For a number of reasons, any writing about Banaue has to begin with an explanation of actually getting there, because it’s a decent journey from Manila and if you get it wrong, you could end up on the wrong side of nowhere… Fortunately I made another post about the bus to Banaue, so I recommend you check out that if you need info on getting there.

Now we can get to the good stuff.

Like I implied in the title, the thing you hear most about Banaue is the splendor of the Banaue rice terraces, but what we found after going there was that Banaue is a beautiful and fascinating town, rice terraces or not!

As I wrote elsewhere, the town is basically a stretch of road along a mountain trail, within which there are other little networks of streets that go up and down the mountain that the town sits on. This brings me to my first point, and tip for Banaue.

You’ll go everywhere in Banaue by trike ride. The little motorbikes with their two seater passenger carriages line the streets in the main part of town and are willing to take you pretty much anywhere around the tiny town you could wish to go. The tip here is:

BANAUE TIP: Don’t plan on walking anywhere in Banaue past where you can see ahead. The roads are all very windy and go up and down the mountain continuously. This makes it both 1. easy to get lost and 2. a serious hike, mostly up hill, where ever you choose to walk in Banaue. If you’re fit and ready, go for it, but just be remember these words as you embark on your journey.

What’s To Do In Banaue?

Here are a few things other than rice terraces that can bring great joy in Banaue.

1. Walk (I know I just said not too, but this part is worth it… AND you can get a trike here if you want) down the road to the village part of Banaue and check out some of the local houses. There are kids playing in the street, houses perched on jutting edges of mountain side, and local animals scampering between houses in search of their next scrap of food. There’s also a cool little bridge over a babbling brook that we didn’t get a chance to walk, but that looked awesome.

Most of the things you do in Banaue you’ll walk UPWARD up the hills from the main hotel area, so this downwards walk is one different road but you won’t miss it.

2. Check out the local shops

Around Banaue there are a multitude of little shops for souvenirs, like wood carvings the locals have made, and the ubiquitous “penis” fertility statues, but there’s also some interesting little grocery stores, as well as spots for clothes, and more. You’ll surely find the shops a treat for the senses; certainly charming and full of character.

3. The Sunday Markets

This one we found completely by accident but on Sunday morning this elaborate street market emerges from nowhere on the main thoroughfare of Banaue. There’s all kinds of local foods and beverages, not one of which I recognized. Stroll around and chat to the local vendors, try some weird and wonderful local treats, and enjoy them at one of the many vantage points looking over the terraces.

Of Course…

Of course there’s the cool “terrace” related stuff to do as well, but I thought I’d mention a couple of the Banaue’s little treats that you can partake of outside of the popular attraction.

Banaue is a quiet, sleepy little town but one who’s offerings you simply must take in, in their entirety.

Author: Andrew Hansen

We did a LOT of research on this trip, both online and asking various locals around Manila about getting to Banaue and we never seemed to get a clear picture of what we needed to do to get there. So having made the journey I’ve put together some of the most important points you need to take note of if you’re considering doing the same…

First things first…

The cost is really cheap so you don’t need to worry about getting the best deal. We paid $18 each return… for a 9 hour trip. Ahhh how we love PI

You need to take the bus from a small station in Manila. The most reliable we found was “Autobus” BUT what we realized only after getting there is that the advertised bus terminal thats listed on the websites has actually MOVED. It took us one crazy taxi trip across town in the middle of a busy Manila night including a couple of near death experiences, a yelling match with our taxi driver, and a last minute trike ride to a different street by a random local to actually FIND the real bus terminal.

So here’s the address as listed:

Auto Bus Terminal: España Blvd corner G. Tolentino St., Manila. The bus leaves at 10 PM daily and arrives at about 7AM.

The time it leaves is right but the rest is not. Have the taxi driver take you to that area and just leave in plenty of time to get out and ask locals where the NEW “Autobus” terminal is. I wish we’d written down the street name for you but we were so rushed and frantic that we didn’t have the peace of mind to do so.

The bus trip to Banaue is 9 hours through the night. It was a tad draining because the bus wasn’t the best, the air conditioning was incessant and too cold, and the seats reclined juuuust enough for you to THINK you might be able to get comfortable before crushing your dreams of any form of decent sleep.

Another tip, don’t even try to get the back seat so you can lie right down, it won’t help. The back seat is reserved for the driver to sleep after he rotates with another driver half way through the trip. We found this out after being kicked out of our comfortable sleeping position after mistakenly thinking that the back seat was a free for all.

But don’t let me discourage you, this is all part of the experience, and when you get to Banaue it’ll be hard to argue that the trip wasn’t worth every minute of it.

When you’re leaving Banaue to come back to Manila things are much easier. You go to the one terminal in Banaue where you entered and await the bus that by memory leaves twice daily, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.

Now go forth and enjoy the beauty of Banaue equipped with these tips.

Hope you enjoyed!

