I often travel north on the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) when heading to destinations north of Manila, and when I do I like to stop at a Starbucks for a caffeine fix to help me stay awake on the long drive. There are three Starbucks at the rest stops between Manila and Clark, but they are not all the same.
The first one is at the Petron rest stop about 2km after the Meycauayan interchange, just before you reach the Marilao interchange. This one has a drive-through and uses automatic coffee-making machines, which means the coffee is weaker than the coffee from those Starbucks branches that use proper espresso machines.
If that doesn’t bother you, then this may be where you will want to stop if you are desperate for a coffee and intend to use the drive-through. But it’s the worst of the three if you want to stop and spend some time inside drinking coffee because the drains around this Starbucks smell to high heaven, and the air-conditioning inside is always turned up to arctic levels.
For those reasons I always give that one a miss and go on to the second one which is only another 10km further on, about 4km after the Bocaue interchange and just before the Balagtas interchange. That’s the only Starbucks on this section of the NLEX that has a proper espresso machine, and the temperature inside is a pleasant 24-25 degrees or so, meaning you don’t have to bring winter clothing to enjoy a coffee there.
The next two rest stops don’t have Starbucks branches. The Petron rest stop at the 42km marker is still under development, and so far only McDonalds has opened there. The Total rest stop after the long elevated section of freeway over the flood plains only has a small number of food and beverage outlets.
The last Starbucks before Clark is at the Petron rest stop about 6km after the San Fernando interchange and just before the Mexico interchange. This one is similar to the first Starbucks near Marilao with a drive-through, freezing temperatures inside and automatic machines, meaning weak coffee.
It doesn’t have smelly drains though, so you may want to stop here if you are driving further north than Clark, because there are no more coffee shops on the NLEX and none on the SCTEX.