Exploring Bicolandia as a Family

Deciding to spend the holidays in Bicol was a bit last-minute. Financially, staying home made more sense, but the boys had been looking forward to a trip—something we usually do when we’re all on break together. Plus, Jay and I wanted uninterrupted time with them.

I initially wanted to revisit Baguio or Sagada, but Jay was keen on exploring new places with the kids while we still can. We usually join budget group tours (I still hold on to our Ilocos trip experience, haha!), but after our last Sagada tour service being a bit of a let down (the service, not Sagada, just to be clear!), Jay insisted on a DIY Bicol adventure instead.

(READ: The History and Sights of Sagada)

I worried about the budget—group tours let us see more places for a set price—but I was up for the adventure, so I said yes. We planned a 5-day trip covering Legazpi, Sorsogon, and Naga, booking our bus tickets and accommodations via Bookings.com, Agoda and Airbnb, hoping we made the right call.

We had commitments until Christmas Eve, so we booked a night bus to Legazpi on the 25th and a return trip from Naga on the 30th—just in time to be home, safe from firecrackers on New Year’s Eve.

For long trips like this, we always take a night bus so we can sleep through the ride and wake up ready to explore. It worked well for our Baguio trip before, so we stuck with that plan.

(READ: Bean heads in Baguio)

A Late Geography Lesson for Me

Now, please don’t laugh… okay, fine, you can laugh—haha! Silly me! This is exactly why traveling is important for young learners. I had never been to Bicol and didn’t pay much attention in Geography, so I assumed that a bus from Cubao would be faster than from Alabang. So, of course, I booked from Cubao.

Later, I realized my mistake—Bicol is in the opposite direction! Alabang is actually closer, and my husband knew but didn’t bother to correct me! Even the kids had a good laugh. But all good, I let them live, haha!

Our Bicol Adventure Itinerary

Legazpi

• Cagsawa Ruins
• ATV ride

(READ: Exploring Bicol – Cagsawa Ruins & ATV Mayon Trail)

• Jovellar Underground River (canceled due to rain)
• Sumlang Lake

Sorsogon

• Donsol Beach (whale shark sighting attempt)
• Ogod River firefly watching

Naga

• Wakeboarding in Camsur

(I’ll have another blog about our activities because there’s a lot to tell.)

What We Missed and What We Did Instead

We couldn’t visit the underground river because of heavy rains, and news warned of possible floods and landslides. We already learned about this on our way to the Cubao bus station in Manila. I turned to Jay with eyes opened wide and we prayed hard—we didn’t want to turn back and disappoint the kids.

And let’s be real—our bus tickets and accommodations were non-refundable. But our kids’ safety came first, so we had to weigh our options.

At the Cubao bus station, we saw a lot of Bicolanos heading home, and we learned that these warnings are common during storms. So, we decided to push through and take things one day at a time.

Since we were already at Sumlang Lake when it started raining, we made the most of the place, renting water bikes and enjoying the view instead. Lukas loved it the most—must be the introvert in him. I liked it too… if only Jay had pedaled with me! But he said he was tired from pedaling for Judah, so he let me pedal for most of it during my turn, haha!

Don’t Eat Meals in Cafés!

We ate at Socorro’s, which was also by Sumlang lake. It’s so popular that we had to wait for a table. In fact, I learned about this restaurant from other content creators.

Socorro’s is known for authentic Bicolano dishes in a charming ancestral house setting. We ordered Bicol Express, Laing, and Crispy Kare-Kare. The food was delicious, and the prices were surprisingly reasonable.

Restaurants in Bicol are generally affordable—we also ate at Colonial Grill in Naga and Siramsana Resto Bar in Sorsogon, and their prices were just as reasonable.

Cafés, however, are a different story. The coffee and pastries were okay, but the food was expensive, almost like Manila prices. We tried two cafés in Legazpi, and both shocked me with their menu prices.

One was near our hotel, and since it looked like a small neighborhood spot, we assumed it wouldn’t be pricey, but I was wrong! After that dinner, I turned to Jay and declared, “No more eating at cafés for the meantime!”

By the way, we stayed at Parmview Inn in Legaspi. It was a bit of a  long walk from the malls, you need to take tricycles and jeepneys, but the service was so fuss-free. The room we had was comfortable, clean and spacious, and so was the bathroom. But it’s more like a transient house, with bunk beds and no TV. But we didn’t mind it at all because we were usually out the whole day and only came back in the evenings to wash up and rest.

The Whale Shark That Didn’t Show Up

We took a chance on seeing whale sharks, knowing it was unlikely outside of summer. The staff at Donsol Beach confirmed that, they felt obliged to because the price of the boat was 5K plus gears, but we went anyway since some travelers had spotted a few around this time of year. We hoped a whale shark would show up for us, as well.

