People’s Lodge & Restaurant, Banaue

A side story of:

• Banaue, Bontoc, Sagada and Baguio in 5 days ~ Day 1

Based on my notes, I was supposed to check-in at some other place nearby, but I ended up staying at People’s Lodge, basically because the place looked really nice and cool, and the owner was very accommodating; she let me leave my things at the counter while I was still deciding.

Besides, I was already too tired to move around and look for a place to stay after the long ride from Manila. Plus, as soon as I got in, I was mesmerized by the refreshing view from the veranda at the back of the lodge.


The lodge is situated right at the town center and had most everything I needed: a nice, clean comfortable private room with its own bath that has a hot shower. The room had one double and one twin bed, no air-con, phone or TV (like most lodging places in the Cordilleras), reasonable enough at only P400 per day (this was sometime in October 2008).




The lodge has its own restaurant, for me a big plus as I don’t have to look for some place to dine each time I get hungry (which is often ), especially after a very tiring day of photo-sightseeing. Prices are just about average, from P80 to P120 per meal.






People’s Lodge also provides Internet access on site (at P50 per hour). Very convenient if you’re the type who needs to check your email daily (like me).


The lodge also has a souvenir shop, and even a mini-store that sells basic essentials, including bottled water and soda at just about the same prices as in Manila. Grrr!

View People’s Lodge SlideShow
Back to:

• Banaue, Bontoc, Sagada and Baguio in 5 days ~ Day 1

Banaue, Bontoc, Sagada and Baguio in 5 days ~ Day 1

Continued from:

• Banaue, Bontoc, Sagada and Baguio in 5 days ~ Day 0

Friday, 24 October 2008

At the town center, Brutus dropped us off at People’s Lodge & Restaurant, where we could have breakfast and talk about our schedule for the day.


People’s Lodge is just across the Banaue Tourist Information Center, a good starting place to get help with your travel plans.

TIP: The Tourist Information Center is run by the Banaue Tourism Council, which you can contact via landline at (074) 386-4010. You may also directly contact Ms. Juliet Mateo (in photo above), Information Officer, via her cellphone at 0929-469-2138.

I highly recommend that you inquire directly from this office first, before you decide on anything on your own and get duped by pseudo-tourist guides in the process (which almost happened to me).

Anyway, after breakfast I showed Brutus a list of the places I wanted to go to, and asked him to pick out those sites which he thinks would be possible for the short duration that I will be staying in town.

I made it clear to him that I needed to finish all the possible sites before 10am the next morning, before I leave for Bontoc as per my planned itinerary.

Initially, I wanted to go to Batad on my first day and get back to town in the early afternoon so I can do some other stuff. Brutus said that this would not be possible because it was already past 9am that time.

He pointed out that it would take about an hour and a half to drive to Batad junction,


and that I had to trek for about an hour and a half to get to the village,


Batad Trekking, originally uploaded by greendolphin18
another hour if I wanted to see Tappiya Falls,


Philippines: Batad Rice Terraces, originally uploaded by brien h.
plus a minimum of 30 minutes to stay and shoot some photos, and then trek again for just about the same time (or even more) to get back to the junction. He said it will be dark by the time we get back to town, so it would be useless as there would be nothing left to do in town at night (except drink a few bottles of beer).

He said that the couple who rode with us to town (who we shall be calling the Osmonds), also had plans to go to and stay in Batad for the night. So he suggested that I just do the same, and he will just pick us up the next morning at the junction and drive us back to town.

But I had other plans, I really didn’t want to spend the night in Batad and just get back to town the next day just to leave for Bontoc. I wanted to see more of Banaue, the people, the culture, the museums, whatever. So hesitantly, I had no choice but to just drop off my Batad adventure and just do the other stuff.

LESSON: In Banaue alone, you need to stay for at least two nights to see Batad and the rest of what the town has to offer.

So here is what we came up with. I get to see Guihob Natural Springs and the rice terraces at the village of Bangaan. After which, we drop the Osmonds off at Batad junction. Also, as agreed, I can stop anywhere along the road to shoot some photos. We split the P2,000 rent for the van.

I thought that was a bit stiff, but maybe just fair enough, P2,000 divided by three wasn’t that bad an investment compared to what I will be gaining (my priceless photos).

So off I went to check-in, freshen up a bit, and off we went on our journey.

Continue to:

• Banaue ~ The Road to Bangaan / Batad