Villa Sylvia Resort, Nagcarlan

By Lakwatsarah June 22, 2012

Nagcarlan, Laguna may be more famous for its Underground Cemetery, a one of its kind in the Philippines. On the other hand, we were introduced to a more exciting Nagcarlan during our recent Laguna Weekend Getaway. All thanks to this beautiful mountain refuge, Villa Sylvia Resort.

Just a little more than 2 hours from JacLiner Bus Terminal in Buendia on a night time commute, we decided to start our weekend trip and rest for the night here at Villa Sylvia Resort. My companions, all tired from office work wanted to start the trip that Friday evening. We hopped on a Lucena bound bus and alight at San Pablo Church (city plaza beside 7/11). From there, hopped on a jeep bound to Nagcarlan and dropped of at the resort situated just along the highway. It was 12mn when we arrived at the resort and were welcomed by Ving. We chose the Php1,800 air-conditioned room (good for 8 people) and dozed off in no time.

Mt. Banahaw and Mt. Cristobal

We woke up with a good sunny weather and an awesome view of Mt. Banahaw and Mt. Cristobal. The municipality of Nagcarlan straddles across the foot of Mount Banahaw (on the west-northwest slope) and Mount San Cristobal (on the north-northwest slope).

There is no restaurant within the resort but they offer breakfast delivery from a partner food establishment. We ordered different sets of Pinoy breakfast with free choice of coffee or iced tea worth about Php80. The resort's staff members were helpful telling us the easy way to Pagsanjan. They were, however, not familiar with the Cavinti route, the cheapest way to Pagsanjan falls.

Check out our trip to Pagsanjan Falls: the Php150 Challenge

We plan on visiting the Nagcarlan Underground cemetery on our way back to Villa Sylvia but as you can see from the picture below, it's already getting dark by the time we passed by this picturesque wall, reminiscent of my Intramuros visit. After a tiring trek down the Pagsanjan Falls, the last thing we wanted to do is to explore an underground cemetery during the dark at magtakutan, after all, the tourist spot is only open til 5pm.

just passing by Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery

After leaving our things in the room, we started going down the resort for a good night swim. It's great that we started early as groups started coming in, plugging their karaoke killer machines. We had the whole resort to ourselves on our first night and it was so peaceful. Now that it's Saturday night, the whole vibe of the resort made a 180 degree shift.

Still feeling full from our super late lunch/afternoon dinner, we munched our camping baon (read: ready to eat canned goods) for midnight snacks at sa kama na talaga kami nagcamping. Even though we decided to cancel our Anawangin trip just hours before our supposed commute to the north, we thanked God for giving us this alternative trip. We were told that it was raining heavily all day in Subic area - good thing it's sunny here in the south!

The following day, we decided to have a simple breakfast because we are all anticipating a good lakeside buffet lunch in Lake Pandin. But before heading to San Pablo, we checked out the resort's batis area - one major reason why I chose to stay in the resort. Our first plan was to take a dip after we finished our trip to Pagsanjan but arrived at about 6pm, late enough to be granted access to the stream.

the inviting pool

As the early morning sun beams its rays on top of the stream's crystal clear water - the group's energy is up as our day 2 is off to a very good start. This natural pool with water coming from a nearby Mt. Banahaw is so inviting that we ditched the idea not to swim. Heck, we still have time before going to the main event of day 2 which is another swim at Lake Pandin.

gustong gusto na namin magtampisaw

The water is cold but not freezing cold, just enough to freshen up and awaken our free spirited selves. The natural flow as we laid our back against the rocks comforted our aching arms and legs, slightly battered from yesterday's climb. We were like little kids playing under Mother Nature's enchanting aqua garden.

ang sarap mahiga!

kids playing with their toy boat - mga batang swimmers!

At the opposite end, we carelessly laid ourselves against the cascading gush of water onto a slanting slab of concrete wall. The sun peeks its rays from time to time. We smiled, laughed and prayed - what a wonderful day this is Oh Lord. You never fail to amaze me with your wonderful creations. Thank you for this gift and for introducing me to a new set of friends.