Top 5 Things To Do When Visiting Subic
I’ve been living in the Philippines for a year and a half now, but sadly I have not had the chance to travel and see the sights here nearly as much as I would like to yet. There are so many beautiful and unique places in the Philippine Islands, and not nearly enough time to see them all! So, for our honeymoon this January, I was super excited to finally have an excuse to go for a road trip and get to explore more of what this beautiful country has to offer!
We picked the Subic Bay/Olangapo area as our desired destination. We picked this area primarily for the beaches – but it turns out, Subic has so much more to offer than we could have ever imagined! Here’s my top 5 list of things you should definitely do when you visit the Subic area.
Top 5 Things To Do When Visiting Subic
5) Visit Jungle Environment Survival Training (JEST) Camp
If you were one of the lucky girls who was able to experience Clothes Buffet Manila last October, you may have received some discount coupons for Magaul Bird Park in your goody bag like I did. It turns out that Magaul Bird Park is located within JEST Camp, and there are several other things that JEST offers aside from the array of beautiful birds there!
The birds may be plentiful, but there are definitely other things worth spending time on at JEST, as well! You definitely want to catch one of the Survival Training Demonstrations while you are there. A survival expert will show you how to make dishes out of bamboo, how to start a fire with nothing but bamboo and a bolo in less than 1.5 minutes, how to drink fresh water out of a vine, and many more awesome techniques for surviving in the jungle!
There are also a couple of fun activities for you to try at JEST! David and I had a lot of fun completing a survival training course that required us to maneuver through obstacles on an above-ground course. There is also the Goliath Swing, a giant swing that sends you swinging over a cliff with an amazing view of Subic Bay, and the Magaul Maze Quest.
4) Check Out the Beaches!
Of course, if you come to Subic Bay, you’ve got to get a taste of the beaches. The entire area is incredibly beautiful and the water feels so nice and refreshing. The best part is that the beaches are sandy, so you can enjoy sinking your toes into the soft sand as you walk around.
We stayed along Baloy Long Beach, and the area also has a ton of restaurants for you to choose from, many of which have amazing views of the beach. We loved eating our dinner with a view of the sun going down over the beach. Everything was so blissful out there.
3) Go Horseback Riding at El Kabayo Stables.
As huge lovers of all things related to either animals or nature, my husband and I were eager to go for a horseback trail ride that enabled us to enjoy both! I’ve always been a horse lover, but have had very few opportunities to be around them, so I jumped at this chance to go riding on our honeymoon.
Atop Supreme, my companion for the day’s ride
It was a really cool ride. We rode to the El Kabayo Waterfalls where we were greeted with a wonderful view of fresh, flowing waterfalls and green scenery. We were allowed to spend 10-15 minutes enjoying the falls before our guides (and our horses!) took us back to the stables. It was a 30-minute ride each way, so we got to enjoy a whole hour with our beautiful equestrian companions.
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