Pinto Art Museum (Rizal, Philippines)

Since it’s still not an option for us to travel with Luke abroad, I’ve been looking for places where we can go on short outings or day trips with him. Luke loves seeing new things so I really wanna take him out as often as I can!

I came across Pinto Art Museum after seeing my friend’s Instagram-worthy pictures! Of course, I was sold instantly (especially since it’s just an hour’s drive from Manila!) In fact, I was so excited to take cute photos of Luke that I planned the perfect outfit for him (cute hat, polo shirt and shorts!!) But I guess God had a different plan because just as we arrived at the entrance, he peed all over. 😐

Yes, this was before I was able to buy our tickets at the booth! Good thing we have a plan B outfit! Anyway, back to the museum!

From our place in Manila, it surprisingly took us only 45 minutes to get to Pinto. We were expecting that it would take longer since it’s out of the city but we just followed Waze and we got there by 2:45pm!

I’m pretty sure the best time to visit is in the morning when the sun isn’t as hot yet (and so that you have plenty of time to roam) but we went there with friends who also had kids and babies (like us!) and we all agreed that after lunch was the best time to start our excursion so that the kids are full and have had their naps!

Life is so different with kids! Haha!

Pinto is a mix of both indoor and outdoor spaces and because someone asked me, no, there is no airconditioning inside so dress cool. I’m happy I brought a hat for Luke!

When I go to museums, I like to take my time and appreciate the art.

But for this trip, I’ll be very very honest, I felt like my mind was all over the place the entire time mainly because it’s our first museum trip with Luke! We kept on checking if he was hot, tired, touching anything he’s not supposed to, about to trip etc. Gaah!

For a while, I even noticed I was also just narrating things to him like “Lukey, that’s a flower! Where’s the flower?” My fault of course, not his. Haha!

Luke loved the wide open spaces and wanted to run around with the big kids (but we didn’t let him go crazy, don’t worry, I try my best to keep Luke behaved hehe)

There were interactive artworks that you can spin, touch and hold and there were not-so-interactive artworks that we also had fun with anyway. Haha.

Just kidding about the sign because those boys are the nicest boys in the world, really! 😉

There were also a lot benches where you can sit down to take a break or to appreciate the art.

There were paintings, sculptures and other installations which were very interesting to check out. I really wish we had more time to go around.

Because we kept on stopping to take photos, we didn’t notice we’ve been walking for almost 2 hours already!

Luke usually takes a nap in the afternoon so we tried to put him to sleep by going to a very secluded quiet corner (it’s hard to put Luke to sleep when we’re outside because he always refuses but yaya did a great job hehe)

He only took a 15 minute nap though. Oh well, better than nothing!

After that, it was time for merienda (afternoon snack!) This also served as our early dinner since it was already 5:30pm when we started! There were a few dining areas in the museum so we just stopped by the one nearest to us at that time. I tried their Tamarind Shake, which was surprisingly sweet and not sour (and so good!)

By the time we finished eating, the museum was already closed so we weren’t able to see everything! So we just took some group photos because now we had the space to ourselves. Hehe.

Tips:

• Bring your booster seat if you have a baby. They don’t have highchairs at the restaurants. We purposely left ours in the car so that we didn’t have to bring it as we were going around the museum. Mor just went back for it when it was time to eat.
• Leave your stroller. There are quite a lot of steps and narrow paths. Better to carry or babywear!
• Wear light clothing because it can get HOT.
• Bring mosquito sprays and spray liberally! Haha.

Needless to say, bring water along the way to keep yourself hydrated, especially for the kids!

Pinto Art Museum

1 Sierra Madre St., Grand Heights, Antipolo
Tuesday – Sunday: 9 AM – 6 PM

Entrance was 180php each for adults. Babies get in free.

Do you have suggestions for other day trips and excursions near Manila? Please share them below because I wanna visit them soon!

(NOTE: THIS POST IS ABOUT OUR EXPERIENCE LAST MARCH 2016.)