Travel destinations: Tagaytay City, Philippines – Part 1

Getting to Tagaytay City is a breeze. It is only an hour ride from busy fast-paced Manila. Many come here just to relax and unwind! A bus ride is comfortable with the huge air-bus-like, air-conditioned ‘Crow’. In the bus some polite vendors sell bottled mineral water, juices, peanuts, pili nuts, sweets, boiled quail eggs, and pies to eat or drink along the way. Newspapers and tabloids in English are also sold. Better yet, go there by helicopter available daily from the Highlands.

A long winding blue lake along the cemented highway leads to Tagaytay. Nestled in the center, just a boat ride away is the crater of the lake, which is a sleeping volcano. Arm lengths away are rows and rows of different tropical flowers with darker and brighter hues. The warm sun, frequent rain showers, clean air and slightly cold weather made all the photo pigments darker. The anthuriums are redder, the dahlias are brighter and larger, the grass is greener this side of the earth.

A new community of vacationers was built in the highest altitude of the city, the Tagaytay Ridge and is aptly called Tagaytay Highlands. From this ridge a view of the city below; villages, subdivisions, food shops, including pineapple plantations and the awe-inspiring Taal Lake in the horizon can be seen.

Weekdays are generally quiet and laidback, but Saturdays and Sundays are entirely different when locals from Manila spend their weekends in their vacation houses, go horseback riding, fishing or just dine in Tagaytay. All weekends are considered holidays here.

More so, food of various origins can be tasted here. Not to miss are the following: ’sinigang na maliputo’ -sour soup usually tamarind based, with maliputo fish harvested only in this part of the world, from the Taal lake; crispy deep fried tawilis (also a kind of fish from Taal); ‘eruption’- a mound of chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream on top, slicing the cake would reveal melted chocolate which flows out and mix with the ice cream. Much visited is the mushroom burger conveniently located along the highway. Rice cakes like bibingka are specialties of the resort.

Fresh fruits are available in the ‘Mahogany Market’ everyday. Their pineapples are extra sweet. Bananas, avocado, and jackfruit are also abundant. Sample their sweet fried bananas with jackfruit wrapped in ‘lumpia’-thin flour and egg wrapper. Lettuce, bell peppers, cabbage, mushroom, eggplants, turnips, sweet potatoes, carrots, radish are just some of the crops locally grown and sold in the market or along the highway.

Worthwhile Travel Tips For People Traveling In The Philippines!

The country Philippines is a great country. It has many tourists’ spots and scenic beauties that everyone including Filipinos themselves would want to see. Being a third world country, it is not at all bad to visit the country. It holds the title of text capital because of cell phone mania where almost everyone has their cell phones and uses text as the primary mode of communication. Traveling to Philippines can be fun in its own way. All you need would be some knowledge about the country so that you will exactly know what to expect.



Blessed with stifling climate, it can be noticed that Philippines have three changing season throughout the year. We have the wet season around June to October which is heralded by rain showers, the cool and dry season around November to February which can be distinguished with the cold air and lastly the dry season around March to May which is what we call summer.



If you want to travel to the Philippines it is best that you go from around the third week of December up to the second week of May. You will find the climate very nice during these times. These are also peak seasons because of Christmas and Easter which makes the airlines busy. So you may want to book ahead of time to guarantee you a seat. The mentioned ideal times are also the times where big celebrations from the country are being held. You can have Dinagyang in January which is a colorful feat in Iloilo.



And that is just one of the many fiestas that you can see in the country especially if it is one of your itineraries. Island hopping could be one great event you want to do from Luzon to Mindanao. You can go to Pearl Farm Beach Resort in Southern Mindanao or Boracay beach resort in Western Visayas. If touring is only your agenda travel during the mentioned times and you are guaranteed you can have what you look for.



The nomadic rule would be to bring as little belongings as you can because this will reduce chances of unexpected events during your travel. Keep all your important documents and items in one handy bag and tuck it away in your hotel room. If there is anything you need, you can readily buy them upon arrival at the airport anyway so you do not really need to pack the whole wardrobe up. Besides you need space in your luggage so that if you want some souvenirs then you can squeeze it in when you are going to go back to your country. If you want you can have the map of the Philippines too.



Any relaxed variety of clothing will do when you are already in the Philippines. Ideally, not too thick and not to thin clothing would be good to wear. It is because of the climate that allows for flexible kind of garments. However, mostly you will need something that is comfortable enough for you to last during your stay.