Villa Escudero

Villa Escudero is a coconut plantation established in the 1880s and opened to visitors in the 1980s by the family that still owns it, and the day tour has changed little since: a carabao-drawn cart ride through the coconut groves, a cultural show of Philippine folk dances, bamboo rafting on the lake, and a museum in the old church-shaped building crammed floor to ceiling with the family's accumulated collection - religious images, Chinese ceramics, weapons, taxidermy, costumes and a great deal else, arranged with no discernible system, which is either the charm or the problem depending on the visitor. The signature is lunch: tables and benches set in shallow running water directly below the spillway of the Labasin dam, so diners eat with the water flowing over their feet and the falls a few metres away. It is thoroughly packaged and unashamedly so, and it has been on Philippine tour itineraries for forty years.

What you actually see

• The waterfall lunch - tables set in the water below the dam.
• The carabao carts - the ride through the coconut groves.
• The family museum - a dense, unsorted private collection.
• The cultural show - folk dances performed for the tour.

When to go

November to May for dry weather. Weekdays are far quieter; weekends and holidays fill the dining area completely.

Honest expectations

It is a packaged tour with a fixed programme, not an independent visit, and the day-tour price is high by local standards. The museum is unsorted and unlabelled in parts. Weekends are crowded and loud.

Nearby

San Pablo's seven lakes are close; Tiaong, Sariaya and the Quezon heritage towns are east.