We didn’t see any, but all good. We just jumped into the sea with our guide for a swim. He encouraged us to snorkel, but there wasn’t much to see underwater. Good thing we’re not really into snorkeling! The kids still had fun swimming, especially Judah, who absolutely loves the water.

The Beautiful People of Donsol

The people of Donsol are hands down our favorite Bicolanos so far. They were warm, chill, and eager to make sure we had a great time. We learned a few things about them, too.

When we arrived, our tricycle driver, Ronniesena, turned out to be a high school teacher who drives on the side. He even gave Jay his number in case we needed a ride later.

We also met Salve, a server at Siramsana Bar, who gave us the contact for their hotel in case we wanted to return. She told us how the government’s shutdown of the sardines industry in Sorsogon had devastated the local economy. Since tourism peaks only when the whale sharks are around, people struggle to make a living for the rest of the year.

When we visited, there weren’t many tourists, but at least businesses were still open. Salve mentioned that the restaurant would close after New Year and reopen in the summer. Meanwhile, she’d have to find another source of income.

Oddly, I couldn’t find any news about a full government ban on sardine production—only seasonal bans to prevent overfishing.

Incidentally, the sardine run has become a tourist attraction itself. But according to our guide, whale sharks don’t like sardines because they’re too chaotic. They prefer calm waters, warm sunshine, and algae floating near the surface.

(READ: Turning 13 and celebrating our 18th in Boracay)

Our Stay at Manel’s

I booked Manel’s guest house because it was near the Ogod Firefly site, which we heard was the original firefly-watching spot in the area.

The guesthouse was in the middle of a rural neighborhood, so we were initially surprised to pass through shanties to get there. But once inside, it was beautiful—newly built, with cozy beds, high-tech bathroom facilities, and well-functioning air conditioning.

We rented both second-floor rooms, and the only minor downside was having to log into Netflix with our own accounts, which we decided against.

But the best part of the place? Nora!

She went above and beyond—getting us a tricycle driver for our firefly tour, connecting us with a restaurant for dinner since there were no eateries nearby, and even offering to do our laundry because we couldn’t find a laundromat!

We had packed light, thinking we’d find a DIY laundromat like we have back home. That didn’t happen, so we happily paid Nora for washing our clothes. By the next morning, they were fresh and ready to go.

We only stayed in Donsol for a day—three days in Legazpi and our last day in Naga, where we went wakeboarding.

Here’s a compilation of the action we had in Bicol:

Our Ogod Firefly Experience

Sadly, we weren’t able to take good photos of our firefly experience. The boat ride to where the fireflies were was nothing short of a thrill. It was dark and we were in a boat with strangers — well, it was the boat man, another guy and the female guide, so technically, they weren’t strangers.

Perhaps it’s because we were the only ones that evening and it’s been raining, so there were no stars, that it felt uneasy at first. But they were good people. The female guide told us things about the fireflies that we didn’t know about, like how their life span as adult fireflies are only for as long as one month. A larva lives for about a year.

Fireflies blink to attract mates, their primary purpose in their adults stage is to reproduce. Once they’ve accomplished this, they die soon after.

The one thing that Judah knew about fireflies was that Fireflies produce light through bioluminescence, a process where a chemical in their bodies reacts with oxygen, creating a glow with minimal heat, which our guide confirmed.

We didn’t get to take photos that evening because none of our mobile cams were good enough to capture the magic. The kids had a bit of fun trying to catch the fireflies and watch the trees filled with them. But it started to rain again, so we headed back to base and that was that.

Thank God for Camsur!

Our experience in Naga was a bit of a culture shock, especially after spending a day in Donsol and three days in Legaspi.

Naga felt almost like Manila—a bustling city filled with people, crowded malls, busy streets, a coliseum and a lot of people waiting to ride the jeepneys home. The bus trip from Donsol was really long and exhausting. We came on a Sunday, so that could be a factor.

It didn’t help that the house we booked in Airbnb was horrible. I almost regretted going to Naga! But wakeboarding at Camsur the following day was so much fun that I just dismissed all the things we experienced the day before.

As I mentioned earlier, I’ll also be diving into all the activities we actually got to do in Bicol—because, trust me, there’s a lot to tell and videos to show!

Unlike our previous trips, this one was more about family fun than education. But, as always, we still ended up learning so much—about Bicol and its people, and picked up some knowledge from them, as well.

If you’re planning a trip, I highly recommend giving yourself more time to explore—Bicol has so much more to offer than we expected. This isn’t the end of our Bicol story, for sure. One day, we’ll be back to experience the rest of it.