Cabangan is among the 13 cities that make up the province of Zambales. It sits proper in the course of the province, bordered by the cities of Botolan on the north and San Felipe on the south. Its western facet immediately opens to the West Philippine Sea. It’s about 2 hundred kilometers from Manila, which might take round 4 to 6 hours journey time.
It was as soon as a laid-back city with only a handful of resorts and vacationers, with residents largely farmers and fisher people. Throughout the final couple of years, resorts have mushroomed throughout its beachfront and tourism has began to choose up, due in all probability to the booming browsing scene on the neighboring city of Liwliwa.
Even with this, Cabangan continues to be fairly laid-back. Should you’re in search of a seaside getaway with not a lot vacationers, Cabangan may be the weekend getaway for you.
HOW TO GET TO CABANGAN
Solely Victory Liner ply the Manila-Cabangan route. From Manila, you possibly can take these with Iba and Sta. Cruz signal boards. These can be found for Caloocan, Cubao, Sampaloc, and Pasay stations. Journey time is round 5 to 6 hours. Fare is at round ₱370.00, give or take.
Saulog Transit additionally passes by Cabangan, however its route is restricted from Olongapo to Iba solely.
Driving to Cabangan is simple sufficient. From Manila, take the NLEX (North Luzon Categorical Approach), then hook up with SCTEx (Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway) going to Subic. From there, take the Olongapo-Bugallon Freeway till you attain Cabangan. Drive time is round 4 hours.
UNDERSTAND CABANGAN
Geographically, Cabangan is principally divided into two land areas by the Olongapo-Bugallon Freeway. West facet for the seaside half, east facet for the mountain and river areas. Within the midst of those two is the city middle the place the Municipal Corridor, the market, banks, ATMs, meals locations, church buildings, groceries, and comfort shops are.
Language-wise, the city is roughly divided into two elements through the Tangway River. The northern space speaks Zambal whereas the southern half, Ilocano. However, everybody can perceive and converse Filipino or Tagalog fluently. And like in every single place else within the Philippines, most can perceive English—although can’t converse as fluently.
SAFETY IN CABANGAN
It is vitally protected in Cabangan. Being a small neighborhood, criminality is kind of low and virtually non-existent. The one factor to be careful for are the quite a few stray canines alongside the streets (and possibly just a few cows and carabaos, must you wander throughout farmlands, lol), which may get fairly labored up upon unfamiliar vacationers.
STAYING CONNECTED IN CABANGAN
Globe and Good (additionally Solar) networks have very robust alerts all through Cabangan. Web connectivity can be superb. Personally, I can say that the Web pace in Cabangan even exceeds these in Manila—in all probability because of the low inhabitants of customers within the space.
GETTING AROUND CABANGAN
There are three modes of public transportation in Cabangan; the tricycles, jeeps, mini-buses, and common buses.
To get from one barangay to the subsequent utilizing the principle freeway, locals use both the jeeps, mini-buses, and common buses that ply the freeway. And to get from the freeway to the barangay interiors, they use tricycles—which have particular terminals per barangay. Minimal fare for tricycles is about at ₱20.00 per particular person.
Be aware that it’s fairly straightforward to get a tricycle once you’re alongside the city middle, however when you want one whereas inside the inside barangays, you would possibly discover it troublesome to search out one. My tip, get the cellular variety of the primary tricycle driver you’ll experience on.
WHAT TO SEE AND DO IN CABANGAN
The primary cause folks go to Cabangan is the ocean. Cabangan Seashore is split into eight barangays and these are simply accessible through automobile or public transport. The waves listed here are actually not for everybody, it’s robust most occasions of the yr. It does get calm through the summer time months, particularly through the early mornings. It’s truly as a consequence of these robust waves that surfers began to flock Cabangan.
