Quezon | Lucban's Pahiyas Festival

This festival showcases the bountiful harvest of the people of Lucban Quezon. The festivity held every 15th of May is in honor of the town patron saint San Isidro Labrador. The houses were decorated with colorful kiping, different kinds of fruits and vegetables. Kiping is leaf-shaped rice wafers.

Located also in Lucban is the "Kamay ni Hesus" shrine which is a healing church that has been founded in the year 1998 by Rev. Fr. Joseph Ayala Faller. This is a popular pilgrimage destination in Southern Luzon.

Pancit hab-hab and longanisa is also a must try when visiting Lucban. The quit town of Lucban is located in the foothill of mystical mount Banahaw.

The Saint Louis of Toulouse Parish Church (Lucban Church) follows the baroque design.  It has a three-story facade. The second level features semi-circular windows flanked by Corinthian columns and niches containing statues of saints and also has an octagonal, three-story bell tower standing on a square base.

How to get there:

Take bus bound for Sta. Cruz Laguna. From there hop a mini-bus/jeepney to Lucban. Alternatively, take bus bound for Lucena Quezon. Regular jeepneys connect Grand Central to Lucban.

Quezon | Kick-off Adventures at Alibajaban Island

how to get there:

Manila to San Andres. 

Superlines Transport have a daily direct trip to San Andres 4:30 AM, 2:30 PM, and 5:30 PM. Schedule may change without notice. For some inquiries you may call 02-414-3119/02-4143321 and 09225225192. Fare Php.470.00  

 Manila to Lucena 

There are some  Bus lines from Cubao (EDSA-Kamuning-Kamias)  to Lucena (Grand Terminal)  like JAC Liner, Lucena Lines and DLTB, Tritran.  Fare around Php. 220.00   

Lucena to San Andres 

Barney Auto Lines  from Alabang terminal is passing the Lucena Grand Terminal to take passenger going to San Andres. Last trip is 12:00 midnight, then follow the next  trip at 2:00 AM. Four to five hours travel. Fare Php.216.00 . 

There are groups of Van operator in Lucena bound to San Andres. Van Terminal in Pacific Mall 0910-5863023, the schedule are 11:00AM, 1:00PM and last trip is 3:00 PM. There are also van terminal in SM Lucena,  Van Fare is Php. 270.00 .

San Andress to Alibjaban  

From Bus terminal in San Andres proceed to the pier and hitch a ride  for some boat going to the  island. Fare is around Php. 20.00 – Php.50.00. Boats are frequent in the morning to transport their commodities, and buy their needs back to the island.   Reminder: there no regular trip going to the island and vice versa. 

Cagbalete Island ( Mauban Quezon )

how to get there:

From Manila 

There is an hourly trips to Lucena City.  Travel time varies between 3-4 hours. All buses will unload Lucena-bound passengers at the Lucena City Grand Terminal. From here, there are non-airconditioned mini-buses run by NCR Bus Lines that leaves for Mauban on an hourly interval, with the first trip at 5:00 AM and the last trip at 6:00 PM. Travel time is roughly 1.5 hours and the fare is P 60.00.

If you would like to take the Lucena-Mauban leg of the trip in cooler comfort, then you may take a 15-seater air-conditioned van. From the Grand Terminal, take a jeepney to the SM City Lucena or Pacific Mall. There you'll find the GT Express vans bound for Mauban. Fare is P 70.00. Since the van has a smaller capacity, there are fewer stops, therefore you can cut travel time by about 30 minutes.

From Mauban to Cagbalete Island

At the Brgy. Daungan port, proceed to the Tourism Information and Ticketing Booth. Pay the Php 40.00 terminal fee and the Php 30.00 environmental fee.

There are two scheduled public commuter banca trips from Mauban port to Cagbalete Sabang port daily, one at 10:30 AM and another at 4:00 PM. From Cagbalete Sabang port, the scheduled trips back to Mauban are at 7:30 AM and 1:00 PM. You'll be taking either the M/B Neneng or M/B Anthony. M/B I think stands for Motorized Banca. These bancas have a passenger capacity of 40 persons each. We enjoyed the ride with chickens, concrete hollow blocks and cartons of peanut butter. The Php 50.00 ferry ride takes about 45 minutes.

If the tide is low at the time of your approach to Cagbalete Sabang port, you'll be transferred from the banca to shore by a flat-hulled boat. This is moment you'll be thankful you waterproofed your bags with large trashbags. From there, it's about a 10-20 minute trek to your resort of choice. Sabang is in a small fishing village, so expect a lot of kids and a handful of adults to come up to you offering porterage ang guide services.