Mount Pinatubo Travel Guide
Hi there! 👋 I’m Benj Tupas and welcome to another Philippines Travel Guide where I write DIY and budget-friendly guides on how to travel to all 82 provinces of the Philippines!
For today’s guide, let’s explore Mount Pinatubo in the province of Tarlac!
If you have any questions, you may message me on Facebook. 😍
Summary
This was my second time in Mount Pinatubo.
My first visit was a day hike in 2015. We traveled from Metro Manila around midnight, hiked upon arrival, and went home right after. It was exhausting and I learned my lesson.
We went a day before this time so we are well-rested before the hike.
Day 1:
🚌
Commute to Capas Tarlac
🛖
Check-in at the Guesthouse
🌅
Sunset Viewing at CERAB
Day 2:
🛻
4x4 Ride
⛰️
Toblerone Hills
🚶🏻
Hike
⛰️
Mount Pinatubo
🏊♀️
Bukal
🚌
Back to Metro Manila
Contacts
📱
Option 1: Alvin Bognot (Tour Organizer)
Mobile Number: 09198614102
Prices:
1 PAX - P6,600
2 PAX - P3,450 / person
3 PAX - P2,650 / person
4 PAX - P2,450 / person
Includes: 4X4 ride, guide, all fees, 1L bottle water, meal, toilet, shower, and parking
📱
Option 2: Khey Cadiz (Tour Organizer)
Mobile Number: 09196084313 or 09485901558
P6,700 - Tour for 3 people (P2,233 per person)
If you have the energy, you can do a day tour. You can book either a joiner or private tour here:
Klook Promo Code: BENJKLOOK
Things to Bring:
🪪
Government ID - Don’t forget to bring this for the checkpoint. You can't enter Santa Juliana without it.
💵
Cash - mobile wallets are not widely accepted
💧
1 liter
🔋
Power Bank
🩴
Wear sandals coz you’ll pass by rivers. Wearing shoes is okay but it might be inconvenient coz it'll get wet.
☀️
Face and body sunblock coz you'll pass by a dessert
Check also my best travel essentials here:
💵 Expenses Breakdown: P4,475 - Budget for 2 Days
P237 - Bus to 711 Capas Junction
P100 - Tricycle to Alvin and Angie Guesthouse (P300 for 3 persons)
P2,233 - Tour (P6,700 for 3 persons)
P500 - Food (Lunch, Dinner, Lunch)
P1,066 - Guesthouse (P3,200 for 3 persons)
P100 - Tricycle to 711 Capas Junction (P300 for 3 persons)
P237 - Bus to Capas
Tips for the guide and 4x4 driver. Optional but highly recommended if you enjoyed their services.
Day 1
🚌 10:00AM - Five Star Cubao Terminal
- Ride a bus to 711 Capas Junction in Tarlac
- Fare: P237
- Duration: close to 3 hours
- You can eat breakfast at Jollibee just beside it.
- There are also a lot of stores there for snacks.
🛵 01:00PM - Ride a Tricycle to Alvin and Angie's Guesthouse
- At 711 Capas Junction, ride a tricycle to Alvin and Angie's Guesthouse in Santa Juliana
- Fare: P400 (it’s really far so the fare is fair)
🛖 02:00PM - Alvin and Angie's Guesthouse
- 📽️ Watch Guest House Virtual Tour Here
- They have beautiful and clean rooms that come with breakfast. Alvin, one of the owners of the guest house, is really nice and an entertaining host.
📷
Lunch and Chill
- While waiting for the sunset, just chill at the guesthouse and do photoshoots for the gram! 😆
- We also ate lunch outside to explore their local restaurants. There are a lot of karinderyas outside of the guesthouse.
🌅
04:30PM - Sunset at CERAB
🧠
CERAB means Colonel Ernesto Rabina Air Base
🌅
Catch the sunset. There's a view deck there where you can chill.
🚶♂️
It’s an 8-minute walk from Alvin and Angie Guest House.
🔍
Just search “CERAB Crow Valley Tarlac” on Google Maps
Don't worry. CERAB is a safe place since the army themselves are the ones guarding you. 😆
😴
09:00PM - Sleep Early
🥄
There are karinderyas just outside of the guest house for dinner
☕
Don't forget to request your breakfast to be prepared early coz they need to buy the ingredients the night before.
🎒
Prepare your things the night before so you can go right away tomorrow and start early to avoid the crowd.
