5 Family Pasyalan in the South With Indoor and Outdoor Fun!

The idea of waking up on a Saturday morning and making an impromptu trip to, say, Tagaytay has almost become a distant memory, thanks to the unbearable traffic. It makes everyone ask: is it worth getting stuck in the car with hungry whiny kids for three hours?

You don't have to go as far as Tagaytay to venture to the South for a fun family weekend. South of Manila now has many "pasyalans" with entertainment, shopping, and dining options for families with kids.

If you're new to this side of town here's a quick rundown of some of the places you can take your family to this weekend.

Filinvest City

The Filinvest area located in Alabang has undergone significant developments in recent years.

Aside from the Festival Mall and Alabang Town Center located nearby, Landmark has also set up shop in the area. It features an expansive department store with items including a vast collection of affordable children’s clothes and a big supermarket.

Festival Mall itself has expanded to include many new restaurants, bringing outstanding dining options from the North to the neighborhood. There are also some indoor play areas in the mall where your kids can explore.

What’s best about Filinvest City though are the wide-open spaces. Take them for a stroll around the stretch of the Filinvest Riverpark, or take them down the serene Filinvest Water Garden where you can sit under a tree.

Okada Manila

This oceanfront structure, located in Parañaque and accessible via Macapagal Boulevard, covers 44 whopping hectares of land. Yes, this vast property is one of the biggest and newest centers of leisure and entertainment in the South.

It’s a luxury hotel, but you don't have to be a guest to enjoy its attractions, and the favorite of visitors at the moment is The Fountain. This majestic water feature is one of the biggest in the world. It has choreographed water show every day at 6 p.m. that features 700 high-powered jets and 2,000 lights. 

Aside from the beautiful fountain, Okada has this beautiful (or should we say Instagram-able) glass-covered walkway lined with shops and restaurants offering scrumptious treats for the family.

 

Your kids will also love PLAY at Okada, an indoor playground cum educational fun facility, with eight play areas that feature different activities for kids ages 1-16 years old.

Blue Bay Walk

This one is located not too far down South but is easily accessible via Macapagal Boulevard if you’re coming from Cavite, Las Pinas, or Paranaque. We love to have a chill, stress-free weekend here because of the wide-open space located in the middle of the shops where you can let your kids run around freely.

Families can even rent bikes and go-karts for around a hundred pesos, and we've spied many kids going crazy making and blowing bubbles. Space is ample enough that if you let your kids run from end to end, they will be fast asleep when you get home.

Molito Lifestyle Center

Accessible via the Alabang-Zapote Road and Daang Hari Road, Molito is packed to the brim with fun weekend possibilities for the family.

There’s popular ramen spot, Yushoken, in the area, and a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory offering mouth-watering desserts your kids will love.

There are also rows upon rows of other restaurants and shops your family can explore. Even within the compound are fast food joints, and a Santi’s and Puregold branch where mom can grab some finds before heading home.

What kids love about Molito though is the park with the lights and water fountain. You’ll often see them running around trying to catch the water with their tiny hands. The entire area is covered in grass that’s clean and well kept. And in case it rains, there’s an indoor playground inside Molito too where you can park your kids for a few hours.

 

Evia Lifestyle Center

This upscale mall caters to the entertainment, leisure, and recreational needs of people living in the new villages set up in recent years along Daang Hari road. The interior is designed to look like The Venetian in Las Vegas with colorful walls, windows, and accents that are IG worthy. (By the way,  the mall cinema is the country’s first MX4D Motion EFX Theater.)

 

The atrium serves as the activity area, which has a water feature where kids often congregate. When there’s no event, you'll find the kids here running around, screaming their heads off and getting cotton candy on the floor. Check out more here.  

More developments are still in the pipeline in the South, so expect more of these kinds of pasyalans to open in the next couple of years.