Quick Hike in Tila Pilon Hills DRT

 Coming from SJDM, it took us 1 1/2hrs to get to DRT. It’s not that far but the roads are narrow. Luckily, there’s no traffic so our travel was smooth. You know you’re when you see a huge sign outside the place.

Upon arrival, we paid the 500 for the hiking and guide (50/head for hiking and 300 for the guide) then, JR, our guide, brief us regarding CLAYGO and not leaving any trash.

There are actually 2 paths: the easy one only has 2 ascending trail and the other one has five. We took the easy one but we paid 60 and another 15 to pass by private properties.

I’m not sure how long it took us to get to the top of the hill but the view is indeed amazing. It was easy even for beginners and even our son enjoyed the quick hike.

So, of course, after the tiring activity, we went straight to Tila Pilon Cafe to have lunch. It’s our sweet reward for making it to the top 😁 My son said the cafe offers top notch food and take note, he has high standard when it comes to food. The coffee ranges from 90-150 and the meal ranges from 180-250.

We’re planning to go back sometime to have picnic and just roam around. Even if you don’t go hiking, the place itself is worth visiting. You can just spend an afternoon relaxing and having coffee with a nice backdrop of Sierra Madre.

As of this writing, here’s their rate:

Table rental - 50

Hammock rental - 50

Parking - Car 50 / Motor 20

Biking - 50 (30mins) / 80 (1hr)

Hiking

50 per head

300 for a guide (group of 5)

Overnight camping

100 per head

800 for a guide

Tent rental - 400 ( 2 pax)

Pitching fee - 100

Year End Beach Trip at Subic

Yey! We finally get to spend a few days at the beach, thanks to the eased restrictions.

Anyway, we ended up here in Samba Blueocean because of the location (it’s just a 2hr drive) and the availability (I was able to book Dec 30 - Jan 1 eventhough it’s just less than a week before the trip).

Last Dec 30, we left home at around 4:45AM because we’re anticipating heavy traffic so we’re surprised that only a few cars were on the highway. We paid 60+425 for the toll fee going to Subic, then going back, it’s another 500.

We arrived at 7:20AM and there weren’t that many guests. There were a lot of empty parking spaces so we get to choose a good spot.

We headed over to the front office to settle our balance but since we arrived early, we still need to wait until 2PM to check in. The good thing is we can stay in the waiting area if we already want to swim.

After we had our breakfast, we decided to check out the nearby duty free shops since we still have a few hours.

We first visited Puregold Duty Free, and there were a lot on sale. I scored some sparkling juices for $3 per bottle, some chocolates and snacks for just a little over a dollar. After that, we went to Royal Duty Free. There’s not much to see so I was a bit disappointed. We just went back to the resort to have lunch.

At around 1:30PM, they already allowed us to check in. Our room, Seashell Village, is far from the entrance and a few walks away from the beach.

Our room is basic but super clean. It has its own CR and there a small patio with a table and some chairs where you can chill. They provided us with an extra mattress, a pillow, and a bath towel which is included on the extra head that we paid for. At the back of our room, there’s a common griller and a bonfire.

I was planning to grill our food for dinner but since we’re all tired from the trip, I just ordered from FoodPanda. Luckily, there were a lot of restaurants to choose from.

The next morning, while swimming, we saw a boat selling fresh catch so we bought Tambakol for 250 and grilled it for our lunch. The boatman offered to cook it for 200 but I thought it’s pricey. There’s a small sari-sari store inside the resort selling all kinds of stuff so I bought a small pouch of soy sauce for 20 and a 1L distilled water for 40.

After having our lunch, we then went to the front office to rent a Kayak. It costed us 380 for 1 hour. I’m not sure if it’s just the right price but I think it’s still within range.

At around 3PM, we went back to our room to rest and order food for our dinner.

After having our dinner, we went to the beach to check out the New Year Countdown event. At first, we’re hesitant to join but we’re glad we did. We didn’t even notice the time because we had so much fun.

On our last day, we just took one quick dip before leaving. I also bought a bag of indian mangoes for 100 to ease my craving.

Overall, we had fun. I wasn’t expecting much from the resort but they exceeded my expectations. We’ll definitely come back here for quick trips.