Every year, I spend Thanksgiving out of town (if you have read my first post, you would know why). This year, I initially planned to go to Western Visayas but ran out of time to arrange everything so I had to outline my plan B. So, Bicol, here I come again!

Bicol Region has six provinces. Last year, I got the chance to visit Camarines Norte, Daet and Calaguas in particular. This year, I was fixated in checking out spots in the southernmost part of Bicol. I’d been eyeing on Subic Beach in Matnog town in particular but since we will be traveling by land, I thought of including a side trip to Albay to see Mayon as well. I traveled with my bestie from work and we enjoyed our trip to the fullest even if it was just the two of us and the weather was a bit harsh on us on our first day.

Part 1: Albay and the shy Mayon Volcano

We opted to visit Bicol via land travel since it is 50% cheaper than regular airfare. We were to enjoy Matnog first but due to weather instabilities, we opted to make Albay our first stop. It is a 10-12 hr travel, so we took the last trip bound to Legazpi at 9PM via DBLT to get there by Friday morning. There are a lot of bus lines offering trips to Legazpi at different intervals, check their schedules online to see what is best for you. We reached the town of Daraga at 830AM. We dropped our bags at Balay De La Rama where we were booked for the night. It was raining hard when we got there so my planned itinerary did not push through. Bummer.

Albay is quite a small province and to commute from one tourist spot to another is easy via jeepney and tricycles. We took off and grab some breakfast in Daraga town proper. We wanted some authentic Bicolano food but since it was still early, we were left with Bigg’s Diner. Tried their Bicol special and the laing was average but good enough to fill my hungry tummy. On our way to the diner, we saw Daraga church and decided to start our Albay exploration. The church was just walking distance from the diner. Church is old and made of volcanic rocks. The natural white and black facade and walls were magnificent to the eyes. The church site is one of too many places in Albay where you can have a great view of Mayon. Too bad the skies were acting up that time that is why we were not able to see it’s peak.

Next stop, Ligñon hill. To get there, we had to wait for a jeepney with “Loop 2” sign. We asked the driver to drop us off at Ligñon hill. I read from the blogs that we can hire tricycles to go up the hill but there was none when we got to the starting point. So we had to walk 1km just to get to the top of the hill! It was really exhausting we had to make multiple stops on our way up. But when we got to the peak, the view was exhilarating. You can see Mayon’s perfect cone at this position. Too bad the dark clouds would not go away. On the other side of the view deck, you will see the view of Legazpi City. Rain poured hard again so we had to wait an hour or two before we climb down the hill.

Since we are already in Legazpi, we went to Embarcadero next. It was far from the city proper and the only means to get there is by the ejeepney. You can catch one in front of Ayala Mall in Legazpi city proper. There was nothing much to see here other than the view of Legazpi port. The mall was empty compared to what I saw in some blogs. Most of the stores were closed but there were souvenir stores where we bought ours.

We were tired from all the hiking and walking around so we went back to our accommodation. I was able to find Balay De La Rama online, a comfy bed and breakfast minutes away from the top tourist spots in Albay. It is situated in the highway thus transportation is indeed accessible. We booked the standard room which I think can fit four people. Our room is at the basement adjacent to the garden which gives us a great view. The complimentary breakfast was a full power meal. We had tocino, eggs, turon, pineapples and cucumbers. I think it was a great offer for a night stay in the city. Ms Karen, the owner and manager was accommodating too. Contact her at 09183857939.

After we freshened up, we went to Cagsawa ruins. To get there, ride any jeepney going to towns before Daraga (Polangui, Camalig) then alight at Cagsawa. You will see a landmark with man-made Cagsawa ruins so you won’t miss it. You can either walk or ride a tricycle to get to the site. If you are to do the ATV adventure, this is also their practice site. It was still raining when we got there so guess what, still no sign of Mayon. But the church ruins was beautiful as it is. Rain did not stop us in doing photo-op at the site. There’s a lot of souvenir stores around the tourist spot. My favorite are the key-chains made from volcanic rocks. We stayed there for a while waiting for the rain to stop, but unfortunately it did not.

We were hungry and my friend wanted to try authentic Bicol express. From blogs and food reviews, it was told that Balai Cena Una has the best Bicol express around the area. And it was yummy indeed! I wanted to try other Bicolano cuisine so I had Chicken tinuntungan. It is smoked chicken with coconut milk, just like most Bicol dishes. They have limited dessert choices though. The restaurant has a homie ambiance and I loved it since I have a thing for old houses. Antiques are displayed all around the house for visitors to see. It was a good place to hang out, we stayed for a while then went home and called it a day.

There are still a lot of things you can check out in Albay. Unfortunately, we did not have much time because of the inclement weather. But we still enjoyed as we were able to see the major spots in our original itinerary. We even went back to Cagsawa the next morning since it was sunny already but clouds were still covering the perfect cone of the volcano. We could have waited there but we had to get going for the Part 2 of our Bicol trip.

But God is good. On our way back to Manila, the shy Mayon Volcano showed up and it was beyond magnificent! I will be posting all about the Sorsogon leg of our itinerary on my next post. Stay tuned!

See sample itinerary and expenses for one person below.

Day 0	Activity	Expense Type	Amount in PHP
9PM	DLTB Buendia – Legazpi	Fare per person	810
Day 1	Activity	Expense Type	Amount in PHP
830AM	Bigg’s Diner	Breakfast	150
930AM	Daraga Church
10AM	Lignon Hill	Entrance Fee	20
		Snacks	25
12PM	Embarcadero de Legazpi	Jeepney fare RT	19
		Souvenirs	695
2PM	Balay De La Rama	Accomodation for 1 night	750
4PM	Cagsawa Ruins	Jeepney fare RT	16
		Trcicycle fare RT	20
		Entrance Fee	10
6PM	Balai Cena Una	Dinner and dessert	305
TOTAL			2820