Sea, Sun, Sand, Shore, Surf

With South China Sea to its west, bringing in massive waves, La Union is one of the go-tos for beach-lovers and surfers alike. Located in Region 1, with San Fernando City as its capital, La Union is teeming with surf resorts, situated next to each other. With only a few meters separating each resort, you can have your own pick, whether you're after the more modern yet classy accommodation, or the simpler rural style.

Going there, you can take the plane or bus, or if you're more on the adventurous side, you can take your own car with you and go on a road trip. The bus ride takes around 6-7 hours, depending on the driver, while if you're a bit impatient on the road, you can book a flight which takes only an hour to get to San Fernando airport. 

On our part, we brought our private car. It took us roughly 6 hours to get there and 6 hours back, as we made stopovers for meals and to take a leak. 

From Metro Manila, we took the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX). We drove the whole length of the expressway, up until the very end. At the end of the expressway, you can either take the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), wherein you end up entering McArthur Highway, or pass by NLEX/SCTEx Mabalacat Interchange, going all the way to Dolores exit where you'd end up on McArthur Highway as well. What we did was we exited NLEX and drove up until the very end, entered Mabalacat City, and eventually ended up on McArthur Highway. We just drove along McArthur Highway, passing by different cities such as Tarlac City and Urdaneta City, and eventually entered Bauang, the southern border of San Fernando City. Driving up ahead to San Juan, just five to ten minutes north of San Fernando City, is the haven of surf resorts. 

View of the sunrise along McArthur Highway

This is the second time we went to La Union. We stayed at Costa Villa Beach Resort on our first visit, acquiring coupons for the accommodation. The resort is a bit difficult to locate, so if you plan to stay there, you better keep your eyes open as the sign is not that visible. The ambiance is a mixture of urban-rural architecture. The food was good, although their food options weren't that many, but what matters is the quality. The chef was very accommodating, as well as the resort staff. The owners were there and very friendly, too. The resort has a mini pool where you can hang out with your friends and have a chitchat. They provide rooms good for two people or rooms for groups or families. Our room was clean and cozy, and they provide cable TV. No WiFi connection is available, although, it wouldn't really matter as you went there to swim and have fun, not to lounge around.

Near the entrance and front desk

View from the entrance

Our room

View from the resto

Mini-bar

The mini-pool

Top 2 photos: Lunch 1st day; Bottom left: Breakfast 2nd day; Bottom right: Dinner

Views from the shore; Sunset middle photo

On our second visit, we stayed at San Juan Surf Resort. It's one of the first resorts you pass by upon entering San Juan. The resort has that modern ambiance in it. They have bungalows good for two and villas for larger groups, as well as family rooms. The rooms are clean and the whole place is well maintained. They have a surf shop located near the restobar, housing Billabong products from shorts to bikinis, hats and sunblocks, rash-guards and slippers, blankets and bags.

Clockwise: Signage near the restobar, native statue in the restobar, the restobar, bungalows and villas, sunset view

San Juan Surf Resort offers WiFi connection in their restobar. They offer a lot of food choices, where Salo-Salo Meals are available, which are good for groups of two or four. Since there were six of us, we ordered two Salo-Salo Meals (good for 2 and good for 4) for dinner. We found out later on, though, that we ordered too much. Still, with all the afternoon activities working up our appetite, we ended up consuming the whole lot. The room rental came with free breakfast for two. Their breakfast options came with Filipino choices as well as American choices, with free beverage such as coffee, tea or orange juice.

Left side: Salo-salo meal good for 4 (Grilled pusit or squid, Laing, Crispy pata, Adobo)
Right side: Salo-salo meal for for 2 (Adobo, Grilled Tuna Belly, Eggplant)

Learning to surf is an adventure as this is not a common activity that you encounter every time you're at the beach. Every resort there offers surf lessons, but the cost for the lesson varies. San Juan Surf Resort offers surf lessons at an hourly rate of Php 400. Though you may think that an hour is too short to have fun, but surfing is not an ordinary activity. It is a sea sport requiring you to exert your arm muscles to prop yourself up on the board, strong core muscles as well as strong leg muscles to be able to stay upright on the board. It is a great experience for beach-lovers, giving you an hour's worth of strength exercise. If an hour is too short for you and you still thirst for more fun and adventure, you have the option to add more hours, but of course, you have to pay by the hour. Once you're confident that you can surf on your own, you can just rent the surf board at Php 200 per hour. Though those who can't swim can still try out surfing, it's better if you can swim so you wouldn't hold back plus you'd get the most out of the experience. 

Short surf lesson prior to the actual thing

Costa Villa Beach Resort provides free rental of rash-guards

On our second visit, the waves weren't that massive and strong. According to the locals, the best time to go surfing is from September to March, where you'd certainly enjoy surfing as waves would be swallowing you one after the other. 

Once your surfing eacapade is over, you can head over to San Fernando city for a quick tour of the area. You can go visit the Ma-Cho Temple as you enter the city, coming from San Juan. Other tourist spots worth visiting are the Poro Point Lighthouse and La Union Botanical Garden, which is 6 kilometers from the city center. If you're more of the religious/spiritual type, you can visit the St. William Cathedral, Christ the Redeemer, and the Pingandan Ruins. These are ancient sites exhibiting the passage of time but are very solemn and very well preserved. 

At the heart of San Fernando City is the famous Halo-Halo de Iloko Balay, located on Zandeuta Street. With their name bearing their specialty, it offers halo-halo mixed with a secret recipe which adds a different twist to the common halo-halo that we love. They offer a lot of Filipino delicacies, with an option for a one-person meal or for groups of 2-3. The place is situated in front of a residential house, making their yard as the resto. The setting is very native and very homey, with a lot of woodwork such as the inner walls and furniture. A lot of native materials could be seen in the restaurant. Tourists and locals flock to this place, including celebrities, all dying to get a taste of what they can offer, but most especially their special halo-halo.

The interior design and ambiance

Clockwise: Lemon juice with honey; Fried Bagnet with KBL + Tinolang Manok + Mix of Seafoods (good for 2-3); Special halo-halo; Regular halo-halo; Sisig meal (good for 1);  Cheese sticks

Our weekend getaway was much more memorable since we got to buy the Minions toy from McDonald's. The toys were out of stock in Metro Manila, and I so wanted to have one. Luckily, the toys were available in two of our stopovers (breakfast first day and lunch the next day) in Rosales, Pangasinan, a town near Urdaneta City. With a weekend full of sea, sun, sand, shore and surf, the fun was topped up with a group of yellow-colored adorable knickknacks.

Going back to Manila, you can take McArthur Highway all the way to NLEX, or you also have the option of taking SCTEx midway, within Tarlac City, for a quicker route, and taking the NLEX exit. Keep you eyes on the lookout cuz if you don't, you'd end up in Clark, which is a different adventure altogether.

So pack your bags and hop on a bus/plane/car and head on to the beach. Summer may be over, but it's always fun to be at the beach no matter what season it is.

For a guide on different bus lines going to San Fernando from Metro Manila, as well as airline and flight schedules, visit the site here.

Showing you the route we took. Quite a long ride but it was worth it. ^.^