Located on the eastern side of Tagaytay City, Tagaytay Picnic Grove is a sprawling 13.5 hectare park where families and friends can come to share good food, great camaraderie, and a spectacular view. It’s one of the top travel destinations in the Philippines frequented by families and friends throughout the year.
Getting to Tagaytay Picnic Grove
There are a number of different routes that you can take to get to Tagaytay City’s Picnic Grove. The fastest, and easiest way is to take the South Luzon Expressway. Take the Santa Rosa Exit. Turn right after the toll gate. Just keep going straight. Once you reach the end of the road (which takes about an hour), take a left. Drive for about five minutes, and you’ll find the Tagaytay Picnic Grove on the right side.
Entrance Fee at Tagaytay Picnic Grove
As we drove into the park, it was clear to see on just how popular it is with the sheer amount of people coming in with their own private and rented vehicles. I even spotted a few getting off from the jeepneys that pass along the main highway.
We first made our way to the picnic grove’s administrative building to pay our entrance fee. In addition to the P50 ($1.18) entrance fee per person, there is a parking fee depending on the kind of vehicle that you bring:
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Cars = P50 ($1.18)
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Vans = P100 ($2.36)
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Buses = P150 ($3.55)
After you pay the entrance fee, you will be given a card which you will need to surrender to the guard at the exit gate when you leave Tagaytay Picnic Grove at the end of the day. You can pay any time but I would strongly suggest to do this first so that you don’t have to worry about this later. This would also give you a chance to check out one of the few maps of the area to give you a bearing on where to go.
Things to Do at Tagaytay Picnic Grove
Contrary to my initial believe that Tagaytay Picnic Grove is just your usual conventional picnic grove with sheds and barbecue grills, the Picnic Grove at Tagaytay City is bustling with life and so much things to do.
Horseback Riding
The first thing that you will find when you enter Tagaytay Picnic Grove is the horseback riding area where kids line up to ride horses and ponies with rather intriguing names like Hillary and Obama. The horseback ride usually last an hour and cost P200 ($4.73) for the big horses and P150($3.55) for the ponies. For an additional P150 per horse, you can go for one of their adventure trail horseback rides.
Kite Flying
Pass the horsback riding area, you’ll come across this wide open grassy space that provides one of the best views of Taal Volcano in Tagaytay City.
Families enjoy flying kites and lazing around in Tagaytay Picnic Grove
I’m pretty much a city girl and seeing so much green was definitely a welcome sight. Kids spent their time flying kites, playing with bubble wands, or just running around while the grown ups laze in the grass and spend their time taking pictures and catching up on the latest gossip.
Tagaytay Picnic Grove’s Eco-Adventure Trail
Down the eco-adventure trail at Tagaytay Picnic Grove
Being our first time here, my brother and I decided to take a walk through their Eco-Adventure Trail, which starts on the bottom-most part of the park, and goes all the way up. It’s a good way to tour the picnic grove and also burn all those unneccessary baby fats.
Zipping through Tagaytay Picnic Grove
As we made our way through the Eco-Adventure Trail, we came across the Zipline and Cable Car rides offered by Tagaytay Zipline.
The Zipline at Tagaytay Picnic Grove
These offer a unique and adventurous way to get from one end of the park to the other, and you’re given a souvenir photo at the opposite end for free. Weekday rates cost P200 ($4.73) one-way while the weekend and holiday rate is P300 ($7.09) for a one-way trip. A roundtrip is just P100 ($2.36).
Eating at Tagaytay Picnic Grove
When it’s time to eat, most Filipinos would choose to rent out one of the many picnic sheds and barbecue grills that line the walkway. Rental rates range between P100 ($2.36) and P500 ($11.82), depending on the size.
If you didn’t bring anything with you, Tagaytay Picnic Grove has a few stalls serving snacks. The Alamat Restaurant where you can enjoy a variety of different seafood and meat dishes popular in Tagaytay and other parts of the Philippines. These are served in a bilao, a traditional serving platter.
A platter of delectable Filipino food served at Alamat, one of the few restaurants you can find in Tagaytay Picnic Grove
Shopping
We headed back near the entrance of the park, we stopped for a while to admire the different souvenirs and handcrafts made by local artists and small businesses sold along the walkway.
Souvenir shops line the walkway inside Tagaytay Picnic Grove
Artwork made by local artists are just one of the many souvenirs you can buy at Tagaytay Picnic Grove
The ones that caught my eye were these keychains and bracelets that you can buy and have it personalized. Three items only cost P100 ($2.36). The personalizing is free. This is a great but cheap gift for friends and family.
