Tagaytay has been famous for having cold climate in Luzon aside from Baguio. Tagaytay is only 2 hours away from Manila if there is no traffic, which is unusual if you don't experience congested traffic in the Philippines.
Tagaytay is also known for having the view of the famous Taal Volcano, as everybody know it has the smallest active volcano in the world.
Tagaytay is part of Cavite and the Taal Volcano is in Talisay, Batangas. Tagaytay's selling point to tourist is their view of the Taal Volcano and its cool climate. But I must admit, as a Filipino, I only learned that what we know as the smallest active volcano in the world is not quite true.
Whenever in Tagaytay, I always informed my tourist friends that small volcano with a nice shape is the active Taal volcano where in fact its not active and its not even the Taal volcano.
So, the question is where is Taal volcano? Taal Volcano is behind that beautiful shape of a mountain and it is a volcano within a lake. its not even the smallest volcano.
It is very much active, you can hire a boat to go there for at least P1,200 or USD30, that is a return service, the boat will wait for you until you finish exploring the volcano island. You have two choices of getting to the top of the volcano or you want to be up close and personal to its crater. The boatman will ask you if you want to go to a regular trail- which means climbing in front where you can ONLY view overlooking the crater or go to the secret trail- which means you go around the back of the volcano and climb to the center of the crater. They allow you to swim there but the water is full of sulphuric acid which is not friendly to clothes or perhaps your skin. The boat man will charge you a double fee if you choose to go at the back of the mountain or "the secret trail"
Once at the island, you can walk (trek) or ride a horse for about 45mins. Horse fee is P450 or USD12, that includes the guy to guide you with the horse and P50 or USD1.25 for tourism fee. Walking is free, just pay the tourism fee.
Once at the top, there will be people selling you water and even ask you to buy water for your horseman for P50 per bottle (USD1.25), the catch is the horsemen, have their own supply of water there provided by the locals, they only ask you to buy water for you horsemen for the people who sells water to earn money. It doesn't benefit the horsemen. So, in my opinion, its better to just give the money as a tip.
The above photo is the view from the top (credits to the owner of the picture again, I have my own but hasn't uploaded it yet, but soon will do)
The best time to come here is in the morning when its not so hot and sunny. The weather here is not cold as Tagaytay because you are no longer in Tagaytay when you come to Taal Volcano.
There will be people selling mask for the dust while climbing, but in my opinion it is tolerable you wont even need it, they're selling it for P30 (USD.75) each but you can buy it from the market or somewhere before you go to the island.
Also bring your own water, they're selling a small bottled water for P50 (USD1.25) when you can buy outside the island for only P10-20 (USD.25-.50). Put sunscreen and bring your hats to cover you if you choose to go there at midday
More of my Tagaytay trip on my next blog...
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