DAPITAN CITY

Hello my Nomadic Friends!

Today's travel guide, let me take you to the "Shrine City in the Philippines, DAPITAN CITY. Located at Zamboanga del Norte, Philippines, it is a 3rd class city with people speaking "Bisaya" as the local dialect, as well as Tagalog and English for tourists conversations.

Dapitan City is widely known in Philippine history as the place of exile of national hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal during 1892 - 1896.

My first visit in Dapitan was together with my family way back some 15 years ago during our annual summer road trip. Having been almost all over Mindanao except for the central region. And then my second visit was in 2008 together with BF. All in all, I've visited the place for about 5 times.


HOW TO GET THERE

FLY. Cebu Pacific & Philippine Airlines flies daily to Dipolog City. From there you can take an "EVERGREEN" bus to Dapitan.

BUS. Rural Transit provides daily travels all over Mindanao area so taking a bus shouldn't be a problem.


WHERE TO STAY

DAKAK BEACH RESORT. All guests are escorted from the airport or any point of origin from Dipolog for a 45min. ride to Dakak Beach Resort and back.

Frankly speaking, during my visits to Dapitan City, I always stay in Dipolog. From Dipolog to Dapitan it's only 20-30min ride.


WHAT TO SEE

Dapitan City is rich with history, gastronomical places, loads of sight-seeing and boasting off "Fantasyland" as the first amusement park in the Visayan-Mindanao region of the country.

RIZAL SHRINE. The original estate of exiled national hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal during his 4yrs of exile. From there he built his home, school and clinic.

SAINT JAMES CHURCH. Constructed by the Jesuits in 1883, Dr. Rizal stood to hear mass during his years in exile.

RELIEF MAP OF MINDANAO. Right across St. James Cathedral is a Relief Map of Mindanao created by Dr. Jose P. Rizal roughly 900sq.m. It was intended to teach Geography & History to the town's people and to beautify the town as well with the help of Fr. Francisco Sanchez.

DAPITAN BAY. Catch the afternoon sunset and indulge amongst the line of seafood houses to satisfy your appetite.

HERITAGE HOUSE. One of the oldest house in Dapitan which was later converted into a museum.

GLORIA FANTASYLAND. The first amusement theme park in the Visayas-Mindanao region of the country.

DAKAK BEACH RESORT. Ofcourse, a visit in Dapitan wouldn't be complete without a one night stay in Dakak Beach Resort.

Dapitan City may not be the kind of City you would expect being a city, but the place is full of rich history, adventure trip and great beaches.


WHAT TO DO

Dakak Beach Resort offers an array of adventure activities.

• 300m drop zipline. Dubbed as the "Longest Zipline" in Asia.
• ATV
• Horseback riding
• Airsoft
• Rock Climbing
• Scuba Diving & Snorkeling 
• Water Sports
• Kayaking
• Cove Hopping
• Golf, Lawn Tennis, Billiards & Bowling

Enjoy and be a kid again with Gloria's Fantasyland rides.  For guests staying in Dakak, you'll get complimentary tickets to Gloria's Fantasyland.

Tickets for walk-in's please visit GLORIA'S FANTASYLAND and check.

Gates opens from 4pm - 11pm. From Dakak to Fantasyland send off time via resort's shuttle bus starts at 6pm every hour thereafter until 10pm. For Pick-up from Fantasyland back to Dakak via resort shuttle bus starts from 10pm every hour thereafter until 1am.

Enjoy!!!

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN TO LATELY?!?!

Much Love..

DIPOLOG

Hello my Nomadic Friends!

Today's travel, let me take you to Dipolog. Situated at the Northwest part of the Zamboanga del Norte province. Just a drive away from Dapitan and the famous Dakak Beach Resort.

HOW TO GET THERE

FLY. Cebu Pacific & Philippine Airlines provides daily flights to and from Dipolog. Book your flights in advance to avoid expensive tickets.

BUS. Travel by bus. Rural Transit provides daily an hour interval trip to and from Dipolog in Mindanao area.


WHERE TO STAY

HOTEL CAMILIA 1. In my numerous travels to Dipolog, I always go back to Hotel Camilia. REASON: I LOVE THE BED. I am very much picky with beds. I have tried other hotels but their beds was not up to my standards.

A Standard Room costs P750.00/night with 2 single beds. Perfect for budget conscious travelers.


WHAT TO DO

LINABO PEAK. Climb the 3,003 steps and bask in that panoramic view of Dipolog & Dapitan. During the Holy Week, devout Catholics would climb up those steps all the way to the top to perform their penitential rites.

BOULEVARD. Watch the sun go down while enjoying the fresh sea breeze at the boulevard. From there, you can treat yourself to some street food.

GASTRONOMY. Dipolog has a lot to offer when it comes to food. From the street food stalls at the boulevard to the BBQ restaurants to Seafood Houses.

One particular place that I had to go back to was AN'S SEAFOOD HOUSE. They serve the best "Sinigang"! I think it was 2 yrs ago since BF first brought me there and I fell in love with the food they serve. So this year, I insisted that we visit An's SF house again. Well, we can't exactly remember where it was so we had to drive around town to find the place to have lunch before my flight.

Then I was craving for cake in the late afternoon. So we headed down to GRANDMA'S and got myself Braso de Mercedes. Not the kind of cake I was looking for, but since there's nothing else, and even Goldilocks ran out of cakes, I settled down for this Pinoy classic dessert. It has been a long time too since I last had Braso de Mercedes.

What I really did in Dipolog a few days ago was to celebrate Valentines with BF. Well, we don't celebrate valentines actually being far most of the time. But this year, we have so many things to be thankful so I booked a flight and behold, our 2nd time to celebrate VDAY being together for so long.

We did not however book expensive restaurant nor booked any hotel. We had our date "outdoor style". Yep! After picking me up from the airport, we had lunch together with BF's sister & family at Sunburst and right after lunch I was left to rest at Ate Ching's place while BF was prepping up for our "date". LOL.. We don't do dates really. Having been together for a long time.

Late in the afternoon, BF picked me up and we headed up to the "TIERRA".

Hold and Behold! The sweetest thing ever.. We have an outdoor picnic set-up and a tent pitched. With no toilet but thankful that we had water for washing. LOL.

So it was. He gave me a bouquet. He BBQ'd dinner. And I was the Queen.

We stayed there for 2 nights. Mosquitos were part of nature's elements. It was windy though at night. And with no toilet, we had to dump it there. Piss & shit. It was fun! I had a great time!

So guys, how did you celebrate Valentines???

DIPOLOG 2008

DIPOLOG 2009

DIPOLOG 2012

DIPOLOG 2014

Mad Love.. xoxo