Experiencing Filipino Culture in Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar

We had relatives coming from abroad to visit the Philippines, they're not much of beach persons so our extended family decided to bring them to Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar in Bataan.  We went last November 1, 2018.

I just joined up to the last minute since I was lucky I was not on duty that day.  It's been long since my family did a local road trip anyways.  From Manila to Bataan it was around 5 hour drive.  We actually got lost for a time since my dad put the wrong Las Casas in Waze.

Group Selfie Road Trip

You'll arrive at the entrance and the car can drop you off at the main lobby/entrance, then park at the designated parking lot.  Inside the main lobby, while my cousin was confirming and paying for the walking day tour (Php 2500), you can admire the Instagram-worthy scenery.

The old houses at the back are really pretty.

And since our guests were senior citizens, they enjoyed the scenery and the swing as well.

What's great about this place is that you can let your guests to experience a piece of the Filipino culture all in 1 place. 

They get to experience the jeepney, which was the major means of transportation in the resort.  Here, our guests tried for the first time riding a jeepney.

Another thing they get to experience is riding the calesa:

We then proceeded with the walking tour.  In the walking tour, you get to go to 5 cultural houses, if I can remember it right, house of Dr. Jose Rizal in Calamba Laguna, General Luna, old UP and I couldn't remember the others hehe.

It was hot and humid when we went there so bring an umbrella.  Also since this is quite tiring to visit 5 architectural old houses, our guests actually didn't finish the tour since they got tired already.  During these times, it's better to take note of the health over the experience hehe.

Since the owner of the resort is an architect, you can see the amazing details he put into preserving the architecture outside, inside the houses, not much, a few important pieces probably.

Of course it's great if you can do some cute poses with the houses / churches, etc.

This is the first time my mom tried the "twinning" pose.

Here's a picture of the outside of Hotel de Oriente, there's a tour also inside it but we didn't take it anymore since it was hot and we're tired as well

Inside the restaurants in the resort, there were no air-conditioning, so if it was hot, during lunch time, always remember to bring a fan.

Because of the heat, actually our guests were not able to tolerate it, so they went down the ground floor, at the lobby where there's air-conditioning.  

There are bicycles as well which you can rent to ride inside the resort.  I didn't ride one since it was a little high for me.

Because of the heat, I think my make-up melted.

There's also a boat ride included in the walking tour, buy we didn't take it anymore since our guests were really tired and we decided to go home already.

Overall I think it was a great experience.  Here are some OOTD tips:

1. Wear comfortable clothes (T-shirt/blouse)
2. Pants
3. Comfortable shoes (since you'll be really walking)
4. Some shoes that are easily removed (because you have to take off your shoes when you go inside the cultural house)
5. Hat (because of the hot sun)
6. Sunglasses (to avoid the squinty eyes in your pictures)

Additional essentials to bring:

1. Selfie Stick (if you love taking selfies)
2. Water (because water there is expensive, and during the tour, you don't know where to buy water)
3. Umbrella
4. Fan (because it's really hot)

I think the best time to visit Las Casas is during the December - February season when the Philippine weather is cooler and there's less chances of rain.