Bacolod City
Negros Occidental · Highly Urbanized City (provincial capital) · City of Smiles
About
The gateway to Negros Occidental with the province's malls, food strips, cake shops and inasal grills, plus the Capitol Lagoon and Negros Museum.
History
Bacolod grew from a settlement on a stony hill ('buklod'). It became the provincial capital in the 1800s and was chartered as a city on October 19, 1938. The sugar boom built its grand Capitol and avenues. After the 1980s sugar crisis and the MV Don Juan sinking, the city launched MassKara in 1980 to lift spirits — earning the name 'City of Smiles'.
Festival
MassKara Festival — October · Whole of October, climax on the 4th Sunday
Dancers in smiling masks and bright costumes fill Lacson Street; street parties, food and music throughout October.
Must-see
- Capitol Park & Lagoon
- Negros Museum
- San Sebastian Cathedral
- Manokan Country
- Calea
- Panaad Park
Food to try
- Chicken inasal
- Kansi
- Piaya
- Napoleones
- Cakes
Places in Bacolod City
- Manokan Country (Chicken Inasal Row) — Row of grills serving Bacolod's original chicken inasal with chicken-oil rice.
- Provincial Capitol Park & Lagoon — Neoclassical Capitol, a long lagoon and the famous carabao statues.
- Negros Museum — The story of Negros, sugar and the 1898 revolution in one building beside the Capitol.
- San Sebastian Cathedral & Bacolod Public Plaza — Coral-stone cathedral and the plaza where MassKara began.
- Bacolod City Government Center (NGC) — Bacolod's grand neoclassical city hall with a park and fountain — a top MassKara venue.
- Museo Negrense de La Salle (Museo De La Salle Bacolod) — University museum of Negrense heritage, art and world textiles at USLS.
- Palmas del Mar Conference Resort Hotel — City resort hotel with three pools and a kids' pool, open for day use.
- Bantug Lake Ranch — Ranch around a man-made lake — horseback riding, boating, fishing, pools and peacocks.
- Negros Forest Park — City wildlife center for endangered Negros animals, beside the Capitol Lagoon.
- Daku Balay (Boat House) — Bacolod's first art deco building, shaped like a ship.
- Jojo Vito Designs Gallery — Workshop of a top MassKara mask maker — paint your own mask.
- Pope John Paul II Tower — Seven-storey tower and museum marking the 1981 papal visit, with sea views.
- Virgen sang Barangay Chapel — Small chapel with a huge mural made of 95,000 seashells.
- Calea Pastries & Coffee — Bacolod's legendary cake shop — chocolate-cream cheese, white chocolate cheesecake and more.
- 21 Restaurant — Classic Bacolod batchoy, kansi and Negrense comfort food.
- Bacolod Pasalubong Stores (Piaya, Napoleones, Barquillos) — Where to buy piaya, napoleones, barquillos, pinasugbo and butterscotch.
- Panaad Park & Stadium — Home of the Panaad sa Negros 'festival of festivals' every April.