RECOMMENDED TOURS WITHIN AND OUTSIDE
BACOLOD CITY

     As the entry point to the Province of Negros Occidental, Bacolod City offers wide of tours within and outside the city. Below are sample itineraries for a do-it-yourself city tour. But we recommend the services of a tour agency to help you with your tours particularly the various eco-tourism and special interests tours that Bacolod and its environs and nearby towns and cities could offer.

CITY TOUR

     Preferably for half a day. Start with a walking tour around the city plaza, the San Sebastian Cathedral, the center of Catholic religious life in the city. The central market near the plaza and downtown area offers a wide array of native souvenirs and best buys from Bacolod like "uga" or dried fish and boneless "dangit", dried squid, fish tocino and a host of other dried items and food stuff.
     Proceed to BREDCO port for a sweeping view of the various sea transports between Bacolod and Iloilo and between Bacolod and Manila.
     Inter-island as well as International vessels also dock in this port.
     From BREDCO Port, pass by the Bacolod City Hall, the seat of government of the city; then to the Golden Fields Commercial Complex, which is actually best visited at night, being the center of the city's night life. Proceed to a piaya making factory to see how this unique Negrense mouth-watering sweet delicacy is made. The St. Jude Thaddeus Parish and Shrine is along the way to the 25-hectare PANA-AD Park and Sports Complex comes end.
     From the sports complex, travel along the outer circumferential road with the breath-taking view of the 8,000 feet Kanlaon volcano in the background.
     Proceed to Burgos-Lopez Jaena extension for that unique site- a private family cemetery that has been included in the Guiness Book of World Records as the only cemetery in the world at the intersection of two highways.
     Your next destination should be the Capitol Lagoon in front of the Provincial Capitol; then the Negros Museum with its unique exhibit called "Sugar and Other Negros Tales" that tells the history of Negrense life before, during and after the arrival of the Spaniards.
     For the nature conservationists, a visit to the Negros Forest Ecological foundation Breeding and Bio-diversity center is a must. The NEFFBC is just a stone's throw from the Negros Museum.
     Depending on how much time you have, a visit to the shell mural and art deco of the Barangay sang Virgin or Sta. Clara Chapel is recommended.
     Cap your Bacolod City tour with a "must" visit to the Association of Negros Producers (ANP) Showroom where you see the finest of the arts and crafts produced by Ilonggo ingenuity and artistic skill.
     Prevailing tour agency rate for a minimum of 2 persons for 3 hours is P880.00 ( negotiable, depending on the number of tour participants).
     Depending on visitor's preferences or for students on educational tours, visits to churches, sports facilities, factories, hotels, handicraft shops, ceramics factory. Food processing and manufacturing can also be arranged.

NEGROS SUGAR TOUR

     A full day to the sugar producing city of La Carlota, just 45 minutes south of Bacolod City. The tour includes a visit to an ancestral house, circa 1929; visit to an hacienda and its old muscovado mill, one of the country's oldest. Orientation on how sugar was made in the pre-industrialized past. Optional inclusion is a ride on an "iron dinosaur" through the picturesque sugarcane fields. Optional activities -- trekking, hiking, garden visits.

VMC TOURS

     Victorias Milling Company, Inc. is the biggest integrated sugar mill and refinery in the world. The more than 7, 000 hectares compound is self-contained agro-industrial complex with a world-famous church, schools, cut-flowers farms, golf and country club, experimental farms and much more. Tours run everyday except weekends and Mondays. Contact the Public Relations Department of Victorias Milling Company (0912-503-1510) for an arrangements.

WAR MEMORIAL TOURS

     Can be a moving experience for Japanese, Filipino and American World War II veterans. The tour visitors to the provincial capitol, the monument of Theodore Vinther - the young American soldier who foiled the attempt of the Japanese soldiers to destroy Bago Bridge; the monument to the Unknown Soldier at the Bacolod City Plaza, the Patag War Memorial in the uplands of Silay City where the remaining Japanese soldiers in the island retreated, and Green Beach in Pulupandan where the liberating American forces landed and in Barangay Sta. Rosa, Murcia, where the Japanese soldiers surrendered to the Americans.

STEAM ENGINE TOURS

     During the milling season from October to April, visits can be arranged to view old steam engines still chugging to and from the mills. The most interesting locomotives or iron dinosaurs as railway enthusiasts would call them, are operated by Hawaiian Philippines Company in Silay City. Central Azucarera de la Carlota in La Carlota City, Victorias Milling Company or VICMICO in Victorias City. Contact sugar mill company through your hotel.

For Information call:
BACOLOD TOURISM OFFICE
Tel No. 434-6751; E-mail: ikanaan@bacolodcity.gov.ph
ABC Hall, San Juan St., Bacolod City