Did you know that on top of gorgeous beaches the Philippines are also home to mindblowing rice terraces? The Batad rice terraces (which are situated next to the UNESCO world heritage Banaue rice terraces) are some of the most mindblowing ones in the world. Less crowded than Banaue, the Batad rice terraces are one of my favorite places in the Philippines.

How to get there

This is the annoying part. My step-by-step guide assumes you are coming from Manila (if you’re in the South, step 0: get to Manila)

Step 1: Take the night bus to Banaue

Unless you’re willing to pay for a private taxi, your only option is to take the night bus. At time of writing there are only two companies doing this trip: Coda Lines Transport and Ohayami Trans. I took Coda Lines Transport and wrote a review based on my experience – you can read it here. Prepare snacks and warm clothes (trust me). If you’re in Sagada Coda Lines should stop in Banaue on its way down to Manila.

Step 2: Take a Jeepney to Batad

There is a jeepney leaving at 3PM every day (do check in advance, the schedule might change). If that doesn’t work for you because the night bus arrives in the morning, you can contact your hotel or guesthouse. We stayed at the Batad View Inn and they were able to pick us up on a tricycle followed by a jeepney.

Prices vary depending on how many people there are : there were six of us on our way there and we paid 500 pesos per person. On our way back it was just the four of us and we paid 3000 pesos for the whole jeepney. We knew we were probably getting ripped off but we didn’t really have a choice. The public jeepney only seems to cost 150PHP per person.

Step 3: Walk to your Hotel / Guesthouse

This is the tough part. The jeepneys leave you at a high point on the mountain and you need to go down to the village. You need to walk for 25 minutes on the side of the mountain to reach the elementary school at the top of the village. Then, you have to take the stairs (there are LOTS of them) to get even lower to your guesthouse. This should take 10-15 minutes. You will also have to pay an “environmental tax” of 50 pesos both in Banaue and Batad.

Pro tip

The last part can be challenging, so if you’re not sure whether you will be able to do it here’s my experience. I (a fit 19-year old girl) and my boyfriend Christian (a fit 18-year old boy) were able to do this with our big backpacks. It wasn’t easy, especially going back up at the end of the trip, but it was manageable.

My mother (46, broke her knee and had surgery a little over a year ago, has been very active since) and my sister (14, doesn’t do any sports) joined us for this trip. They decided to leave their big backpacks in Manila and only travel with daypacks. I think this was a good decision for them. They were able to go up and down just fine. Now, if you have a knee injury that can make it difficult to go up and down stairs, you might have a better time in Banaue.

What to Do in Batad

There are essentially two things to see in Batad: The Batad rice terraces (duh) and the Tappiya waterfall.

The Rice Terraces

If you’re lucky you’ll see the terraces from your guesthouse. The best way to see them is to go to the viewpoint by the Western “path” going through terraces on the mountainside – this will allow you to see them from above. Once you get to the viewpoint you can either continue to the waterfall or go back to your guesthouse. To go back you can either retrace your steps or go down to the valley and then come back up on the other side.

When we visited we went from our guesthouse to the view point, continued to the waterfall, and took the path we came on to go back to the guesthouse. You can also take another path which goes through the valley. It seems a little shorter on paper but since you have to go all the way down to the valley and come back up a the end, it’s actually longer than the Western path.

When you visit the terraces there are a couple of things to keep in mind. As the owner of our guesthouse stressed, if you want to take pictures of the locals working on the terraces remember to always ask for permission and pay them a little (20-100 pesos). Another thing is to not walk on all the ridges: when we visited they had fixed and renovated some of them. Walking on the mud can can break the wall, which is a disaster to the farmer.

Guide or no Guide?

The people at the guesthouse kept pushing us to take a guide. We didn’t want to spend any unnecessary money and were just fine on our own.

We managed to get from our guesthouse to the viewpoint and back just fine, although we did feel a little lost at times. The Maps.me app is really useful and I recommend downloading it. It shows the paths in the rice terraces and doesn’t require an Internet connection.

We did hear some rumors that soon they were going to make it mandatory to have a guide. This would bring in money to the community and keep tourists from accidentally damaging the terraces.

The Tappiya Falls

The path to the waterfall starts near the rice terrace viewpoint. From the viewpoint take the stairs all the way to a plateau, where you’ll find a small shop. They sell bananas and cookies – it’s not a bad idea to stop here if you think you might get hungry (for us this was a lifesaver: my sister is a pain in the ass when she gets hungry).

To get to the falls you’ll have to go down a bunch of stairs (there’s lots of them in Batad!) which take you practically to the bottom of the waterfall. From there you’ll just have to walk on some rocks to get next to the water. At some point you might have to alternate between walking on rocks and walking in the water, so if you have the possibility to bring water shoes it’s definitely worth it. They are also very useful when walking in the water because the rocks can be sharp.

