I visited Lipa in March 2004 to get to know my wifes family and made a lot of friends too. Its not really a tourist type place, being mainly a pit stop for travellers between Manila and Batangas City.
A busy intersection, no traffic lights in Lipa!
Lipa became a city and major trading post for coffee. When the coffee plantations in America suffered desease, Lipa boomed. Before that it was a rebuilt town after the Taal volcano destroyed it in the mid 19th century.
Favourite spots:
Our transport for the stay
The Cathedral is the only historic point of interest. Nearby is Taal Lake and Batangas city only an hours drive away.
What's really great:
Wife Edita shopping (and bargaining!)
The market, I suppose like many in the Philippines, very colourfull and busy.
Sights:
Daughter Eliza and Nephew Jason watching the sun set over Lake Taal
Taal lake
Restaurants:
Meal at Kenny-Rogers
Jolley-Bee, McDonalds and KFC!
Other recommendations:
Balak Bakan Resort at Sigayan bay
There are about a dozen pool resorts nearby. Otherwise for the seaside, Batangas City (1 hour) and beautifull beaches south-east (2 hours) near San Juan and Laiya. There is a famous and popular scuba-diving site south east (2 hours) near Mabini.
[Added 2005-01-28] Thanks to "solita":
Via the cities of Rosario or Candelera, Laiya lies south of San Juan (Batangas Province). For details to beach resorts there, see: www.waypoints.ph/detail_gen.html (choose Laiya) www.laiyacocogrove.com (Tel. No. 043-969-93702722) www.info.com.ph/~excondea/ >click Laguna Adventures www.wgasupercommerce.com/tour_laiya.asp<-br />
Hi Rudi- so you are married to a Filipina? I'm also a little jealous of your extensive travel! I'm looking forward to checking out your reports and pictures to get some ideas of other worthwhile travel destinations!
After seeing your comment (thanks :) I decided to visit and see if you also had some reports about PI. Yes, I'm in love with the place, too --although not lucky enough to have a partner from PI -- probably the nicest group of people I've met in my life! :) Anyway, I went by Lipa twice on my way to Batangas, but never stopped. But I will next time. I loved that first photo. I just can't get enough of the chaos in PI. Kind of gets all the senses fired up. Also, that beach in the bottom photo looks great. Although it seems by what you wrote that it's not actually in Lipa. The reason I ask is that the next time I go, I was planning to do a slow run down to batangas, stopping at some of the beaches along the way. Well, for sure, I'll hit Lipa next time. Thanks for putting it on my map!
Hi again, just want to know how to go to Balak Bakan Resort, Sigayan Bay. From your picture, its a beautiful place and we might visit it this summer. Can you tell also something about the place, like, its accomodations, facilities, food, etc. Salamat!
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