That Traveling Couple

I wanted to put a post together to try and provide all the information you’d need to know if you’re planning to head up to the Banaue Rice Terraces in Northern Luzon, Philippines.

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