Iloilo – Bacolod Day 3 (Going around Bacolod – Part 1)
Itinerary for the Day:
Iloilo New Port to Bacolod Port, Campuestohan Highland Resort, The Ruins, SM Bacolod, Aida’s Chicken, Masskara Festival, Bacolod Port to Iloilo, Chika-an at Robinson’s
We left for Iloilo New Port from Go Hotels Iloilo at around 6:30 in the morning to catch our ferry to Bacolod at 7:00am. For breakfast, we bought a few local delicacies from the shop at the terminal. Travel time from Iloilo to Bacolod was around 40 minutes to an hour.
When you arrive at the port, there will be a lot of taxi drivers that would persuade you to take their service. Our destination was at Campuestohan Highland Resorts which was more or less an hour away from the city of Bacolod. Initial rate was actually quite steep at around P2000.00 round-trip, but we were able to get a taxi driver that was willing to offer us a package of Campuestohan – Ruins – SM Bacolod for P1200.00.
Tip: Haggling is an important skill. If all else fails, try being “pabebe”. There are a lot of taxi drivers to choose from. One of them is bound to give in!
Once again, our expectations were blown away when we arrived at Campuestohan. For P150.00 entrance fee each, one gets to explore the entire highland resort, paying only an additional fee for some of their attractions such as the pool (I think this one’s free), zip line, obstacle course, and sky cycle.
Tip: It can get very cold so it would be best that you bring a jacket just in case.
After paying the entrance fee, we took a short walk around and headed to their restaurant for lunch. We ordered rice, 2 kinds of soup (for warming up!), and a viand.
The food was good enough, nothing great but still satisfactory. I really liked the soup though. Flavorful and warm. Perfect companion to a light drizzle. Anyways, I wasn’t able to get a copy of their menu but they do serve a variety of food so even vegetarians would be able to eat here.
Once we were cozy and filled our tummies, we went around to marvel at this amazing man-made resort. The entire place is quite picturesque, and… well, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.
Aside from the rides, activities, and view, they also have a number of attractions for you to take your selfies with and unleash your inner childhood or even geek-ness. Selfie with super heroes? Check. King Kong? Check. Optimus Prime? Check. Snow White? Check. Even the Kung-Fu Panda Gang was present! There’s just too many going on at this place and they’re still expanding!
Once you’re tired from all that, head to some of their themed areas to catch your breath (unless it takes your breath away instead)! Ever dreamed of being a hobbit and seeing how it feels like to live in the era of the Lord of The Rings? How about being a native, worshiping totems or dancing around a fire? Then it’s about time you try it out here.
Our adventure around Campuestohan was around 3-4 hours and was definitely worth every cent and minute. Unfortunately, we weren’t quite prepared for it so we didn’t allot enough time and had the proper attire to try everything out. Rest assured that I’ll definitely come back in the future, be less of a scaredy-cat, and just do everything. Hopefully, they’d have finished their expansions by then.
After having soaked up the wonderful view and feeling nature at its best, we rode our taxi back to Bacolod City and went off to the Ruins.
Up Next: The Ruins, SM Bacolod, Aida’s Chicken, and everything else.
