University of the Philippines Los Baños Campus

The University of the Philippines Los Baños campus sprawls across the lower slopes of Mount Makiling and covers about 1,000 hectares. It is as much forest and garden as university — the UP Laguna Botanical Garden occupies a substantial portion of the campus, and the trail system through the forested areas is open to walkers and joggers. The macaque colony on campus is large and visible daily; some troop members have become comfortable enough with humans to approach tourists near the canteen areas.

The UPLB Museum of Natural History on campus has collections covering Philippine biodiversity — insects, plants, birds, and mammals — with a particular strength in Luzon fauna. The Baker Memorial Hall is an elegant American colonial building worth photographing. The campus coffee shops and restaurants are reliably cheap and the student atmosphere is lively during the academic term.

things to do campus nature
A story
The UPLB campus is one of the most beautiful university campuses in the Philippines, partly because it was originally designed as an agricultural research station in the American colonial period and the forest and botanical garden were planted as integral parts of the design. The old American-era buildings — including Baker Memorial Hall from 1921 — sit in a landscape of mature trees that also provides habitat for long-tailed macaques, monitor lizards, and dozens of bird species.