😆
There's no nightlife here anyway so you'll be forced to sleep early.
Check also my travel essentials here:
Day 2
⏰
03:30AM - Wake-up
Start early to beat the crowd especially on weekends
☕
04:00AM - Free Breakfast and Get Ready
- Redeem your free breakfast at the guest house
- You'll be fetched by the 4x4 here
✍️
05:00AM - DOT Registration and Briefing
🛻
05:05AM - 4x4 Ride Experience
⛰️
05:40AM - Toblerone Hills
📽️ Experience 4 x 4 Ride and Toblerone Hills
- The hills resemble the shape of Toblerone chocolate bars
- It took around 30 minutes of 4x4 ride from the DOT Registration to reach this place
⛰️
06:15AM - Toblerone Hills
There's another 30-minute 4x4 ride to the hiking jump-off
🚶🏻
Hike to Crater
🚶🏻 Hike is required coz the 4x4 can only reach a certain area.
⛰️ It will take you about an hour to reach the summit. The jump-off point is way nearer now compared to my previous visit in 2015. Lucky for you if you plan to hike here starting today. 😆
🧒🏽 Take photos with the Aeta kids and bring food for them as a donation.
🛖
Resting Hut
💪🏻 If you reach this point, you're near!
😆 There are signs everywhere about the remaining meters to hike so stop asking the guide if it's near.
🚽 There are toilets in the middle of the trek so it’s okay to drink a lot of water coz it’s really hot here. Stay hydrated. (Use reusable bottles. Maybe use Aquaflask 😍)
⛰️
Mount Pinatubo Crater View Deck and Lake
😍 This is the highlight of the Mount Pinatubo trip!
🏃 After an hour of 4x4 ride and another hour of hike, this view is your reward. 🌋😍
🛖 There are huts on the view deck where you can chill and eat lunch.
🌬️ There’s a lake but you can’t swim. Just enjoy the fresh and cool air.
🚶🏻
10:00AM - Hike Back to Jump Off
🏊♀️ You can swim in a “bukal” in between the resting hut and crater.
🧠 Fun fact: According to our guide, one of the foreigners who visited Mount Pinatubo asked the locals to dig a little deeper and add rocks to create this crystal clear “bukal”.
📽️ Watch the Bukal Reel Here (1+ Million Views 🔥)
🗺️ It can be found in the middle of the rest area and the crater. You can swim here. Just ask the guide to pause for a few minutes on the way down.
🥶 The water is really cold. A perfect way to battle the Mount Pinatubo heat. 🥵
🪖
Military Exercise
😍 It was a very fun trip nonetheless. The guides were very nice and helpful in calming the people down.
A Message To Tarlac's Tourism
I love Mount Pinatubo that I visited this beautiful place for the second time around. Most importantly, thank you to our military officers for your service. 🙏
Although it was a really nice experience to witness a military exercise, we got stranded in the desert 🏜️ under extreme heat of the sun for almost 3 hours from 12pm to 3pm. Good thing there were trees but still really hot 😆
We couldn’t pass due to the shooting practice for both military officers and tanks. Pretty cool but scary and super loud! 😆
Aeta kids were crying 🥹, 4 batches of guests no longer have food and water 🥹, most of us only ate breakfast at 5am 🥹, and tourism office not responding and not doing anything 🤡.
I had to step-up and begged the military in-charge through the radio for the kids and old people coz it will only take a minute to pass anyways. (My first time also. Really cool! 😆) It can go up to 5pm to 7pm according to the guides.
This shouldn’t happen again especially if there are kids and old people! 🙏
2 simple solutions:
1. They shouldn’t start if there are still guests.
2. Military and tourism should coordinate.
It was a very fun trip nonetheless. Guides were very nice and helpful in calming the people down. 😍
Thank you and see you again soon, Mount Pinatubo. 🙏
🛻
4x4 Ride Back to the Guesthouse
🥄
Lunch / Rest / Wash-up
You can buy food from the tour organizer, Alvin and Angie's Guesthouse, or the karinderyas just outside of the guesthouse.
🚌
Travel Back to Manila
🛵
Ride a Tricycle to 711 Capas Junction for P300. Ask for assistance from Alvin so you'll get a discount coz it was P400 on the way here.
🚌
Ride a bus to Cubao for P237
Thanks for reaching this far!
👋
Say hi on Facebook if you have any questions about the guide
🗓️
Travel dates: March 19 to 20, 2023