makes it stand out from the rest, just like this small town in the heart of the island and the city of Lapu-Lapu. It's a town of 30 hectares that’s unique in more ways than one. It’s a town—a private enclave. that will tick the entries on the vacation checklist—the beach, wine and dine, shop, relax—and it doesn’t stop there. It’s where you can also work and learn. Loving it already? Let me add that you can even live in it if you want to. This town is a Megaworld Township. 

This beachside township of Mactan Newtown is the first of its kind for Megaworld and its first-ever township outside of Metro Manila. Megaworld brings the cosmopolitan vibe of a city in a tropical island setting. Think: Central Business District by the beach. It’s where the business suit can walk side by side with swimwear. How cool is that? 

The township celebrates its address and allows you to imbibe the spirit of the Queen city of the South from the estate’s gates to the doors of La la land. The main avenue, the Newtown Boulevard, is lined with more than 250 fruit-bearing mango trees. Along it is the Mactan Al Fresco, a hawker-type dining destination, host to a variety of local restaurants and a lechon pit. Both features gave rise to two of the most vibrant annual celebrations in Cebu- the Cebu Lechon Festival in August and Cebu Mango Festival in May. 

Halfway to the sandy tanning site, the Mactan Newtown Beach, are stylish hotels that lure in the young and vibrant, and the chic and contemporary—Savoy and Belmont. 

Belmont Hotel Mactan is the “new kid in town” and is poised to be the next rising star in Mactan Island’s hospitality landscape. The hotel is the12th and the latest property opened and operated by Megaworld Hotels & Resorts, the PH’s largest operator of homegrown hotel brands. 

Belmont exudes the essence of Cebu within its 20-storey structure. The lobby displays the historic past of the island with Lapulapu captured in a wall artwork lit up with an equally striking sea waves-like lighting installation. In the next room, fingers plucking guitar strings play sweet music visually at Zabana Bar, where Cebu’s famed handmade guitars have a stage (so does the mixologist’s amazing cocktails!). Then the path leads to a bright room, the Belmont Cafe, with a lofty all-white screen that represents the city’s thriving furniture trade, this is contrasted with the vibrant hues of breathtaking headdresses of Cebu’s celebrated festival, the Sinulog, putting up a show across the dining hall (so does the chef’s culinary offerings!). And in each of the 550 well-appointed modern rooms, one of eight significant Cebu features is presented in a mural that reminds each guest where they are before heading off to slumberland. 

At Belmont, curating goes beyond interior design. The hotel brings a new kind of hospitality experience that will host guests in the area for both business and leisure, or “bleisure.” While the hotel is home to topnotch recreational and entertainment amenities that enable rest and relaxation, and MICE-ready, well-equipped meetings and events facilities for intimate to large gatherings, Belmont can go the extra mile to fully enjoy a Cebu experience with tours to nearby attractions like the Mactan Shrine and the Alegre Guitar Factory, or tastefully transform a ballroom into a dream theme. The chef and his culinary team can even whip up surprises from the kitchen, like a local delicacy of budbud, mangga at sikwate for breakfast. 

What else makes the stay in this hotel exceptional? The Megaworld brand of hospitality— warm welcome and first-rate service. Everything is part of the grand plan to give you the Belmont Hotel Mactan experience that cannot be found anywhere else on this side of Cebu. 

Step out of the hotel and play in the 30-hectare “little cosmopolitan town” within the island. You need not stray far for the growing Mactan Newtown has everything expected of a town from dining establishments offering diverse specialty cuisines, nightspots, and essentials like banks, a pharmacy and supermarket. 

Perhaps you are now convinced to live in this exciting township. If you are, there are three condominium properties in the area and 12 more towers are rising by 2024. It will join the eight office towers hosting top BPO companies and multinational firms, and the Newtown School of Excellence, a La Sallian supervised learning institution. 

As Mactan Newtown evolves, several more developments will rise, including a convention center, a museum, and more mixed-use projects. 

When in Mactan Island for leisure or business, stay in this town where everything you may need is within easy reach, including a good night’s rest at Belmont Hotel, Mactan. 

Also published in the SunStar website & Sunstar Davao newspaper.

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