Nuvali

One Saturday morning: “Let’s go to Nuvali this afternoon!”

“this afternoon” came one week after.Ü But at least, I’m glad to say, we finally got there.Ü

How to get there:

The Nuvali website gave several options on how to get there. Since I was torn between Mamplasan and Sta. Rosa, I asked my cousin what better exit to take and I was told to take the Sta. Rosa exit. So I did. And with just a text message as a guide (Sta. Rosa exit then take the way going to Tagaytay, a little bit after Paseo de Sta. Rosa is Nuvali on the left) I got to Nuvali without any hassles. You won’t get lost anyway since they have signs on the way going there and it would be hard not to notice the big NUVALI sign on the Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay highway.

It took me around 40min. to get there coming from Sucat on a Saturday afternoon. I was a bit surprised that traffic was not heavy at the time I was driving at SLEX (except from Sucat to Alabang, but it was moving) and I was just too happy to traverse SLEX with its now wider road and still without any lubak.Ü

What to do:

There are several things that you can do at Nuvali: Eat, bike, feed the fishies (this is not a typo error, I really call them "fishies" coz it's cuter Ü), ride a boat, at gumulong-gulong sa grass.

Eat: Some of the few establishments at Nuvali are Yellow Cab, Crisostomo, Starbucks, Bona Coffee, Brothers Burger, David’s Tea House, Pig Out, and Conti’s. The latter two is where we had dinner & dessert. We were joking around while eating at Pig Out coz it took them forever to serve us our food when we only ordered crispy pata & fish and they weren’t exactly brimming full of customers at that time. But lo and behold! Come 7:30pm the waiters, who were wearing superhero costumes, started dancing to the tune of Insomniac & this other song that I don’t know the title. We were just laughing our hearts out coz it was the first time for all of us to see Batman, Robin, Supergirl, Batgirl Jasmine (teka, hindi naman superhero si Jasmine???), and that girl counterpart of Robin (who’s she? "Robina", according to my friend? LOL! And when we asked her, hindi rin nya alam kung ano’ng superhero name nya. Haha!) dancing! I actually took a video of them so that I’ll always remember the first time I saw superheroes dancing.Ü Oh, it also took them long to bring our bill.

Bike: This is what we did at Nuvali. P60.00 to rent their bike for an hour. They only have mountain bikes for rent but you can choose the bike that fits you best in terms of height. Bawal umangkas. Only 1 person per bike. And no slippers allowed. Good thing my friends brought shoes along otherwise, one hour kaming magtititigan dun. Or maybe they can just run while some of us ride our bikes. LOL! Helmets are a must and must be worn at all times. Plus, you have to sign a waiver and surrender an ID before you can rent one of their bikes. What’s nice about their bikes is that it has a basket in front, very much practical especially for girls so that we have a place to put our bags or any what-have-yous. You can only bike on the designated paths which means you’ll have to share the lane with the people walking around the place, which wasn’t actually that crowded when we were there (but it was still a challenge for me coz I was like a drunk driver on a bike. Such a laughtrip for my friends. Such a nerve-wracking experience for me. Haha!). Our motto for the day: "Have bike, will go anywhere." So we got to the farthest part that our bikes can reach. I was just too happy to get there because we were able to bike on the road (no need to stay on the path) since cars were not yet allowed to pass and there were no other bikers around. Oh heaven! This is my ideal biking situation.Ü By that time, I ♥ biking already.Ü

Feed the Fishies: For P15.00, you can feed the Kois in the big pond. But you can only feed them from 8am-5pm because the fishies are on an “After 5” diet. So get there early. I’m just wondering if you can bring your own feeds to give to the fishes. Wag lang sigurong bread, kasi masisira ang diet ng fishies. Bawal ang carbs. They’re on a diet, remember?Ü I was actually surprised to see all the fishies in the pond. They were just oh-so-many! Too many actually that my heart goes out to them coz they were like fighting for dear life just to get some of those feeds that the people were giving them. It was like the feast of the Black Nazarene, fish-style, minus the rope.

Ride a Boat: P30.00 per head for a round trip ticket. They don’t offer one-way tickets. I don’t know why. Hehe! A special trip (I guess this means you get the boat all to yourself) costs P180.00 for a minimum of 6 pax (I didn’t ask what the maximum is). I’m not sure how long the boat ride is. I don't know where they'll bring you. I’m not sure what you’ll see or what you can do at the boat aside from sightseeing (mag-gupit ng kuko siguro pwede…but why would you do that?Ü). Next time I visit Nuvali, I’ll ask them these things so I have something to tell you guys. For some reason, riding a boat doesn’t appeal to me that much so I’m not sure if I’ll ever get to do this activity here.

Gumulong-gulong sa Grass: Need I explain more?Ü Kidding-aside, Nuvali is a place where you can just sit on the grass and enjoy the scenery…if biking, boating, or feeding the fishies is not your thing. Take lots of pictures. Go on a jump-shot-picture galore or do one of those nakapabilog-ang-mga-ulo-habang-nakahiga-sa-grass pictures. I’m sure you’ll have loads of fun doing these things. And the people around you will have loads of fun watching you do these things, so it’s a win-win situation.Ü

Will I go back to Nuvali? Sure! Why not?Ü Will I go biking again? Of course I will! I won’t stop now that my biking skills are slowly coming back to me. Even though my body’s aching all over because of the experience.Ü Will I feed the fishies? No. Kasi naaawa ako sa kanila. Will I ride the boat? Please read above.Ü What I’ll definitely do the next time I’m at Nuvali is to take a lot of pictures (Hey, I might even do the suggestions I gave above…di na baleng mag-mukhang weird.Ü). For now, I’m just going to look forward to my next Nuvali side trip. TTFN!Ü

Oh, btw, here are the rates.Ü