Author: Andrew Hansen

Amongst other reasons, the effort it takes to get there, namely, the 9 hour bus ride from Manila, means you want to get your trip right, and know what you’re getting yourself into.

This post isn’t about the whole of the Banaue adventure, but specifically the rice terraces. If you’re going there to see them, you need to know what it is you stand to see.

Your first view of the rice terraces will be, if you stayed awake on the bus trip, as you’re winding your way through the mountains to the Banaue bus stop. These ones are just scattered and not as extensive as up the road, but it gives you a taste of the beauty before it clobbers you over the head later in the trip.

Next, depending on where you stay at Banaue (we recommend the Sanafe Lodge) you’ll have a view of some terraces from the main town area, likely from the balcony of your accomodation.

The mountains and valleys of Banaue are smaller and more intricate so the terraces here are in smaller patches than at say Batad and don’t seem to stretch quite as far, but you’ll definitely get a decent view of them from your inn’s balcony.

But to get the best view of the rice terraces at Banaue, you need to take a short tour. We asked a trike driver to take us up to some of the lookouts, (cost about 300 pesos) but if you’re fit, you could have walked up the mountain trail and seem the good lookout points without spending any money. Getting to the lookout points is easy.

There’s only one road going into and out of Banaue, and to get to the lookout points you just follow this road through the township in the opposite direction to the way you came IN on that road. Make sense?

It’s at these lookout points that you get the best views of the terraces in Banaue, like the photo here. There’s little tourist stops along the way to check out some of the locally carved woodworks and of course the ever present wooden backscratching devices.

The view at the highest lookout they take you to is fantastic. There’s a little picnic table there that you can sit at and just appreciate the view all the way down the valley, with terraces on either side. There’s even a little staircase where you can walk down and amongst the terraces if you want. Just make sure you only walk along the stony edges, and don’t step into the wet body of the terrace: it ruins the rice growing AND you’re likely to end up with a handful of leeches on you if you do.

After this, you make your way back down to the town.

Overall, I think it’s important to point out that the Banaue rice terraces are beautiful, but they’re not AS special as when you get up to the Batad rice terraces. You just can’t see as many or from as nice a view as you can at Batad, so make sure you’re ready for that when you get there. I think if we’d ONLY been able to see the terraces at Banaue, we’d have been disappointed. When you get up to Batad, you’ll know what I mean

Author: Andrew Hansen

I’ve written about Banaue elsewhere, but I wanted to take this post to make a special post and review of the place we stayed at in Banaue, the Sanafe Lodge.

There were a decent number of choices for accomodation at Banaue so you might find it difficult to make a decision.

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, Banaue is a much bigger town than it’s little brother next door, Batad. There’s a lot of houses scattered along mountain trails, plenty of little stores selling souvenirs and clothing, and, as we discovered after it sprung up from nowhere right outside Sanafe Lodge on the Sunday morning, a thriving little weekend market!

The positioning of our accommodation at Banaue was important, because the town is spread out along a pretty decent sized stretch of mountain road, and one end is closer to where you come in on the bus, and the other end is closer to where you need to go to get on to Batad and also to the places where you see more of the Rice Terraces.

The Sanafe Lodge is perfect because it’s right about in the middle of those two points. It’s also a great spot because it’s right in the middle of a little area with a bunch of those little souvenir shops and also some interesting old buildings.

We had a really short trike ride down from the bus stop to the lodge, and checked into Sanafe.

The place is run by a lovely little couple, who were frequently seen sitting inside at the communal table, making these little decorations to hang around the place for what seemed to be some upcoming festivity.

Our room at the lodge was cute. We got two beds with good mattresses, the room was nice and clean, and also had a shower that you could get to output hot water (as opposed to Batad which as I’ve written, had no such luxury ) with a little playing around. When you’re hiking around mountain trails all day, the warm shower is something you’re thankful for.

You could also use the internet at the lodge computer for a really small fee, and unlike other places we found in the Philippines, the internet wasn’t too bad.

The food at the lodge was reasonable too, although we did have a funny experience when ordering the “special sandwich”… it had one thin slice of what we think was chicken but placed vertically on only the left third of the slice of bread, before being topped with what we think was mayonnaise. I’m sure it was a little mistake from the chef but I ate it up and laughed about it later.

What we loved about the lodge was a great balcony it had that you could sit out and enjoy a “San Mig” at (the local beer). It had a nice view down into the valley. You can’t see TOO many rice terraces here (not as many as at Batad) but the view is great, mountainscapes, a little bridge stretching across a ravine, and a long view down the valley between two mountain ridges.

The price at Sanafe Lodge was about $20 a night. I believe there was some slightly cheaper options at Banaue but for the central location, the hospitality of our hosts and the killer view, we certainly weren’t upset at paying $40 for our two night stay.

We can recommend Sanafe Lodge if you’re looking for a short stay at Banaue. If you have any questions, feel free to let us know!

Author: Andrew Hansen