After three full days in Sagada, we continued our trip to Banaue, the most famous and touristic place in the mountains. The town itself is not attractive but serves as a starting point for countless hikes through mountainous rice terraces, counted as UNESCO world heritage. It is truly impressive how the Ifugao people, one of the many Igorot tribes, appropriated the mountains and cultivated them.
The main viewpoints are easily accessible by road, like Bangaan, Poitan or Banaue itself. Only for a view on Batad, also called the ‘eighth wonder of the world’, you need to walk about 20 minutes through forest and partly along a cliff.
I couldn’t resist walking through the rice terraces to see how they are built. I can only admire the farmers for this hard job…
Banaue is maybe not the most beautiful town, and accomodation is very simple. But it’s a good starting point for a trip through the region’s rice fields and worth souvenir-shopping.
Next time, I’ll come back prepared for a real hike!
Beautiful pics. This is the lushest green I’ve seen in a while!