Villa Escudero occupies a vast tract of land that borders parts of the towns of Tiaong and Dolores in Quezon, and San Pablo City in Laguna.
It is about 93 km away, or roughly a 2–2.5 hour drive from my location in Mandaluyong City, situated in the heart of Metro Manila. Thus, we opted to depart early, around 5:30am, to avoid the morning rush hour and reach the venue just as it opens.
Advice: Be sure to have breakfast before heading out, or at least grab something somewhere along the way, especially when traveling as a large group.
Otherwise, you will likely find yourselves feeling hungry after exploring the two museums, roaming about the premises, or even swimming before lunch is ready. You would end up spending more, as prices at the venue tend to be higher. Remember, only the buffet lunch is free.
That was a lesson learned from our first visit, so on our next trip, we made sure to stop at a fast food outlet just past the entry point to the plantation, before heading back towards the venue.
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| 8:00am. Breakfast somewhere along the way. |
Shortly after, we headed towards the final stretch of our destination.
If coming straight from San Pablo City, the entry point to the plantation is just after the Laguna-Quezon Boundary Arch, on the left side of the road. Turn left on that street that is marked with a sign that reads “Villa Escudero, 1km”.
In our case, since we had breakfast at a place past this entry point, we had to drive back and turn right instead.
From the highway, it takes slightly less than 4 minutes to reach the venue parking area.
We arrived early, so there weren’t that many cars yet in the parking lot.
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| 8:14am. Prepping up our gear, just after we arrived at the parking area. |
If you can, bring everything you might need when you choose to enter, since certain amenities, such as the pool area and jacuzzis, are quite distant from this location. Otherwise, you may find yourself making inconvenient trips back and forth just to retrieve your belongings.
Advice: Should you wish to avoid carrying your baggage around, there are lockers available for rent at the pool area, which can be easily reached by taking a carabao ride or hopping on a jeepney shuttle that is parked close to the main entrance. Unless it has changed, the cost during our last visit was ₱100 per locker.
As we approached the reception hall, we encountered some of the staff dressed in traditional Filipiniana attire arriving for their shift.
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| 8:17am. Villa Escudero staff reporting for duty. |
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| 8:18am. The spacious reception hall. |
As usual, the first order of the day is to confirm our reservation, and settle any outstanding balance.
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| 8:20am. Verifying our booking at the front desk / reception area. |
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| 8:21am. Payment via credit or debit cards are accepted. |
Also at the lobby is a site map, allowing guests to familiarize and get acquainted with navigating the vast premises.
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| 8:24am. The illuminated site map, very helpful in identifying the locations of the different facilities. |
After some refreshing lemon tea, we were finally guided to the main entrance of the plantation.
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| 8.32am. Hello Villa Escudero! |
Now, on to our initial itinerary, Casa Consuelo, the ancestral residence that has been transformed into a museum, which was closed for renovation during our previous visit.