Most (if not all) of the visitors to Sagada would brave the long drive or commute to experience the natural beauty of the town. Of course, most of these natural wonders would require walking and navigating through not-so-familiar hike trails and paths. Be a responsible and smart backpacker by researching about the sites that you want to visit. If that’s not possible, ask the other tourists and travelers that you encounter during your stay.

If you’re a first time traveler, you’re definitely going to benefit from having a tour guide that could give directions and pertinent information about the places you want to see.

To arrange a guided tour, make your way to the municipal hall near the intersection of Sagada’s three main roads. The tourism desk is to your left immediately upon entering the building. There, you would see the list of possible destinations and the standard rates for each. (more…)

Sagada Lemon Pie House will be having its grand launching day on May 3 (Saturday) at 5 PM. Artists from Sagada will treat guests with local music, and poetry reading in between bites of pies and sips of coffee  and tea.

The Visit Sagada Team has been doing the rounds for this summer’s blog events. We’re aware that even if we’re getting decent hits from backpackers and travelers, we’re still fairly unknown among bloggers. To increase our visibility off-line, we’ve produced limited edition Visit Sagada stickers similar to the site badge (designed by Angel Juarez) that we use on our personal sites. We’ve given away close to a hundred stickers and we intend to bring a bunch of them to give away to the establishments in Sagada for their guests and visitors.

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Aside from experiencing the beauty of Sagada, one of the best things that could come out of your backpacking sojourn is meeting great people who also love to appreciate the wonders of nature and the cultures of other people. If you’re going to Sagada, simply leave a comment here and tell us the duration of your stay. Hooking up with other groups and travelers could save you money for the tours and could also win you a friend for future trips.

We will be updating this post as the comments come. If you want to get in touch with any of the people on this entry, you email me and I will ask them if the other party is interested before I give you their contact details. We plan to incorporate this to our forum real soon.

PLEASE GO HERE TO INDICATE YOUR TRIP SPECIFICATIONS. Thank you. You may also click on the “discuss” button to chat with the other people browsing the page.

May 16-17 Sp (2 people)

June 2-5 Liz (> 3 people)

May 19-25 JC (> 3 people)

As it stands, our three commenters will not really see each other in Sagada. If you’re planning to go, post your tentative date of arrival and departure from Sagada.

Interestingly, Howie Severino returned to Sagada in April 2008 for his quest for the wild horses, and truly, the wild horses of Sagada are more than just a mountain legend.

In the peak called Lamagan of the grassy highland of Sitio Mabaat is a field tagged as “Marlboro Country”, where the only wild horses in the Philippines can be found. Stories say that wild horses run freely in this ground for almost three decades now. These horses were freed by residents of Antadao who could no longer take care of them a long time ago.

Photo Credit: Lonerider

Four years ago, locals accounted their number to a dozen, but this time, Howie spotted only five. Their number reached to more than twenty a couple of years back, however local hunting is slowly making these horses extinct.

The wild horses of Sagada are among the best kept secrets of this town. They need protection or they will just become another legend.

This will be the first of a series of posts on things you should never miss out on your trip to Sagada. I’d like to keep them as simple and as doable within at least a 3-day trip as possible (no “camp out on Mt Ampacao overnight” suggestions here, as fun as that sounds).

We’ll start off big. Like I mentioned, all five will (or should, as I’m imposing on myself) be doable within a 3-day trip; which should really be the minimum number of days you should set aside for a trip to Sagada. What follows is a video of our friend here Des, daredevil and mountaineer extraordinaire:

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(Note: the video might take a while to load) If the vid does not play, right-click here and then click “Save Link As…” to download any play the file offline (either way, it requires QuickTime, which you probably already have installed on your computer).

This one was taken from the Bokong Falls, the smaller of the two waterfalls open to tourists (the other, why yes, the Big Falls!). This jump is about 20-25 feet high. Des set the bar for the jump, and for the 3 of us other guys who were there at that time, our male egos obviously wouldn’t take the beating and got pressured into decided we’ll jump off, life be damned.

Unfortunately, my jump wasn’t caught on video; which works against my favor, because people who read my blog or know me in real life wouldn’t believe I’d do something as daredevil-ish as jumping off a 25-foot height and into equally deep water, with sharp rocks inches away. Not something I’d do from the Bomod-ok Falls though (at least not anytime – dare me?)

Shout out and thanks to Jam, Gab, Des and Dru for the video and photos!

As one could easily see in this picture, the Bokong Falls is definitely no where near the size and majestic beauty of the Bomod-ok Falls (Big Falls) but since it’s just a few minutes’ walk from the town center, it’s still worth your time. The waterfall is located at the edge of rice fields and the water drops from a height of above 20 feet. It’s no higher than a usual diving board but it’s still a rush to jump off its highest point. (more…)

Just like plenty of the attractions in Sagada, Lake Danum is an easy walk away from the town center. Though it is realistically not as stunning as the other locations in town, it still is a very nice venue for picnics and it is often used as a jump off point in going up Mount Ampacao.

Mount Ampacao offers a majestic view of Sagada and surrounding townships. The vantage points offers a unique chance to catch an awe-inspiring view of the sun as it sets behind the mighty Cordilleras.

Mt. Ampacao Trek via Lake Danuum
A trek at the mountain ranges overlooking Sagada and Besao
Guide Fee: Php. 600 / max of 10
Optional Vehicle: Php. 600

Photo Credit: Chieyu

Yo backpackers and tree-huggers, here’s where you can make yourself heard!

For the love of Sagada we we took a little over a month of brainstorming, planning, actual visits up the place (well d’oh!) recruitment of back-office talent to do the technicals (say w00t! to our great, great theme) to flesh out the wonder chest of information that is Visit Sagada! However, we understand that not every one of you is sold on every detail that we worked into every nook and cranny you now enjoy. Or, do you? I’ll start with a few items:

• Do you like the blog format, i.e., random subjects on each day (food/tour/lodging), with categories on the right sidebar?
• or would you prefer an index home page for VisitSagada.com where you’ll get a list of all articles under food/tour/lodging each?
• A more “web 2.0″ look please! Shiny, high-contrast gloss is the shizzle! (although I like the cleaner layout myself -ed.)
• A forum! Discussion board! Embedded IRC chatroom!
• my own me@visitsagada.com addresses powered by Google’s Gmail interface! (actually, you can get one now. Just send a quick note to jeff@visitsagada.com or benj@visitsagada.com)

IWe’re giving you the floor – what do you all want to change about Visit Sagada?

… otherwise known as my 2006 Sagada itinerary. It was so easy-going, low impact and had more time for relaxation than any of the extreme things that you could while in town.

Day 0

10PM – Leave Manila (Victory Liner)

Day 1

4 AM – Arrival at Baguio

6 AM – Leave for Sagada (Lizardo)

12 NN – Arrival at Sagada; Lunch

1 PM – Check in at Residential Lodge

SLEEP AND REST THE ENTIRE DAY (more…)