Sagada
Hanging Coffins On A Limestone Cliff, And The Burial Practice They Belong To Is Not Finished · Sagada, Mountain Province
SAGADA'S HANGING COFFINS ARE STACKED ON A LIMESTONE CLIFF IN ECHO VALLEY, and the thing to understand before you go is that THIS IS AN IGOROT BURIAL PRACTICE THAT IS NOT FINISHED - coffins have been added within living memory, and visitors are walking through a cemetery, not a ruin. THE CAVES ARE THE OTHER DRAW. SUMAGUING AND LUMIANG HOLD MORE COFFINS AT THEIR MOUTHS and the CAVE CONNECTION traverse between them is wet, dark, genuinely hard and done barefoot on wet limestone by most people. THEN THERE IS KILTEPAN, where the sea of clouds fills the valley at dawn - IT BECAME OVERRUN AFTER A 2016 FILM PUT IT ON EVERY ITINERARY IN THE COUNTRY, and Sagada responded with compulsory registration and mandatory guides. It is cold, it is six hours of mountain road from Baguio, and it asks for more respect than most places on this list. Registration is compulsory and guides are assigned at the office rather than hired privately.
Sagada, Mountain Province, Cordillera, Sagada, Mountain Province, Philippines
SAGADA IS ROUGHLY SIX HOURS BY BUS FROM BAGUIO on a mountain road, or reached from BONTOC nearby; there is no airport. REGISTRATION AT THE MUNICIPAL TOURIST OFFICE IS COMPULSORY ON ARRIVAL and a fee is paid there. GUIDES ARE MANDATORY for ECHO VALLEY and the hanging coffins, for ALL CAVE TRIPS and for Kiltepan at dawn; they are assigned at the office, not arranged privately. THE CAVE CONNECTION IS A HARD, WET, DARK TRAVERSE of several hours and is not a walk-through - the shorter SUMAGUING route is the ordinary option. KILTEPAN DEPARTURES ARE BEFORE DAWN. IT IS COLD, especially December to February, and visitors from the lowlands consistently underdress. Typhoon season runs roughly July to October and the Cordillera roads slide.