Foreigners Guide to Calapan City

Calapan City is well known to tourist because it is one of the route you can take to go to the famous beach resorts in Puerto Galera. Also Calapan is surrounded with beautiful beaches too. Although the sands are black on the coastal side of Calapan people enjoy their stay because of the beautiful resorts that Calapan City can offer and one of those is View Isle Beach Garden.

Its not that I'm judging my own people (I'm a local here) but sometimes they like to rip-off foreigners. I hated that cause I have a lot of foreigner friends. So if your a foreigner or a tourist here is a guide on how much the fairs would cost around the city.

Common way of travelling around the City of Calapan is by riding a Tricycle.

Normal fare from the Pier to the Main City is Php 20.00 - Php 40.00 per person.
Normal fare from anywhere to 2-4 km is Php 10.00 per person. If you exceed you can add 5 - 10 pesos

If they charge you with more than this, they are probably trying to rip you off. Best way is to tell them that your gonna report them to the TMO (Traffic Management Office). Do this by getting their numbers in front of the passenger seat on the glass pane.

If your trying to stay here for a vacation there are a lot of cheap but nice hotels. But if your staying for a month or two I would suggest renting an apartment which is cheaper. Let's say that renting a hotel would cost you Php 1000.00 - Php 3000.00 a day, while renting an apartment would only cost you Php 6000.00 - Php 10,000.00 a month. Pretty cheap huh. Well here is a currency converter for a better computation.



I'll be adding more details soon, this is it for now.

If you got questions fill free to comment.

View Isle Beach Garden

View Isle Beach Garden is one of the wonderful places to go here in Calapan City near the coast. It is located at Barangay Parang, Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro. If your looking for an island beach side experience then this is one cool place to hang out. The view is great, lots of trees around and very tropical. It is surrounded with shallow waters and black fine sands that are friendly on the foot, its like walking on a soft carpet.





VIEW ISLE BEACH GARDEN is a 10 - 15 minute drive from the Pier and 15 - 20 minute drive if your coming from the City Proper.

Calapan City on its Rise

Calapan City is a very prosperous place that depends on agriculture and fishing. However, a growing industry in machinery and tourism has contributed well to the city's annual income making it one of the fastest growing new cities in the country for the last 10 years. Calapan City also serves as the gateway to the Oriental Mindoro province with the implementation of the Strong Republic Nautical Highway, an integrated roll-on/roll-off ferry project of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo that extends further to the southern part of the Philippines. The Calapan City Seaport is the largest and busiest seaport on the Mindoro island with ships that travels to and from the Batangas City International Seaport. Calapan City is 45 minutes away from Batangas City and is accessible by ferry boat and RORO ships. "source: Wikipedia"

Thanks to the Strong Republic Nautical Highway, the economy of Calapan City boosted. Many commercial establishments have arisen. Banks are growing in the city and a lot of banks in the city means the city is wealthy and the economy is growing. It's like playing Sim City and watching your city grow. Now Calapan is currently holding 3 Malls which are: Neo Calapan Robinsons Mall, Pure Gold and Guisano Mall.

The City of Calapan

The City of Calapan - capital of the Province of Oriental Mindoro, Philippines is the progressive trading and commercial hub and the administrative center of the MIMAROPA Region.

With its picturesque backdrop, it houses the empowered citizenry which emerged from simplicity to being a regional and national renowed city. It's vital role in the Strong Republic National Highway (SRNH), a bus-and-ferry route that links Manila with various points in the south, opens greater oppurtunities for lasting and sustained socio-economic development.

While the city continues to gear towards greater urbanization, it never forgets its agricultural and rural beginnings, evidenced by the dominance of the agricultural and rural beginnings, evidenced by the dominance of the agricultural sector, thus, its dual character as a city is put in an accolade: "An Agropolis City of the South" - giving its visitors a perfect but rare harmony of the vibrancy of an urban center and a calm and unwinding mistique of a rural gateway.

A Spaniard Augustinian recollect priest, Fr. Diego dela Madre de Dios founded Calapan City as a parish in 1679. Human settlements had been established around the parish church and it continued to grow, and later become the beginning of a small town and village. Its gradual development and strategic lacation paved the way for its eventual selection as the seat of administrative power and the capital of the whole province of Mindoro during the latter years of the Spanish colonization.

There are many stories as to where the name Calapan was taken. One of which is that the name Calapan was taken from the word "kalap" which means to gather logs. It was originally pronounced as "Kalapan" which according to an old Tagalog dictionary, was a synonym for "sanga" or branch. It could then refer to the settlement of Kalapan as a branch of its adjoining mother town, the Municipal of Baco. The name was later hispanized as Calapan.

From the last decades of the Spanish era to the 21st century, Calapan has continuosly played its significant role as the center of commerce, industry, higher education, religious activities and the financial hub of Oriental Mindoro.

The year 1998 marked a milestone when the Municipality of Calapan was converted into a component city by virtue of Republic Act No. 8475 on March 21, 1998 through a plebiscite which Calapeños had overwhelmingly ratified. Since then Calapan has witnessed significant strides of development in commerce and industry, infrastracture and in basic social services.

Today, the City of Calapan stands as the progressive gateway not only to the island of Minodoro but also to the southern part of the Philippine archipelago through the opening of the SRNH.