Editor’s Note: This is a retelling of an original post, with the addition of photos taken with the Xiaomi 13T w/ Leica lens technology.
There’s a bike route I’ve been following more often. And the irony is the trail is within a mall.
The Festival Mall canals are really something else. In a way it reminds me of the huge ponds of the former QUAD (now Greenbelt) in the 1980’s and Virra Mall but on a larger scale. Festival Mall’s humongous expansion extends the mall towards Asian Hospital with new outdoor areas around a forum that follows the freshwater Alabang Creek as it makes its way out into Laguna de Bay. The creek itself isn’t a sight to behold, but easily accessible bodies of water are a rarity in the urban sprawl, and in this case — it IS the urban sprawl.
The bike / walk lane extends from the start of Civic Drive (marked by the new chapel and private mauseleum) all the way to the bus terminal behind Crimson Hotel. The entire area is about 2km. There are an ample number of ramps that allow bikers to circle the mall (you can onramp and offramp by Civic Drive / Starbucks / Nono’s entrance). Truth be told, you can bike the entire mall loop without once getting off your bike as there are designated on and off ramps that can lead out to the main Filinvest roads.
Since the trail is quite near the new Filinvest Central Park, you can easily transition by crossing Corporate Avenue. It’s a great route for the family especially on weekends because the Central Park main road is closed to cars.
The creek is roughly a 10 minute walk to FEU Alabang, hidden amongst the greenery of the Filinvest Bike Trail. The school is, to be honest, quite hidden from the rest of the busy Filinvest as the only three structures nearby would be Block 10, a strip mall for students and car / bike enthusiasts, the Botanica condos, and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).
Obviously the best time to take this route would be in the early mornings before the mall opens at 11AM. The entire Filinvest sprawl is roughly 4-5km depending on where you go but it does have that relaxed casual feel of long wide roads coupled with the adventure of a real nature trail around the Botanica area.
Let’s get it on!
