La Union 2019 – 3d2n DIY

How to start the year 2019? Well, my friends and I decided to start it with the things that we really love to do.

✔ Eat and Travel!! 🙂

We agreed to start our year by visiting La Union province.

La Union is only 4 to 5 hours travel from Manila via Bus. We rode Viron Transit (Sampaloc Terminal) around 1:30 am, bus fare was 470 Php. Our bus left the terminal around 2am and we arrived in San Juan, La Union around 6:30 am.

Since we arrived 8 hours earlier before our check-in time, we decided to have our breakfast first in a restaurant nearby.

After eating our breakfast, we strolled along the highway to look for a place where we can stay for the meantime. After 10 minutes of walking, we found a parking lot filled with gigantic wall art. You just need to pay 10 pesos before you can snap some photos.

After an hour of photo-ops, we decided to visit the beach area at the back of the parking space. We discovered it was the beachfront of Flotsam and Jetsam beach hostel.

After taking some photos and appreciating the view, we decided to have our lunch at The Coffee Library in San Juan, La Union and stayed there until our check-in time.

Around 1pm when we decided to go to our hotel and requested to check-in an hour earlier than the usual check-in time. Fortunately, they allowed us. We rested for 3 hours before we decided to go to the beach area.

We stayed in the beach area until the sunset before we decided to have our dinner.

We had our dinner in Beach bum Food Park a 4 minute walk from Sebay Surf Central where we’re staying.

Around 9pm when we decided to go back to our hotel and rest because we needed to wake up early the following day for our tour.

We woke up around 5 am the next day to prepare for our tour in La Union. We had our early breakfast first before we rented a tricycle for 1600 Php.

Here’s our itinerary:

Tangadan Falls
Bahay na bato
Baluarte Watch tower
Pebble Beach
Noble Tower
Ma-cho temple
Halo-halo de Iloko

We started our tour around 6 am. Travel time from Sebay Surf hotel in San Juan, La Union to Tangadan Falls’ jump-off point in San Gabriel, La Union was around an hour.

Upon arrival, we hired a tour guide because we’re required to trek for an hour and there’s no direction going to the falls.

Here are some of our photos during our hike:

The trek going to Tangandan falls was not easy. You are required to walk in a very steep roads and cross the river and a dam going to the falls. It took us more than an hour before we finally reached the main falls.

Trekking for more than an hour was all worth it because of the falls’ breathtaking view.

Our biggest regret going to the falls was when we didn’t bring any swimwear with us.

Around 9 am when we reached the main falls and after an hour of photo-ops and appreciating the majestic view of Tangadan falls, we finally decided to go back and proceed to our next destination for the day.

It took us an hour again before we reached the jump-off point where our hired tricycle driver was waiting.

After less than an hour, we finally reached Kamay na bato (Art Gallery) in Luna, La Union. We paid 20Php environmental fee before entering the gallery.

After we spent half an hour, we proceeded to our next stop. For our third destination of the day, we visited Baluarte Watch Tower in Luna, La Union as well.

Based on my research, Baluarte Watch tower a 400-year-old historical landmark in Barangay Victoria was used by the Spanish soldiers to spot incoming pirates.

Our fourth and fifth destination was Pebble Beach and Noble Tower. We did not spend a lot of time in both places, we just captured some photos and proceeded to Ma-cho temple in San Fernando, La Union.

Pebble Beach:

Noble Tower:

Before you can enter the tower, visitors are required to pay for 10 pesos per person.

Noble tower is a beautiful and classy resort. Every inch of the tower was built of pebble stone that made the resort unique. You can also go to the top of the resort’s tower to witness the 360 degree view of Luna, La Union.

On our way to San Fernando, La Union, we passed by a lush trees along the highway, it looks like the man-made forest of Bohol. We asked our driver to stop for the meantime for us to appreciate the view and snap some photos.

It took us less than an hour before we reached our last spot of the day. For our last stop, we visited the Ma-cho temple of San Fernando, La Union.

Based on my research, Ma-Cho Temple is a Taoist temple that was dedicated to the sea goddess, Mazu.

The temple is facing the sea that makes the view more captivating. We’re able to appreciate the beauty of the place because fortunately, there were only few people visiting the place.

We also need to act accordingly to give respect to others who were praying during our visit.

After taking tons of photos, we agreed to have our lunch. Actually, we finished the whole tour around two in the afternoon without eating anything except for our early breakfast on that day. We originally planned to eat at Halo-halo de Iloko however, we no longer continued due to influx of customers waiting for their turn.

We decided to go back in our hotel to look for a restaurant where we can eat our lunch.

For our last day in La Union, we decided to spend it at the beach. I really wanted to try surfing however, I’m frightened because of the huge waves and enormous rocks around the beach that’s why we just decided to swim and play with the waves instead.