Central Luzon · Philippines
San Jose travel guide
San Jose is a city in Central Luzon, Philippines, home to about 157,000 people.
- Nearest airport
- CRK82 km · Clark International Airport / Clark Air Base
- Currency
- PHPPhilippine peso
- Time zone
- Asia/Manila
- Language
- English, Filipino, Taglish
About
About San Jose
San Jose sits at the foot of the Caraballo Mountains that forms the boundary with Nueva Vizcaya. It is at the crossroads of three highways, the Maharlika Highway (Route 1) which connects Metro Manila with Nueva Vizcaya and Cagayan Valley, San Jose-Lupao Road (Route 56) which leads to Pangasinan, and Rizal-San Jose Road (Route 111) which leads to Aurora. The city used to be the barrio of Cabaritan (Kabaritan) in nearby Lupao until the Spaniards decided to upgrade it to a town in 1894 and renamed it after its patron saint, St. Joseph.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Things to do
What to see and do in San Jose
See
- Tayabo Nature Park
- Saint Joseph Cathedral
Do
- Palaspas Falls
- Tanduyong Festival
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
When to go
The best time to visit San Jose
San Jose has no month that is both mild and dry by the measure used here. April is the warmest month, with average highs of 35 °C; August is the wettest, with about 493 mm of rain.
Comfortable means average daytime high between 18 °C and 29 °C and under 80 mm of rain in the month. Averages for 1991–2020 over the surrounding area, a grid square about 50 km across, so a coast or a nearby mountain can make the town itself warmer or cooler. Data: CRU TS v4.10, Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia (Open Database License).
Getting there
Getting to San Jose: airports and arrival
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Clark International Airport / Clark Air Base (CRK), about 82 km from the city centre in a straight line; Subic Bay International Airport / Naval Air Station Cubi Point (SFS, 135 km) and Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL, 143 km) are also within reach.
Getting in
As a major highway junction, San Jose is a stopover on the way to Cagayan Valley, Aurora and eastern Pangasinan via Lupao.
Getting around
Tricycles are the main mode of transport between barangays. The city center suffers from heavy traffic congestion. A bypass road leads from Barangay Malasin, just before the Caraballo mountains, to Santo Tomas, on the boundary with Munoz, but involves passing through narrow and sometimes unlighted two-lane roads and beside rice fields and unfenced irrigation canals deep enough to swallow an SUV.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
CRK · Clark International Airport / Clark Air Base
SFS · Subic Bay International Airport / Naval Air Station Cubi Point
MNL · Ninoy Aquino International Airport
Questions
San Jose: questions travellers ask
When is the best time to visit San Jose?
San Jose has no month that is both mild and dry by the measure used here. April is the warmest month, with average highs of 35 °C; August is the wettest, with about 493 mm of rain.
Which airport is closest to San Jose?
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Clark International Airport / Clark Air Base (CRK), about 82 km from the city centre in a straight line; Subic Bay International Airport / Naval Air Station Cubi Point (SFS, 135 km) and Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL, 143 km) are also within reach.
What currency is used in San Jose?
Philippine peso (PHP).
Nearby
Destinations near San Jose
Sources: city facts from Wikidata and Wikipedia; airports from OurAirports; climate from CRU TS v4.10 (University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit), 1991–2020 monthly means, 0.5° grid; places to stay, guest scores and amenities from each operator's own public pages. How this guide is made.