Western Batangas

The western part of Batangas houses the province's classical beach destinations of the province and the heritage town of Taal. This region has a humid climate and is a coastal region, dotted with some mountains to the north, bordered by southern Cavite.

Municipalities

• 1 Balayan — the traditional commercial center of the region; houses numerous heritage houses, and holds the Lechon Festival every June.
• 2 Nasugbu — luxury resorts, mountains, and a glimpse of the local sugarcane industry
• 3 Lemery — eastern commercial center, and common stopover for travellers driving through Tagaytay
• 4 San Luis (Batangas) — a beach town
• 5 Taal — an historic town known for its heritage houses, the Basilica of St. Martin of Tours, and its butterfly knives (balisong)

Other destinations

• 1 Lian — home to Matabungkay, a white sand beach about 3 hours from Manila
• 2 Calatagan — resorts, the Cape Santiago lighthouse, and pyramid-shaped reefs

Understand

Western Batangas hosts many of the classic beach destinations in the province, from large resort complexes in Nasugbu and Calatagan off the west coast the white sand beach of Matabungkay in Lian. Another major tourist draw is the heritage town of Taal, which has a well-preserved downtown.

The region has about 608,000 people in the 2015 Philippine census, accounting for 23% of Batangas' population. Most of the population of the region are housed in Nasugbu, Lemery, and Balayan.

This region administratively corresponds to the first district of Batangas, but for its distinctive culture and flavor, is itself a distinct region of the province.

Get in

The region has good bus connections from Metro Manila; most buses terminate in Nasugbu, Calatagan, Balayan and Lemery. BSC, Celyrosa Transport, DLTB, Jam, and San Agustin provides regular service to those towns.

Batman Starexpress (BSC) has trips to Nasugbu from Manila or Batangas City (since 2019). Manila-Nasugbu services depart every hour, and takes 2 hours, while Batangas-Lemery-Nasugbu services depart every hour and takes a hour and 15 minutes or more.

DLTB has trips to Nasugbu or Lemery from their Manila terminals: Parañaque Integrated Transport Exchange (PITX, in Parañaque), Taft-Buendia (in Pasay), and EDSA-Cubao (in Quezon City). Service frequency is 30 minutes to a hour.

Celyrosa Trans has trips to Calatagan via Tagaytay and Nasugbu. Trips depart every 45 minutes from 4AM to 7PM.

Jam has services every 30 minutes from Manila to Lemery via Lipa. Trips take about 3 hours from Cubao or 2 hours and 45 minutes from Pasay.