5 New Places to Visit in Bacolod for an Unforgettable Year-ender

Where: 15th Lacson Street, beside Calea Cakes Shop

Operating Hours: Daily, 9:00 AM to 11:30 PM

On your following Bacolod tourist spots itinerary, don’t miss out on going to Bazket BCD, the most significant food park in Negros Occidental, which opened last July 2022. You still have more than two months to try out more than 20 food stalls in the food hub, and you might taste them all before the year ends. Various international cuisines are available—Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Mediterranean, Korean, and of course, your favorite Filipino dishes are also offered. Coffee shops, milk tea, dessert stalls, street food choices, and fashion bazaars can also be found. Bazket BCD also has acoustic sessions every night for your entertainment, plus a pet-friendly environment so your fur buddies can enjoy a food trip excursion with you in Bacolod City.

With all the new places in Bacolod City, Bazket BCD stands out because it is the largest food hub in the province and the perfect stopover with its convenient location just along Lacson Street. Tourists can drop by and choose from a wide array of food options. For dine-in customers, a vast parking space that can accommodate over 200 cars and motorcycles is conveniently included in the amenities, which is also what people liked about the place. You won’t also need to worry about the heat and the heavy rains since the area is also a large covered court, where you can be comfortable and protected to enjoy the scrumptious food and the excellent company.

Where: Km. 56, Purok Manihan, Brgy. Bunga, Don Salvador Benedicto 6100 Bacolod CIty, Philippines

Don Salvador Benedicto is a famous spot just kilometers away from Bacolod City. Known to locals as ‘DSB’, some places are still yet to be discovered in the municipality, just like The Alch. This vacation house opened the late last August 2021, yet while it remains under the radar, it is just fit to be the perfect spot for a private vacation before the year ends. You might also want to book a stay at this vacation home in a time of welcoming 2023 on New Year’s Eve. The Alch also offers the most beautiful view of Mt. Canlaon, where you can enjoy the cool mountain breeze at any time of the day.

Amenities at The Alch include a swimming pool, a clubhouse, a cozy gazebo, relaxing garden grounds, alfresco dining spaces, warm nipa huts, and a fire pit. You can add this to your Bacolod tourist spots itinerary for your year-ender adventure and genuinely reconnect with nature at this private resort, where you can rent a frame loft house with a private dipping pool for a range of PhP6,000 to PhP7,500. You can also opt for the Master’s Suite with a rate of PhP5,500 to PhP6,500. All these accommodations offer a comfortable sanctuary with the best angle of the mountains of DSB. You can also tag your friends with you since The Alch can accommodate up to seven people in the private vacation house.

Where: Narra Avenue, Shopping, Bacolod City

Operating Hours: Daily, 3:00 PM to 1:00 AM

Have you ever visited this rustic alley at the heart of Bacolod City? You shouldn’t miss out on dining at Esquinita Bar and Café, one of the new places in Bacolod, as part of your year-end excursion in the city. Inspired by its fascinating location in the alley of Narra Avenue, Shopping, ‘Esquinita’ is the beautified name of the Tagalog word ‘eskinita’, since this diner pub is nestled in a long, vertical lot in the middle of a literal alley. The place opened last February 2022 and is the living definition of aesthetic because of its rustic ambiance and surrealistic walls, complemented with a minimalist dash of black and white.

Esquinita Bar and Café serves pasta, burgers, all-day meals, and cool drinks. Must-try dessert is The Knickerbocker, a localized Zamboangeño halo-halo for PhP160; the drink is Amaretto Sour x Midori Sour. Alcoholic beverages are also available, and this café and bar serves it right if you want to have a year-end night out and catch up with friends.

Where: Sitio Pata-an, Barangay Mailum, Bago City, Philippines

Operating Hours: Tuesdays to Sundays, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM

One of Bacolod’s new tourist spots is the Bala-an Hills in Bago City, where you will feel close to the skies and mountains. You will find the 14 Stations of the Cross at Bala-an Hills, the Divine Mercy Monument, La Bouna Cucina, the Balaan Hills’s in-house Restaurant, a swimming pool, a viewing deck, an airsoft range, a souvenir shop, a mini store.

Bala-an is a Hiligaynon term that means ‘holy’, and this 4-hectare place that opened last August 2022 is described as a place of sanctity for those who want to meditate and are looking for a quiet place to relax and pray in the middle of nature, plus all the scenic mountain views. You can also take pictures of this new place in Bacolod while you enjoy the serene ambiance. There is also a beautifully landscaped garden where you can have a stroll, and what’s nice about Bala-an Hills is that it’s only an hour’s drive away from Bacolod City.

Where: The Upper East, Megaworld, Burgos Avenue, Bacolod City

Operating Hours: 24/7

Bacolod City marks its signature Masskara emblems at one of the newest places in Bacolod, which is also the most beautiful McDonald’s in the Philippines. The new branch located in The Upper East by Megaworld, Bacolod, launched just this October 10, simultaneous with the return of the city’s much anticipated Masskara Festival. The newest McDonald’s branch has Instagrammable amenities and unique features: a dessert station train, which is a first in the city, dual drive-thru lanes, a lactation room, charging ports, a conference room that guests can book world-class furniture from France, and Hong Kong, and an ample alfresco space in the fast food chain’s vicinity.

Bacolod's new tourist spot is your first option if you crave McDonald’s cheeseburger and milky iced coffee. McDonald’s The Upper East has co-working spaces, giant art installations, and a bike and dining area. A Masskara Wall is also displayed outside the landscaped exteriors, with a lush vertical garden behind it. As for the interiors, aesthetically pleasing high ceilings and glass walls make the ambiance in the fast food chain comfier and IG-worthy. The photos sure do illustrate it all.

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