The opposite points of interest in Cabangan may be discovered alongside its mountainous space alongside its jap facet. Right here, you possibly can go to Dapya River and Agbubutilya. These are literally particular areas of the Maporac River. The previous is nice for a laid-back picnic whereas the latter is healthier for the extra adventurous guests because it includes a little bit of a hike and a few cliff leaping actions.
One other river vacation spot is the Namnel Watershed. Getting there includes passing by means of non-public roads marked with No Trespassing indicators although, so I’m unsure if it’s actually authorized to go there.
For these wanting a little bit of a hike, there’s additionally the Matag-Ay Lanum Falls in Barangay San Juan.
For these actions, I strongly advise that you just contact the Cabangan Tourism Workplace.
►Fb, (0929) 816-5103, cabangan.mto@gmail.com
One other picnic place we frequent is the Bangan Pier river cottages. Bangan actually interprets to an estuary—a physique of water the place the river meets the ocean. The water right here could be very heat, shallow, and brackish. Small rentable huts have sprouted alongside its banks and comes with limitless balsa or raft rides.
Apart from the seaside, most of those vacationer spots—that are picnic locations—truly require a full day or, on the most, half day expertise. These are particularly satisfying for giant teams.
Cabangan can be a very good place for birding fans. I’m no avian professional, however I do see a whole lot of chook varieties each time we keep there together with kingfishers, crows, bulbuls, nice egrets, Brahminy kite eagles, to call just a few—or truly, these are the one ones I can determine.
Should you go to throughout Christmas season, head over to the Cabangan Municipal Corridor through the evenings to see the annual Cabangan Christmas lights show. Folks from throughout Zambales flock the city for this.
WHERE TO EAT IN CABANGAN
Apart from the standard carinderias and road meals stalls discovered alongside the principle highway of Cabangan, there are just a few notable eating places you possibly can go to on the town. There are the basic go-to eating places like LC’s Cease & Chow and TCT Emily’s which serves conventional Filipino and Western fares. Then there are the brand new ones like twenty first Bean (a resto café serving fraps and pastas), 1st Streat (good for picnic take-outs), and Arya’s Chill & Grill (Center Jap dishes).
Getting meals whereas on the seaside is a little more difficult since there are hardly any locations to eat within the space apart from the resorts’ in-house eating places. One place we frequent after going to San Isidro Seashore is an easy mami and goto place, Mami Madz.
WHERE TO STAY IN CABANGAN
As of final rely, there are at the very least seventy resorts dotting Cabangan Seashore. These vary from actually costly seaside homes and resorts, to DIY pitch-your-tent sort of locations. That’s from ₱10,000.00 plus per night time to lower than ₱1,000.00 per night time.
For essentially the most attention-grabbing lodgings, take a look at my Finest Cabangan Seashore Resorts article.
For inexpensive lodging, I recommend testing Google Maps, since most resorts in Cabangan don’t have Agoda listings.
WHAT TO BUY IN CABANGAN
The one vacationer associated memento I purchased in Cabangan is a San Isidro Seashore shirt from Mami Madz, moreover that, there’s about zero memento gadgets on the town.
Neglect about your Cabangan keychains and ref magnets, what you possibly can carry dwelling as a substitute are native foodstuff you should buy on the public market—panutsa (cannon-sized candy sugar cane balls), pilipiting (dried anchovies), alimagmag (dried tiny shrimps), and rice cake treats like suman, patupat, and cascaron. And don’t overlook the mangoes—Zambales is known for his or her candy dinamulag mangoes they even dedicate an entire pageant for it, the Dinamulag Pageant.
When you have a cooler with you, you can even carry dwelling contemporary barillete fishes, these are skipjack tunas that are like smaller variations of yellow-fin tunas.
CABANGAN TOURIST SPOTS MAP
CABANGAN SAMPLE ITINERARY
Not like different seaside locations in Zambales, visiting the city of Cabangan just isn’t actually match for a two-day weekend. Nicely, you possibly can undoubtedly do it, when you simply zip by means of the points of interest and easily chill on the seaside. Or you possibly can take away the Day Three of the itinerary, however you’d need to sacrifice your time on the seaside.
