Last February 2017 when I went back to the Philippines for my short vacation, me and my unica hija Acia had a nature tripping just two hours away from our city, San Pablo Laguna. I am very intrigue with this place as I saw so many post on how people discover this lake and became popular instantly. So I decided to visit this since this is so accessible and I heard the price are very affordable.
San Pablo Laguna is very popular to its known Seven Lakes- Bunot, Calibato, Yambo, Pandin, Palakpakin, Muhikap and Sampaloc. Due to the fast growing of internet everybody are so excited to see and experience a peaceful gateway near Manila and by the help of Facebook, Lake Pandin and Yambo was discovered.
How we get there?
<3 We came from Lucena City and San Pablo City is just two hours away from my province. From Lucena City proper, you'll need to ride a jeepney going to Diversion Road and from there you'll ride a bus either Jac Liner, DLTB or Lucena Lines with Beundia or Cubao trip. Tell the driver to drop you off at 7/11 San Pablo. Fare is only Php 139.00 for adults and Php 115.00 for kids.
<3 If you came from Manila, go to the bus terminal either in Cubao or Beundia then ride a bus going to Lucena. Tell the driver to drop you off at 7/11 in San Pablo City, fare is only Php 139.00 for adults.
From 7/11 San Pablo City, ride a tricycle and tell the driver to send you at Lake Pandin. This will cost you Php 150.00 one way only. So it's cheaper if you go there by group and divide the expenses equally. Time travel approximately from 20-30 minutes.
<3 If you will use your own vehicle you can head to South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) and exit to Calamba. From Calamba head straight to San Pablo.
If you see the signage "To Lake Pandin/Yambo", that's it. You need to trek a little bit, around 15 minutes walk. Upon entering the premises, locals from the neighborhood will approach you to offer a "trek guide". It will only cost you Php 20.00 or depending on how much you want to give them.
The weather is just perfect when we arrived. It is gloomy and windy. you can hear the wind blows towards the coconut leaves and the air is so fresh as what we expected.
After 15 minutes of walk, we arrived at the area. Several tourists are there from Barkadas, family and senior citizens.
The first thing to do is to REGISTER. Upon arrival you should talk to the assigned person from the local of lake pandin and register yourself in the logbook. Then its up to you to decide which package you will avail. These are the following:
--Small bamboo raft w/o food- P180 per pax
--Big bamboo raft w/ food- P360 per pax minimum of 4 person
--Big bamboo raft w/o food- P180 per pax minimum of 4 person
--Big bamboo raft w/o food- P500 per pax good for 2
--Food alone- P350 inclusion of grilled tilapia, enseladang paco, ginataang hipon, one rice, bottled water and banana. If you want grilled liempo just add P20, fresh buko juice is P50.
Things to do in Lake Pandin and Yambo
- Swimming
- Trekking to Lake Yambo
- Sight Seeing
- Food Tripping
- Swing in the most popular swing in the lake
Aside from Lake Pandin and Yambo, you can make side trip as well around San Pablo City. There are several places to visit in this city from cathedral, parks, market and the most known Samploc lake where different kinds of street foods are just along the side of area.
There are so many things you can do in just one day. So many places to discover, maybe you just overlooked your areas as you wish to go beyond your city. Better to start exploring first in the places where it is more accessible to you. Plan and budget everything so things will fall according to plan. I am happy to see my kid happy. Another memories to keep and experience for the both of us. I am now enjoying m daughter's company so for sure next vacation, we'll go somewhere north!
I hope you had fun reading this blog. Feel free to drop your questions if you have any. For all mom's out there, spend your time with your little ones. They grow too fast so make sure in each milestone they have you are there. _
