Philippines

Philippines: The Banaue Rice Terraces and Sagada

Two-thousand-year-old rice terraces nicknamed the eighth wonder of the world, then coffins hanging on a cliff face

Philippines

Philippines: The Banaue Rice Terraces and Sagada

A journey through the Cordillera mountains of northern Luzon, far from Palawan and Bohol: the Banaue rice terraces, carved into the mountainside about two thousand years ago by the Ifugao people and nicknamed the "eighth wonder of the world," then Sagada, a mountain village where the funerary tradition of hanging coffins, attached for centuries to limestone cliffs, is still practised by some families.

When

Nov to May

Price

From 2 200€ excl. flights

(based on 2 people sharing)

How long

6 nights

Ideal length

The Banaue Rice Terraces

Days 1-2

The first chapter unfolds in Banaue, where the Ifugao people carved rice terraces into the mountainside entirely by hand about two thousand years ago, rising to fifteen hundred metres in altitude and, laid end to end, stretching over twenty thousand kilometres. This ancestral irrigation system, still fed today by a network of channels diverting water from the surrounding forests, earned these terraces the nickname "eighth wonder of the world" and UNESCO listing.

Day 1

The Banaue viewpoint and Batad village

A visit to the main viewpoint over the Banaue terraces, then a hike to the remote village of Batad, accessible only on foot, whose amphitheatre-shaped terraces rank among the region's most spectacular.

Day 2

Meeting Ifugao woodcarvers

A visit to an Ifugao woodcarvers' workshop, known for their wooden rice guardian figures called bulul, traditional protectors of the harvest according to local animist beliefs.

1 / 3

Sagada and the Hanging Coffins

Days 1-2

The road to Sagada, a mountain village where the Igorot community has practised the hanging-coffin funerary tradition for several centuries, attaching them to limestone cliff faces to bring the deceased closer to the sky according to local beliefs. Though largely replaced by more modern funeral rites, the practice still continues today for some families, making Sagada one of the most singular cultural sites in the Philippines.

Day 1

The hanging coffin cliffs

A hike to the limestone cliffs of Echo Valley where traditional coffins hang, some decades old, following a funerary practice still alive within the Igorot community.

Day 2

Sumaguing Cave and the Sagada rice terraces

An exploration of Sumaguing Cave, a network of limestone galleries adorned with spectacular formations, then a stroll through the lesser-known rice terraces surrounding Sagada village.