It’s summertime again in Manila and damn it’s hot! So what’s there to do in the big city aside from the usual options? Well, my sister discovered a whole new activity for the family which I’ll be sharing with you today! Mango picking at SMV Mango Farm Resort, where you get the opportunity to pluck your own mangoes straight from the trees. Here’s a photo of our total haul at the end of an hour – 30 kilos of fresh mangoes right there! Pretty cool right? Without further ado, let’s start!

Table of Contents

• What is SMV Mango Farm Resort?
• What to expect from SMV Mango Farm Resort?
• What’s the mango picking experience like?
• How to get to SMV Mango Farm Resort?

What is SMV Mango Farm Resort?

Never heard of SMV Mango Farm Resort? Neither have I before this. But apparently, SMV Mango Farm Resort is a mango tree farm + water park located in San Rafael, Bulacan. Calling it a water park is a bit of a stretch really, as all they have are two 700 sq. meter swimming pools…. But the mango tree farm is LEGIT, as the entire property has over 1,000 mango trees (or so they say. I didn’t actually count them one by one)

What to expect from SMV Mango Farm Resort?

First of all, operating hours are from Monday to Sunday, 8AM to 8PM. I highly encourage you to come as early as possible though, for three reasons:

1. All in all, the resort boasts 42 cottages, 12 mango tree tables, and 20 outdoor tables. Once these are filled on a first come-first serve basis, they no longer allow people to enter the resort
2. The pools fill up pretty quickly by around 10PM. So I’d highly recommend you swim before then – otherwise, you won’t be able to get any swimming done. Plus, the kids and teenaged barkadas can get pretty rowdy
3. It’s summertime and it’s HOT. Past 10AM, the harsh sun comes out and it’s pretty unforgiving. Blech.

Once you arrive, you have to inform the person at the entrance how many people are in your group. This is because everyone has to pay an entrance fee – regardless of what activity you choose to do. The whole day fee costs PHP 150 – applicable to both adult and child.

Next, you get to choose what type of cottage/table you’d want to rent:

Type of cottage/table	Good for…	Price
Outdoor table	4-8 pax	PHP 250
Mango Tree Shaded Table	5-10 pax	PHP 500
Cottage	10-15 pax	PHP 1,000
Cottage w/ Videoke	10-15 pax	PHP 1,500
Island Cottage	10-15 pax	PHP 2,500
Private Pavilion	300 pax (team building)	PHP 6,000

In our case, we simply went with two outdoor tables by the 7-feet pool. It was pretty well-shaded, and right beside the pool AND the shower. Perfect!

Once you’re settled, there are four main activities you can partake in while here:

1. Chill with friends and family with your own private cottage, complete with karaoke rental. This’ll cost you ~PHP 1,500. While we were there, lots of cottages were singing to their heart’s content! Unfortunately, they couldn’t sing well…. To be fair, it was a pretty fun exercise to determine what song they were singing LOL
2. Swim in the pool. Their pool ranges from 5-feet deep to 7-feet deep. There’s also a kiddie pool for the children to swim in. If you can’t swim, you can also rent salbabidas for PHP 50!
3. Mango picking! You can either buy mangoes that have already been plucked (and are already ripe), or you can opt to pick / pluck the mangoes from the trees yourselves! (I’ll detail this experience out in the next section) The price is DIRT CHEAP regardless, at just PHP 50 / kilo. Contrast this with PHP 150 / kilo price at the supermarkets in Manila!
4. Fishing at PHP 150 / kilo. I don’t really fish though, so I didn’t bother to ask for details on this one

Do note that mango picking and fishing are only available in the months of April to May, until supplies last! Typically, by the 3rd week of May, there’s not much left… So the earlier you go, the better! Just make sure to call them up first to check if these activities are now available

What’s the mango picking experience like?

First off, you have to go to the “Information Center” to inform them that you want to pluck mangoes from the trees. This center is right by the cafeteria, and is also where’d you go if you want to buy mangoes that have already been plucked (super ripe but definitely not the best of the bunch, since the good ones have already been bought!). It’s pretty difficult to miss, just ask around…

Second, a guide will pick you up at the agreed upon time. He’ll ask you what type of mangoes you want – they have a wide variety to choose from: Carabao mango, Indian mango, Apple mango, Pico. We decided we preferred Carabao mangoes though as they’re bigger and super sweet!

Off we went to go Carabao mango plucking. Tada, those big mangoes are my target!

After some huffing and puffing, I finally managed a decent enough haul. Here are my mangoes in the net!

After 45 minutes, we finally managed to cobble together 30 kilos worth of mangoes – for a grand total of… PHP 1,500! SO DIRT CHEAP. Here’s where they weighed all our mangoes. Essentially, around 2-3 mangoes per kilo.

Then finally, we were on our way home with this entire basket of mangoes!

Fast forward 3+ days, and all the mangoes were SUPER ripe. Surprisingly, the mangoes didn’t turn all yellow (which has always been my indication of ripeness). Instead, we determined it was ripe by (1) smelling it – it smelled super sweet, and (2) touching it – it was starting to feel pretty soft. Here’s the inside of one of the mangoes – it was ridiculously sweet. My family essentially ate mangoes for breakfast, lunch and dinner for ~1 week straight. Delicious!

How to get to SMV Mango Farm Resort?

I’m not sure if there’s a way to commute to SMV Mango Farm Resort as we drove there. Below are directions via NLEX from their Facebook page: (To be honest, we just typed SMV Mango Farm Resort in Waze)

• Exit at Balagtas, travel straight along Plaridel By-Pass Road towards Gen. Alejo Santos Highway.
• Make a left turn towards Bustos, and right turn at C.L. Hilario St.
• From C.L Hilario St., pass the Bustos Bridge, then make a right turn on the first street (small road) towards Calle Rizal of Brgy. Sabang.
• Go straight towards Sampaloc Junction and Dona Remedios Trinidad (DRT) Highway for about 5km.
• Make a right turn at Capihan Junction (Capihan Chapel) and travel through Viola Road towards SMV Mango Farm Resort. (From Capihan Junction, there will be SMV Mango Farm Resort signages to guide you)

From Balintawak NLEX entrance to SMV Mango Farm Resort took us ~45minutes on a Sunday morning. We arrived at 9AM. 🙂 If this blog piqued your fancy and you’re keen to know more, you can also contact them directly at the following: (They’re pretty responsive)

Mobile: + 63 922 815 9686
Tel: + 63 2 461 1199

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SMVMangoFarmResort
Email: smvmangofarm@yahoo.com

 

If you’re looking for more Manila day trip ideas, check out my other related blog posts:

• Day trip from Manila: Mt. Pinatubo Tripinas review
• Day trip from Manila: Masungi Georeserve and Pililia Wind Farm
• Day trip from Manila: Aqua Planet Review (To follow)
• Manila Chinatown Food Trip