I came across some pictures online of a waterfalls restaurant. The wanderlust in me was intrigued so I searched where it is. I was new to Lipa and little did I know that the place is just around 45 minutes away from home and there is a shortcut going to Tiaong without traversing the National Road. The plantation is so huge at 800 hectares and it encompasses the San Pablo City in Laguna and the municipalities of Tiaong and Dolores in Quezon Province. The entrance to Villa Escudero Plantations was P1250 per head for a day tour including the buffet lunch at the waterfalls restaurant. We went there on a Friday because there is also a cultural show every weekend. The price was quite expensive but we pushed through because dining in a waterfalls restaurant is a new experience for me and not everybody has the chance to have lunch in bamboo tables, eating in banana leaves while the water of Labasin Falls is brushing your feet. When we arrived, we were in for a big surprise. It wasn't just the waterfalls restaurant and the cultural show that the plantation has to offer but a lot more. It is more like an immersion to our rich Filipino cultural heritage. So aside from the lunch at the waterfalls restaurant and the cultural show, we also enjoyed the carabao drawn cart as our transportation around the villa with plantation singers singing us folk songs, bamboo rafting at Labasin Lake, tour at their museum and of course the ambiance of being in a Philippine countryside. We could have enjoyed swimming at their swimming pool too but we were not able to bring our swimming attire. They also accept overnight stays and functions. We haven't seen the inside of their rooms but I bet they are top of the class, too.
Experience the allure of Philippine country life at Villa Escudero Plantations and Resort.
A self-contained working coconut plantation, It was founded in the 1880s by Don Placido Escudero and his wife Dona Claudia Marasigan. Originally planted to sugarcane, the crop was converted to coconut by their son Don Arsenio Escudero in the early 1900s. A pioneering agro-industrialist, he built the country's first working hydroelectric plant to supply his dessicated coconut factory and Villa Escudero, where he and his wife Dona Rosario Adap built in 1929.
Their children opened the estate to the public in 1981. From its humble beginnings, the resort has become a prime tourist destination for locals, overseas Filipinos and a wide array of foreign visitors to the country. It has a worldwide reputation as a showcase for the Philippines' rich cultural heritage, offering a beguiling glimpse of its history, cuisine, dress, customs and natural beauty a mere two hours away from Manila.
The waterfalls created by the Labasin Dam
Rode this carabao drawn cart to the main reception and with plantation singers singing folk songs
Relaxing landscape
The main reception where the cultural show is held
Waterfalls
Filipino cuisine
We were early for lunch
Filipino buffet
Cultural show
Labasin dam with the cottages for accomodation
Bamboo rafting
Labasin lake with Mt Makiling hidden by the clouds
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