SMX Bacolod

Festival

Masskara Festival
The Masskara Festival has been a regional draw for over three decades, celebrating Bacolod City’s Charter Day anniversary, every October 19th, with an exuberance of parades, costumes, music, dancing, food, and vibrant color. The festival’s symbol – a smiling mask – is instantly identifiable across the Philippines, and represents the joyful spirit of the Negrense people, even through the ups and downs of the sugar industry, the lifeblood of Negros.

Tourist Spots

Negros Museum
Showcasing the rich history of Bacolod, this museum displays an enormous Iron Dinosaur steam engine, a 40-foot traditional batil boat, and artwork by Bacolod natives depicting life during the pre-Spanish era and the sugar boom.

Laguerta: Home of Vintage Glass Museum
A two-story museum which is believed to be the first of its kind not only in Bacolod but in the Philippines as well.  It houses a collection of glass pieces acquired over 20 years by its owner.

Dizon - Ramos Museum
Here you will find a stunning collection of ceramics, glassware, memorabilia, and religious items.

Balay Negrense
A 20-minute drive away from Bacolod and located in the “Paris of Negros”, Silay City.  A museum that showcases the lifestyle of a late 19^th-century Negrense sugar baron.

Capitol Park and Lagoon
This is the best place to spend a leisure afternoon, perhaps taking memento photographs in front of the Negros Occidental Provincial Capitol Building. You’ll forget that the park and lagoon are both manmade.

Mambukal Mountain Resort
Located in the nearby town of Murcia which is approximately 45-minutes away from Bacolod.  Offers tourists the natural wonders of the island through its famous 7 waterfalls and soothing hot springs.

The Ruins
The Ruins, in Talisay City, are the remains of a sweet gesture by Negros Occidental sugar magnate Don Mariano Ledesma, who built the 19th-century Neo-Romanesque manor for his Portuguese wife. Alas, the house proper burned down in World War II, but the frame remains, its poignant story and untouched authenticity only adding to its appeal.

Santa Clara Chapel
Despite being ‘only’ a chapel, this building is distinguished by a wondrous mosaic crafted from 95,000 pieces of shell and mother-of-pearl.

San Sebastian Cathedral
Built in 1876 in the city plaza, the cathedral’s construction highlights coral stone from Guimaras and hardwood floors from Palawan.

Find out more information here.