You can also swim in the waterfall! Before we left our guesthouse my mom convinced my sister to put on a swimsuit in case they wanted to swim. I chose not to, because the weather was a little cold and we were going to take a night bus so I didn’t want to have my wet swimsuit in my backpack dripping all over my stuff.

I ended up regretting that decision. Yes, the weather was cold and the water was absolutely freezing but the walk to the falls really makes you sweat. I would recommend at least wearing a swimsuit under your regular clothes and choosing whether or not to swim once you get there.

Also, please don’t go too close to the falls in the water, apparently they can suck you in (The lady from the guesthouse told my mother that).

What to pack

The suggestions are based on our own experience and on the assumption that you’ll only be staying a few days.

Clothes:

• 1 Long-sleeved fleece or sweatshirt
• 1 or 2 t-shirts or tops per day. You will sweat a lot.
• 1 pair of long pants. It might get cold.
• 1 pair of shorts. It can also be warm during the day.
• 1 pair of leggings. For comfort, especially on the bus ride.
• Enough underwear
• For ladies: a sports bra. There are LOTS of stairs.
• Enough socks. I would even recommend 2 pairs per day if you’re planning on hiking a lot.
• 1 swimsuit.

Shoes

• Sneakers OR hiking shoes. You probably won’t have enough space for both and you only need one. Hiking shoes are better but they don’t always fit into backpacks and sneakers should be enough.
• Water shoes. You don’t absolutely need these but if you already own a pair or have some extra space in your luggage they can be useful.

Others

• Neck pillow. For the bus ride
• Blanket / sarong / scarf. Also for the bus ride
• A microfiber towel. I really like them because they fit in a small space and dry fast.
• Cash!! There are no ATMs and you do not want to end up without any cash. There is supposed to be one in Banaue though, but I can’t confirm because we didn’t use it.
• Medication. Obviously if you’re on any medication get it all before coming, as you might not find what you need.
• A camera. You will definitely want to take as many pictures as possible!
• A first aid kit
• A backpack. This is, in my opinion, not something you can do with a suitcase. You will need to carry your stuff up and down hundreds of stairs.
• A day pack. Even if you manage to carry your big backpack to your guesthouse and back up, there is no way you’re trekking in the rice fields with that.
• A power bank. Power outages are very common.

You will not need

• Jeans. They’re heavy, and take long to dry. Don’t even think about skinny jeans – you will walk a lot and you will be uncomfortable
• A local SIM card. Well, you might need one for other places in the Philippines but Batad is in the middle of the mountains and has no signal at all.
• Cute dresses. They will just get ruined.

Random Tips

When to go

There is not a lot of information on the best times to visit Batad, so I am basing this on my own experience, this 8-year old Lonely planet forum, and Wikipedia.

We were actually hesitant to go to Batad in February because the fields are neither green nor golden that time of year. However, while January to May aren’t the best months to visit the rice fields, that’s also when you’ll avoid typhoon season. Northern Luzon is very affected by these and you might get stranded or blocked by a landslide.

If you decide to go in February or during the dry season in general, I can guarantee you will still have an amazing experience. The sheer size of the terraces is mindblowing, and the fields create a mirror-like illusion.

If you absolutely want to see green terraces, go from April to May or October to November. If you want to see golden terraces, go in June or December. Obviously I can’t guarantee anything: typhoons, rain, and weather in general affect this. If you go to Banaue you might not have even remotely similar views because Banaue’s planting season isn’t at the same time.

How long to stay

We stayed for one night – our night bus arrived on Tuesday morning and we took the night bus again on Wednesday evening. We managed to do everything that we wanted, so if you don’t have a lot of time I would definitely recommend doing this. I would recommend just walking around the village and discovering some of the nearest terraces on the first day, and then doing both the view point and the Tappiya falls on the second day. On day two we left at 9 A.M, came back around 2 P.M, showered quickly, and left at 3 P.M. We had some time on our hands in Banaue so we ate at a restaurant called Al’s Place (I recommend eating there!) before getting in our bus at 8 P.M.

Most people we met stayed for two or three nights. This is probably the most popular option because you have time to see everything. You can see the terraces the first day and go to the falls on the second day.

I would absolutely not recommend getting there in the morning with a night bus and leaving the same day with another bus. You will feel like a zombie and not have enough time to see everything. Just the jeepney trip from Banaue to Batad takes an hour.

Should you try to see the sunrise?

Some people we met wanted to wake up at 5 A.M. to see the sunrise from the viewpont. I don’t recommend doing this for two reasons. One, before the sunrise it will obviously be dark and you definitely need to see where you’re going. Two, the people who went said that there was so much fog they barely even saw the sunrise.

Be careful!

Some of the ridges are narrow, and if you fall you might injure yourself (there are drops up to 3 meters or 10 feet high) and damage the rice.

Thank you for reading!

Did you find what you were looking for? Have you been to the Batad rice terraces – how was it? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

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