Should you actually wish to maximize your time on the town, three days ought to do it. Why that lengthy? It’s as a result of most locations in Cabangan are picnic locations, they require at the very least half a day to actually get pleasure from it. Cabangan is a gradual journey kinda place.
All these locations are reachable through public transport, however it may be a problem. Having a personal automobile is unquestionably a bonus. Be warned, some areas in Cabangan require tough driving, so be sure your automobiles are match for some filth highway actions.
And once more, contact the Cabangan Tourism Workplace for steerage and an precise bodily information if you wish to go go to Matag-Ay Lanum Falls, Agbubutilya, and Dapya.
As for the journey finances for a three-day trip in Cabangan, I’ve but to know the precise charges for the far-off vacationer spots on the town. I’ve contacted the tourism workplace, they usually mentioned that they are going to formulize an ordinary price for such quickly. I’ll replace this half as soon as I’ve extra information.
DAY ONE | ₱XXX.00 PER PERSON BASED ON A GROUP OF TWO
Early morning arrival
Early verify in at resort (go away baggage on the foyer if not allowed)
₱40.00 – TRICYCLE TO RESORT FROM BAYAN, PER PERSON
₱2,000.00 – AVERAGE RESORT RATE, GOOD FOR TWO PERSONS
Swim at Cabangan Seashore
Picnic lunch at Bangan Pier (carry take out meals from Bayan)
₱40.00 – TRICYCLE TO BAYAN, PER PERSON
₱200.00 – TAKE OUT FOOD PER PERSON, APPROXIMATE
₱??.00 – TRICYCLE FROM BAYAN TO BANGAN PIER (ROUNDTRIP, GET DRIVER’S MOBILE NO.), APPROXIMATE
₱500.00 – COTTAGE RENTAL
Swim at Bangan till sundown
Dinner at twenty first Bean
₱250.00 – AVERAGE MEAL PRICE PER PERSON, APPROXIMATE
₱10.00 – JEEP FROM 21ST BEAN TO BAYAN, PER PERSON
₱40.00 – TRICYCLE TO RESORT FROM BAYAN, PER PERSON
DAY TWO | ₱XXX.00 PER PERSON BASED ON A GROUP OF TWO
Breakfast at resort
₱2,000.00 – AVERAGE RESORT RATE, GOOD FOR TWO PERSONS
Go to and hike to Agbubutilya
₱40.00 – TRICYCLE TO BAYAN, PER PERSON
₱200.00 – TAKE OUT FOOD PER PERSON, APPROXIMATE
₱??.00 – TRICYCLE TO AGBUBUTILYA JUMP OFF POINT
₱??.00 – GUIDE FEE
Hike right down to Dapya River
₱20.00 – ENTRANCE FEE
Lunch at Dapya River (carry take out meals from Bayan)
₱300.00 – COTTAGE RENTAL
Early dinner at LC’s Cease & Chow or on the resort
₱??.00 – TRICYCLE FROM DAPYA RIVER TO LC’S STOP & CHOW, APPROXIMATE
₱250.00 – AVERAGE MEAL PRICE PER PERSON, APPROXIMATE
Sundown on the seaside
₱10.00 – JEEP FROM LC’S STOP & CHOW TO BAYAN, PER PERSON
₱40.00 – TRICYCLE FROM BAYAN TO RESORT, PER PERSON
DAY THREE | ₱XXX.00 PER PERSON BASED ON A GROUP OF TWO
Breakfast at resort
Chill on the seaside
Take a look at of the resort
₱40.00 – TRICYCLE TO PUBLIC MARKET, PER PERSON
Purchase pasalubong on the public market
₱XX.00 – TOTALLY UP TO YOU
Depart Cabangan
► ₱XXXX.00 ~ TOTAL BUDGET PER PERSON BASED ON A GROUP OF TWO
