CALABARZON

About CALABARZON

CALABARZON — Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon, with Calamba as its regional center — is Metro Manila's backyard. Tagaytay's ridge above Taal Lake, the hot springs around Calamba, San Pablo's crater lakes and the Batangas coast are all within a few hours of the capital, which is why our guides here lean toward weekend trips and retirement towns rather than flights.

Getting there

By road from Manila: about 1–3 hours to most of the towns in our guides and 3–4 hours to Lucena, longer on weekends. NAIA in Manila is the airport for the whole region. Batangas City's port is also the jumping-off point for Mindoro — the bus takes 2–3 hours and the fast craft to Puerto Galera another 1–1.5 (about 2 by RoRo).

When to go

The region runs on two calendars. The Batangas, Laguna and Cavite side follows Manila's: PAGASA's Ambulong station in Batangas logs 3–5 rainy days a month from January to April and 16–18 from July to September. Quezon's Pacific coast is the reverse — Infanta averages 21–25 rainy days a month from October to January, with 746 mm in December alone — so a December beach plan belongs on the Batangas side. Our month-by-month guide has the national picture.

Climate: PAGASA climatological normals 1991–2020, Ambulong and Infanta stations. Travel times come from our destination guides, where each is dated.

City Guides in CALABARZON

Explore Other Regions