The Philippines - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia on a Budget - page 619

DIRECTORY
Banks and exchange W&L moneychangers are opposite
the information o ce, but there's no ATM.
Internet People's Lodge and Restaurant has an internet
café (daily 7am-9pm; P50/hr).
Police Opposite the information centre.
Post o ce The main post o ce (where you can also make
long-distance phone calls) is near the Banaue Hotel & Youth
Hostel. There's another post o ce in the municipal town hall.

an Ifugao woman, settled and died in the
region. he Museum of Cordilleran
Sculpture (daily 8am-5pm; P100),
further up past the Banaue Hotel , houses
more than two thousand fascinating
Ifugao artefacts, including trophy heads
and erotic rice baskets.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
By bus Buses terminate at the main road above the
marketplace, reached by a flight of steep stone stairs.
Destinations For Manila, Ohayami has two daily
departures (6.45am & 7pm; 9hr); for Baguio KMS runs two
daily services (7am & 6pm; 8hr); for Bontoc there are three
daily services (2hr).
By jeepney Jeepneys stop opposite the tourist informa-
tion o ce.
Destinations Bontoc (change for Sagada; daily 8.30am;
P150).

BATAD
he 19km trek from Banaue to the
remote little village of BATAD has become
something of a pilgrimage for visitors
looking for rural isolation and
unforgettable rice-terrace scenery. You'll
need to take a tricycle (P700) from
Banaue for the first (bumpy) 12km
before starting a tiring walk up a steep
trail, but the spectacular views more than
compensate for any discomfort. A
cheaper and less tiring option is to take
a public jeepney (P100) to Saddle, one
hour's walk from Batad. You will have to
stay overnight in Batad as there is only
one afternoon departure from Banaue at
3pm; you can then catch the 8.30am
jeepney back to Banaue. Alternatively,
you can hire a private jeepney (P2500);
a guide will set you back a further P1200.
he tourist information centre can give
you more detail on the many different
hikes in the area, or contact Robert's
Trekking Adventure ( T 0908 308 2316,
E [e-mail]) who
organize great hikes of the area.
Batad nestles in a natural amphitheatre,
a one-hour hike from the glorious
30m-high Tappia Waterfall , which
has a deep, bracing pool for swimming.
Village life in Batad was virtually
unchanged for centuries until the
development of tourism, but its influence
hasn't yet been too insidious; there are just
half a dozen basic guesthouses . Rooms in
Batad, while not as dirt-cheap as they
once were, are still very reasonable. Prices
and quality are similar (all P200 per
person), but Simon's Inn has a particularly
good restaurant offering the widest choice
of dishes in town, including fantastic
home-made pitta bread. Rooms fill up
quickly in summertime.

INFORMATION
Tourist information The tourist information o ce is
near the town hall (daily 7am-7pm; T 074 386 4010),
where you can get maps of the area for trekking (P15).
They'll also help you find a guide for half-day treks to local
Ifugao communities or longer treks through the rice
terraces to Batad (P700-1200/group).

8

ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
Banaue View Inn T 074 916 694 4551, E banaue
[e-mail]. Friendly, family-run place
overlooking town and the terraces beyond, and home to
the Banaue Museum. Clean rooms with priva te hot -water
bathrooms; there's also an attic dorm (P300). P800
People's Lodge and Restaurant Next door to the
Greenview T 074 386 4014, E [e-mail]. Only
the pricier rooms here have the luxury of hot water, while
the simple ones have cold showers and communal facili-
ties. There's internet access on the ground floor (P50) and a
decent enough restaurant. P500
★

Sanafe Lodge and Restaurant T 0918 947 7226,
W sanafelodge.com. The doubles here are clean and cosy,
all with hot water and most with incredible views, while
the dorms are quite stuffy with no windows. The fantastic
terrace restaurant serves great international food and the
views over t he terra ces are unbeatable. Free speedy wi-fi.
Dorm P200 , double P800
Uyami's Greenview Lodge and Restaurant T 0920
540 4225, W ugreenview.wordpress.com. The homely
doubles here have parquet floors and pine interiors, while
the cheaper concrete rooms on the bottom floor aren't
as snug. The restaurant has wonderful rice-terrace views
and wi-fi, and rustle s up a ppetizing local dishes using
fresh market produce. P900