The Lakes of San Pablo City, Laguna - Pandin Lake

Pandin Lake

The next lake that I went to is the Pandin Lake, since the tricycle driver told me that it was the nearest lake to Bunot Lake.

Since Pandin Lake is a popular destination, a parking space is provided for the tourists. This parking space is my drop-off point. From here you need to trek a very challenging trail. On my way to the lake, I get lost (even with the help of a GPS) and ended up in a village. I then returned back to the parking lot and asked for some directions.

There are tourist guides in the area and most of them are kids that you can pay as low as Php 20.00. When I returned to the parking lot, one of the local men served as my guide as he said he will be also going to the lake. Aside from myself, there were two other tourists that followed us.

The trail at the lake at first was simple, but after passing the arrays of trees, comes the challenging part as it is an uphill trail. Aside from the trail is going up, there were also no trees around to give shade or breeze of air to cool your exhaustion. And the trail is also kind of steep. But once you reach the topmost of the trail, you can already see an overlooking of the lake.

the view of Pandin Lake while at the top of the trail

At the side of the lake you will already see big rafts waiting for passengers. The women of the village serve as the guide and boatmen for the rafts. They would welcome every tourist that came and offer the services of their raft and a packed lunch that can come along with the tour of the lake. The cost of the raft ride depends if you would also order a packed lunch, but I heard it’s around Php 360 for the tour with the lunch. 

the rafts getting ready for the passengers

the women of the town

the rafts sailing at Pandin Lake

You could also reach Yambo Lake by crossing the Lake Pandin. Since I was travelling alone, I did not take anymore the raft ride, so I was not able to visit Yambo Lake.

the empty rafts

the newly arrived tourists

The Lakes of San Pablo City, Laguna – Bunot Lake

The Lakes of San Pablo City, Laguna is a series of posts that I made regarding of the details of my trip to the four lakes of San Pablo City.

You can manage to visit all the seven lakes depending on your pace. It is better if you can check a map of San Pablo City to familiarize you with the location of the lakes and their distances. Try also to read articles and blogs about the lake as they give instructions on how to reach the lake. For my trip I decided to visit first Bunot Lake next is Pandin Lake followed by Calibato Lake. I decided to visit Sampaloc Lake the next day as I wanted to watch the sunrise at the lake.

Bunot Lake

Bunot Lake 

The first lake that I visited was Bunot Lake. Bunot Lake got its name because of the coconut trees growing around the lake. I was dropped off by the tricycle driver at the entrance of the lake. You have to walk for some short distance to the drop off point to get a view of the lake. There are several trails and you could get lost and end up in the rows of houses built along the lake. Luckily, on my way to the lake, I met up two other tourists who just went to the lake and gave me the directions. 

trail to Bunot Lake lined with coconut trees

a view of the Bunot Lake from afar

When I reached the lake, voices of kids taking a dip at the water welcomed me. At the center of the lake you will see fish pens and at the side there are aquatic plants. I even saw fishermen going into the water with their nets. 

the fish pens and fishermen at the lake

There are only few people going to the lake because it is more of a fishing area than a tourist destination. The water is also murky because of the fish pens. 

the plants lining the lake

The view of the Bunot Lake has a rural setting – a lake with fish pens, house surrounding the area with a mountain as a backdrop.

another view from afar of Bunot Lake