Last month, Exotic Philippines was invited to come over to Davao Philippines to cover the BIMP EAGA & IMT 2014 event. I’ve extended my stay in Davao (thanks to ALU Hotel for helping me out with that) for a day to be able to have a quick tour, even just for a day.
At first, I thought there are just few destinations that we could visit in Davao though it’s a huge area. But then, I was wrong. A day to tour Davao is not enough to fully enjoy it, I need at least 3 days to really cover the bests of it.
For you not to make the same mistake that I made, let me share with you Davao’s top tourist attractions, destinations that is a must visit. Please take note that these are my personal lists of tourist attractions that I wish to visit (because I wasn’t able to finish everything) or wish to revisit. Also, I did not arrange this by rank.
Pearl Farm Beach Resort
Davao’s Pearl Farm Beach Resort is one of the destinations in Davao that I wish to visit. Sadly, I wasn’t able to visit it but I really wish to come back and just experience the beautiful beach and the sands on my skin. Other than the beach, the resort also offers numerous activities like jet skiing, banana boating, fly boarding, kayaking, scuba diving, and more. Well, actually (for me) the beach and the view is enough reason for me to visit.Samal Island
Samal Island is a ferry away from the city, it’s another tourist attraction that I wasn’t able to visit. We did plan to but then someone else invited us to meet someone and visit a good restaurant. Samal is that place in Davao that you can get away from the city life.Eden Park
The Eden Park is one of the attractions that comes highly recommended to visit, but I didn’t know that it takes 2-3 hours to go to the place from the city and there’s a schedule for the tours. I was all ready at around 11am but the lady from the event told us that the tour starts at 1PM, and that we must go immediately so we can make it in time. So, we decided to cancel the trip and decided to walk around the city instead.Eden Park offers tour packages (with and without meals), and a number of activities like skycycle (biking in a line), skyriding, and they even have butterfly garden. But what people love most about the place is that you’ll be able to reconnect with nature again. Please take note though, there are no mobile signals here since it’s too far away from the city, they say you’ll be lucky if you’ll get one bar.
Apo Ni Lola
Apo ni Lola is a durian candy factory, well they don’t just make candies but different varieties of durian actually. From ice cream, shake, and spread, they have it in their store.
Their marketing manager told us that they’re planning to expand soon around the country so people don’t have to go to Davao City just to get a taste of the best durian.
Orchids Farms
There are a number of orchid farms in Davao city, I only know two (2) but our tour guide from Davao Tours 4 Fun Travel told us a different orchid farm which sadly was not included in our afternoon tour. So I guess there are a lot for you to choose from, but really if you love orchids then go for it! I was supposed to buy an orchid for my Mama but because our time is not enough, we were not able to visit any.Jack’s Ridge
It’s one of the tourist attraction in Davao that I really love, I just love the view but they said it’s best during night time. All you can see then are city lights but because we visited the place in an afternoon, so I got this view.
Still, it's really good though. You may also like to go swimming there since they do have a pool, or dine in with friends at their restaurants, or sip a coffee (or durian coffee) while watching this amazing view. They also have a great place to have a wedding there, and I can totally imagine someone having their wedding there, it could be really nice.
Monfort Bat Sanctuary
We were personally invited by the owner Norma Monfort, the 2011 Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund Hero and Davao’s very own batgirl to join them in their NovemBAT feast for us to experience how it’s like to be with these awesome bats.But then, because we’re leaving before than, we can’t visit the place – but we’d love to one day.
Banana Beach
The Banana Beach is called “Banana” for a reason, I’m not sure if it’s because they also have a lot of bananas but they’re placed just right beside a Banana plantation. They offer differet types of tours, they have the river tours, forest, orchard, plantation, and twilight safari tour.Comparing their beach to Samal Island, the Samal island is better and they offer similar activities to Samal too.
Aldevinco
Most of the Filipinos love to buy pasalubong for family, friends, and relatives and if you want to buy local souvenirs then go ahead and head to Aldevinco! There are a lot of stores for you to choose from, if you buy a number of items don’t forget to haggle with the store owners.Fruit Market
Davao is not only blessed with Durian, but they’re also blessed and rich with Pomelo and Mangoestene. You can buy all of theme cheap at the fruit market where the Davao travel agency we have brought us, there are really a lot to choose from there and they’re really cheap compared here in Cebu.
That ends my top 10 list of Davao tourist attractions, I’ll try my best to share some of the destinations that I was able to visit in Davao Philippines.
Let me grab this opportunity to thank the Davao travel agency that provided us with the tour, Mrs. Marlene Jamila of Davao Tours for Adventure for personally accommodating us and of course, the lovely Ivy our tour guide. I highly recommend the travel agency, it's just like having a tour with your aunt, they're easy and fun to be with, and of course they're the most affordable in Davao.
DAVAO TOURS FOR ADVENTURE
Unit B, The Site
Mapa cor, Jacinto Extension, Davao City
Tel. No.: (082) 3024383 / 09258774111
Email: info@davaotoursforadventure.com / tours4fun_samal@yahoo.com
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