Lenten season or better known as Holy Week is one of the prime vacation/travel times in the Philippines. It is usually marks the beginning of summer travels. People usually either go out of the country to shop and sight see, or flock to the beaches or to higher mountain places to either get a tan or escape the heat. This year was different than the past 3 years. Travel restrictions have eased and it was full on open vacation season.
Our family wanted to do a quick getaway to the beach. We decided to rent an AirBnb at Liwliwa, San Felipe, Zambales. The province of Zambales is located in central Luzon and is known for its sandy beaches. The Municipality of San Felipe is one of the many municipalities in Zambales known for its beaches. Prior to this trip, I have never heard of Liwliwa. I had no idea what to expect and sometimes that can be either good or bad. What was supposed to be a 3.5hr drive turned into an almost 7hr drive due to the exodus of people from Manila going to their north of Manila vacation spots. So after an almost full day drive, we finally arrived at Liwliwa. Sitio Liwliwa is long stretch of beach along Sto Nino, San Felipe. I was quite surprised to see lined up along the whole long stretch of the beach were small vibey communities or villages. No big developments or big name resorts just small communities with small house resorts and AirBnb intermixed with surfer places, restaurants, arts places. It was totally not what I expected but in a good way.
The village we stayed in is called El Zamba. It’s a small community that offers everything from more upscale AirBnb places, to smaller ones like the one we rented, to multi-family resorts, glamping and camping facilities, cafes, restaurants and ATV rentals. Due to the sheer number of people there, their power supply had a hard time coping so we would experience several multi-hour power outages each day and cell signal was really spotty. But surprisingly, I really enjoyed the laid back, slow paced and vibey feel of the whole place.
The AirBnb we rented is called El Pablo Beach Villa, hilariously named after, you guessed it, Pablo Escobar. It even had a photo of him outside the gate. It’s a small house with 3 small rooms, 1 outdoors pool, outdoors kitchen and dining. Nothing fancy but just the basics we needed for a our stay.
The beachfront itself was quite basic. No powdery white sands, just your basic swim and surf beach. There we so many people visiting during our time there so I didn’t spend too much time swimming and instead I spent my time just chilling and taking photos.
Overall, I really enjoyed my stay there and wouldn’t mind coming back to it when it is less crowded. It’s a great place to disconnect from the hustle and bustle of work and simply sit back, relax and recharge. For this trip, I simply used my Fuji X100V + Fuji WCL for all the photos 🙂 Thanks for visiting. Please do hit the like and share. God bless 🙂
Daniel's Lighthouse 