[Visit Ph] Three Days Out of Manila, Part 1 of 3

Hello there! I´m back from my two weeks vacation in the Philippines!  It was a short break, and although I was tempted to cram those two weeks with trips around the islands, in the end, I decided I wanted it to be a very laidback experience, one that would allow me to enjoy the everyday moments with the family.

Of course, being travel-crazy Pinoys who wouldn´t stay put,  my family and I decided that  a short weekender  in Calabarzon would not be too much of a hassle, so that´s what we did!   Calabarzon, if you do not know, is the region just south of Manila made up of 4 provinces - Cavite, Laguna, Batangas and Quezon.


Our Base: Ricarte´s Hill , Batangas via AirBnB
I rented a small vacation house in Airbnb in Nasugbu, Batangas.  It was the perfect location, since it was just 10 minutes away from Tagaytay city center, but it was far enough to be really peaceful and provincial.  The two bedroom resthouse with a wading pool and a kiddie pool was inside the owner´s mango farm, so the location was very rustic and full of trees.

    itsy bitsy spider in the garden

                             
The house was just big enough for the six of us, with two rooms, one with a queen sized bed and another with 2 double beds.  There were foldaway mattresses and extra pillows available.

The house itself was spic and span, the pools were cleaned daily and there are helpers who can assist you.   The cooking area itself is separated from the house by a few yards, but that´s okay.  We didn´t cook at all haha!  We did avail of their cooking services and had one breakfast and one dinner catered.  For breakfast we had garlic fried rice, tocino, tapa, longanisa and ham plus putok pandesal. For one dinner we had kare-kare, laing, inihaw na liempo, rice, leche flan and buko pandan.  The food while not stellar is full of that homecooked goodnes, like something an auntie would cook for you. For our three day stay inclusive of the two catered meals,  I paid only  250€.  Truly value for money!

Because our rented flat was right smack in the middle ofNasugbu and Tagaytay, we could, if we wanted, enjoy the beaches of Nasugbu and the cool highlands of Tagaytay.

We decided to forego the beaches and instead went on a trip to a hacienda in Quezon, visited a bee farm in Cavite and went around Tagaytay for some fun and food trips.  Details on my next posts!

Ricarte´s Hill Garden Resort
Book through AirBnB 
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