Batangas Day Tour: Marian Orchard, Cintai Corito's Garden and Shercon Resort

Have you been to Batangas? I have been there so many times already and yet, there are still a lot of great places there to visit. As my being adventurous to seek places aroused me big time, I decided to again, join with strangers to visit say, 3 nice locations within Batangas proper. We decided to have a day tour at The Marian Orchard and The Cintai Corito’s Garden both in Balete, and The Shercon Resort in Mataas na Kahoy.

Batangas, officially known as the Province of Batangas (Filipino: Lalawigan ng Batangas) is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Its capital is the city of Batangas and is bordered by the provinces of Cavite and Laguna to the north and Quezon to the east. Across the Verde Island Passages to the south is the island of Mindoro and to the west lies the South China Sea. Poetically, Batangas is often referred to by its ancient name Kumintáng.

Batangas is one of the most popular tourist destinations near Metro Manila. It is home to the well-known Taal Volcano, one of the Decade Volcanoes, and Taal Heritage town, a small picturesque town that has ancestral houses and structures dating back to the 19th century. The province also has several beaches and diving spots including Anilao in Mabini, Sombrero Island in Tingloy, Ligpo Island in Bauan, Matabungkay in Lian, Punta Fuego in Nasugbu, Calatagan and Laiya in San Juan.

Though as mentioned above, we will be visiting only those 3 places, we can’t cover the rest on a 1 day tour, can we? ;-)

So, the meet up took place somewhere in Cubao, Quezon City as early as 7 AM. This trip was organized care of I Love Adventours and they are doing quite nice accommodating us. The flow of traffic is just as normal as any other day and we reached Batangas in less than 2 hours.

We explore the beauty of The Marian Orchard then took a pause for a while and tried to feel the presence of God Almighty through their infamous Station of the Cross.

The MARIAN ORCHARD was started by Lazaro L. Katigbak in the early 1990s, when he acquired this land where the Marian Orchard now stands.

Through the years, the Marian Orchard has grown into a prayer park that has now been visited by thousands of visitors from different parts of the country and all over the world.

After a while, we gathered ourselves then head on to The Cintai Corito’s Garden.

Cintai (pronounced “Chin-tai”) is Indonesian for the word LOVE.

The Garden started out as an ordinary private family rest house that the family visited every weekend. In 2005 however, their mother Corito was diagnosed with a terminal disease. To help her recuperate from treatment, the family often brought her to the garden because the place made her relax and temporarily forget her sickness. Two years later, Corito finally succumbed to her illness. Her husband together with his 4 children then decided to focus all their efforts into making the garden a paradise since she loved the place so much. They wanted the beautiful memories they shared there to live on thus the creation of Cintai… love for their mother and love for his wife.

Cintai Corito’s Garden is a perfect place to unwind, relax and meditate. It offers 2 pavilions that cater to special events such as weddings, debuts, birthdays or corporate parties. The Garden also has 18 villas, each uniquely designed, available for rent. Guests can enjoy the use of 4 swimming pools of different sizes during their stay. There is also a special playground for children too. Lastly, Cintai is a beautiful sanctuary to unique animals such as alpacas, spotted deer, mini horses, peacocks and a whole lot more.

We also have our lunch from their eat-all-you-can buffet. The food is great as well as its overwhelming garden.

Then afterwards, we will spend the rest of the day at The Shercon Resort.

Nestled amidst the highlands of Lipa and the panoramic view of nearby Tagaytay, Shercon Resort and Ecology Park is the ideal getaway to relax and liven up your senses.

Bounded by lush, verdant greenery and excellent resort facilities and services, Shercon Resort is the perfect setting for every occasion- from Weddings, Social Events, Corporate functions, Meetings, Teambuilding and Parties.

Everyone can enjoy an exciting stay at Shercon Resort with an exclusive use of their 6 swimming pool areas and 11 pocket pools.

Then after a great yet tiring day, we head on to Dreamland Arts and Crafts Café to have our dinner before we hit the road to go back to Manila.

Dreamland have this “disclaimer” that please bear with them as they prepare food not quite as fast as you want them to be. That’s fine with us as we can enjoy listening to a great music from live performer, one or two from the ‘JOINER’ even took the courage to perform as well, so we really did have a great time.