In some shops in Tagaytay Picnic Grove, you can have your souvenirs personalized
Relax and Unwind with a Fish Spa Treatment
Tagaytay Picnic Grove has an on-site fish spa to help you pamper your aching feet after a day to walking around. Read my post Refreshing Fish Spa Experience at Tagaytay Picnic Grove to learn more about it.
Altogether, we spent just only P2,000 ($47.28), which makes this such a great place to visit on a budget. So the next time that you’re planning a trip to Tagaytay, make sure to spend a day at Tagaytay Picnic Grove. It’s a great place to hang out with family and friends without having to cost you a lot of money.
Have you visited Tagaytay Picnic Grove lately? Share your experiences here.
About Adeline Yuboco
Tagaytay City is really very colorful city to travel. This is the best place for picnic in vacations. There are number of source of entertainment are Tagaytay. There are many tourist visit this place in vacations. Noe it is known as famous tourist place.
Tagaytay Picnic Grove is a really nice place for family to enjoy. There are places to explore and nice scenery to watch. We went there about two months ago but the rain rob us of our enjoyment.
Sorry to hear that it was raining when you went there. Hope you can get the opportunity to visit it again soon minus the rain.
Tagaytay picnic is really a nice place for a family weekend. The only downside are the restrooms.
Tagaytay picnic grove pala….sowee…
I love the picture with the kites. This looks like an awesome place to spend with the familiy.
Be sure to check out PCPrima.de’s most recent post…Bundestrojaner statt Bundesadler
Thanks so much. Yes, it is a great place to spend with the family if you just want to get away from all the stress and stuff.
You have just inspired me to see the picnic grove.
Thank you.
Be sure to check out Jef Menguin’s most recent post…Courage Make Dreams Real
Thanks so much, Jef. The picnic grove is definitely a great place to go for a day trip here in the Philippines. I’m looking forward to sharing your experience there.
I never been to this place. But the cool breeze brings you great vacation when you visited it, and i really don’t know if that is true because that is only based in my research.
Be sure to check out Tracyann0312′s most recent post…Baby Eagle
It really depends on when you visit Tagaytay, Tracy. The best time to go there is during the months between December and February when it’s a lot cooler. Of course, it’s nothing compared to Baguio. But given it’s close proximity to Manila, it’s a definite welcomed second.
Oh I see! So it can be a good start to visit Philippines today because it has cool breeze. Thanks for the advice Adeline, I will probably try to visit this place one time. My family members live in Baguio and they say that the temperature there is on 9 or 10 degree probably. It is really cold out there!
You’re very welcome, Tracy. Yes, that’s also what my friends have told me. But it’s going to probably get even colder once February rolls in.
hi,
the last time i went to tagaygay was in 2004-
and it wasnt pleasant either
me and my family is planning to visit the place again- 1st stop will be The Adoration Chapel of the Pink Sisters then will spend the day at Picnic Grove.
is the entrance fee still the same? 50ph
Yes, it is still P50/person. If you’re bringing a vehicle there, I’ve posted the additional fee you need to pay depending on the kind of vehicle you’ll be bringing here in the blog.
Hope that your trip will be much better this time around. Thanks so much for dropping by.
i’ve been trying to contact this number 043 4134206..and i couldnt contact picnic grove…i really need to contact them coz we are planning to go there on May. can you give me the contact number there? perhaps a cell number? etc.. thank you very much! would really appreciate your help.:)
Hi Sharon,
Thanks for dropping by. You may want to try the number again but instead of 043 for the area code, use 046. 043 is the area code for Batangas. Tagaytay City is part of Cavite, which uses the area code 046.
If that still doesn’t work, you can also try to contact the Tagaytay City Tourism Office at (046) 413-1220 loc.205.
I hope this helps you.
Hi Adel,
Are there barbercue grills available at the picnic grove? We’re planning to bring in some raw fish and pork there and we’re planning to grill them there.
Thanks.
Hi Randell,
Thanks for dropping by. Yes, some of the huts at the Picnic Grove have barbecue grills beside them. The rates of the hut rentals range from P100 to P250 depending on the size and whether it’s got a grill or not.
Just went there last sunday March 18,2012 with nieces and brothers my 2 nieces tried horseback riding we were charged 200 pesos for the big horse for an hour after that we decided to leave the place our main purpose really was to try there Zipliline but they are charging us 600 pesos each there reason… Its weekend so the price is quite high but if its weekdays they only charge 300 Per person so we decided to leave but then we were still Charged 50 persons Per head plus the parking fee my husband was asking if we still have to pay the entrance fee eventhough we did not enter the picnic area but unfortunately YES we were charged 50 pesos/ head now that what we. call its more FUN IN THE PHILIPPINES! :/