Banuae is a small city located in Northern Luzon at around 1030m above sea level. It is a 9-hour bus ride from Manila. The scenery takes place in the mountainous area of Ifugao. The Banaue rice terraces were built by hand with minimal equipment. While the rice terraces are not the most impressive you can find in Asia, Banaue is still a great place to hike and explore!
Once again, there is no need for a guide since all hikes are clearly mentionned on maps.me. Starting from Banaue to the main viewpoint is a 4.4km hike through the rice terraces. Do not be too much confident following the main path but rather keep an eye on maps.me. While only one path show up in maps.me, there are more than one in reality. I probably walked twice the distance confusing some paths with each other. Yet be assured, it is impossible to get lost in Banaue. Rice farmers are super friendly, helpful and most of them are fluent in english!
Once at the main viewpoint you can get back to Banaue from the main road hiring a trishaw or walking. It is a short 5km walk downhill featuring several other viewpoints. What is mentionned as the ‘Banaue Main Viewpoint’ is clearly not the best one though. The views from the first viewpoint to the first shelter are much nicer than the rest of the hike. A day is more than enough to get around Banaue.
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