Uuwi ka ba sa Batangas this Undas? Ala eh, you and half of Luzon, I think. Every late October, the highways fill up with the same quiet mission: going home, visiting the ones we’ve lost, and sitting down to a meal with the ones still here. This year you get a little more breathing room to do it properly — a real three-day weekend, not just a rushed overnight.
The Three-Day Weekend: Saturday, October 31 to Monday, November 2
Under Proclamation No. 1006, both November 1 (Sunday, All Saints’ Day) and November 2 (Monday, All Souls’ Day) are special non-working days this year. Heads up: October 31 itself is not a holiday — but since it falls on a Saturday, it quietly extends the weekend anyway. If your office observes Monday off, that’s three full days together: Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
For families coming home to Batangas, that extra Monday matters more than it looks on a calendar. It means you don’t have to cram the cemetery, the relatives, and the long drive back into a single exhausting day.
A Simple Plan for the Weekend
Most Batangueño families we talk to do it the same sensible way: cemetery first, rest second. If you can, visit on Saturday afternoon or early Sunday morning, before the crowds and the heat settle in. Light the candles, lay down the flowers, say what needs saying.
Then come home — to an actual home, not a hotel lobby — and let the rest of the weekend slow down. A late lunch with the whole clan. An afternoon where the lolas and lolos can nap and the kids can run around outside without anyone shushing them. That’s the whole point of having three days instead of one.
Beating the SLEX Rush
Here’s the part nobody enjoys talking about: traffic. Expect the worst of it on Friday, October 30 in the afternoon, as everyone leaves Manila at once, and again on Monday, November 2 in the afternoon, as everyone tries to get back at the same time.
Our best advice, from guests who’ve done this drive more times than we can count: leave early. A 6 or 7 AM departure on Saturday beats a 2 PM crawl down SLEX every time. And if you can stretch your stay into Monday morning instead of racing back Sunday night, do it — you’ll trade a two-hour jam for one more quiet breakfast at home.
Halloween for the Little Ones
October 31 isn’t a holiday, pero it’s still Halloween — and the kids know it. You don’t need to chase down a ticketed event to give them a proper one. A costume night right at the house works just as well, maybe better: everyone already knows each other, nobody’s fighting traffic to get there, and the lolas get to see the costumes up close.
Keep it simple. Pack the costumes before you leave Manila. Grab a small bag of candy at a sari-sari store or grocery along the way. Do a mini trick-or-treat between rooms, or cousin to cousin if the whole family’s staying under one roof. Set a small pumpkin or two on the porch. Small things, big memories — and no planning required beyond what fits in your trunk.
Why a Whole House Beats a Hotel Room
When it’s Undas and the whole family’s coming home — titas, apo, in-laws, the works — a single hotel room (or three of them, on three different floors) stops making sense. A whole house means one kitchen for everyone’s favorite dishes, a common table big enough for the whole clan, and no awkward 10 PM knock on the wall when the kids are still playing.
It also means the grown-ups can actually talk — catch up over coffee while the kids nap, or stay up a little later once everyone’s asleep — instead of saying goodnight to each other in a hotel hallway.
🏡 Coming home to Lipa this Undas? Our houses sleep everyone from a quiet couple’s weekend to a full reunion of 15 — the Cozy 1BR, the Spacious 2BR, or the Mickey in Lipa family houses. Book direct at haveninlipa.com for the most direct way to reserve.
Stayed with us before? Use code WELCOMEBACK when you book direct. 💜
Undas, the Way We’ve Always Known It
Underneath the traffic tips and the costume ideas, Undas is still Undas: white candles lined up on the marble, marigolds and chrysanthemums bundled outside the cemetery gate, the smell of melted wax in the afternoon heat. Prayers said quietly, sometimes a rosary out loud. And after, almost always, a shared meal — because that’s how Filipino families close most things, including grief.
This year, you get three days to hold all of that without rushing through any of it. Visit, remember, rest, eat, and let the kids have their Halloween too. That’s what a long weekend home is for.
Maligayang Undas sa inyong lahat. See you in Lipa. 🕯
