5. Nature’s verdant embrace
While we all love to walk barefoot on sand, doing it on grass is as liberating and beneficial health-wise. With the province’s acres of verdant land, nature tripping is the way to go. Negros farmers are jumping on the eco-tourism bandwagon and integrating the travel and leisure concept into their farmlands. While growing crops, the farm also grows environmentally aware travelers. It’s thumbs up for Bacolod’s farm tourism.
One is along the Alangilan Road, Granada, is the Bantug Lake Ranch. The family-owned seven-hectare land that was once a sugarcane farm before it was converted into a fruit orchard to the inland resort it is today. The transformation displays a man-made lake on the landscape for fishing and boating, an array of animals, including horses guests can ride, a swimming pool, restaurant, picnic cabanas and villas for accommodations. Practicing sustainability, the eco-farm raises its own poultry and grows its vegetables, which supplies its restaurant and the neighborhood as well.
There are several more Farm Tourism sites around the province that promise a rejuvenating encounter with Mother Nature.
Through the Department of Tourism’s Philippine Experience: Culture, Heritage, and Arts Program (PEP) that heralds the Filipino brand and identity, the DOT Region VI Western Visayas has crafted a list of highly-interesting tourism circuits, which spotlight food and gastronomy, pilgrimage and wellness, living cultures and heritage, and an arts caravan. Visit the DOT-VI office and select one or all. Explore with a certified tour guide to discover Bacolod’s old and new gems beyond its facades and popular knowledge.*