Tagaytay Travel Answers

start your day early with a trek to the taal volcano (world's smallest volcano). find your way to taal yacht club and hire a boat to take you to across the lake (better to hire a boat from here to make sure that you're not being charged too much). when you get there, you may trek or ride a horse to the top to see the view of the crater and the lake. find your way back to tagaytay main road (tagaytay-nasugbu highway) and have lunch at ANTONIO's. tagaytay is known for its garden restaurants but this is the best one. its simply beautiful. other quaint garden restaurants worth a visit are sonya's garden (you can actually get a massage in their spa or just roam the beautiful english garden and buy fresh produce or freshly baked breads), bawai's (good vietnamese food, not much garden), moon garden (nice garden as well), marcia adam's tuscany) after lunch, have coffee and dessert at ... pick one: the cliffhouse, cafe on the ridge of taal vista hotel, cafe verbena to get more beautiful views of taal volcano (different view from what you see when you trek the volcano) if you still have energy after this... you might want to buy souvenirs from "ilog maria" bee farm, mushroom burger, fruit stands (pineapples, jackfruit), good sheperd convent (ube jam) and coconut or buko pie hope you find this helpful

Very well said by Liseteff. I have nothing to add except that you should prebook your trek to Taal Volcano from the Yacht Club. They have an office in Manila.

Here's a link of the Taal Lake Yacht Club if you plan to take the volcano tour: sailing.org.ph/tlyc/volctrip...

if you have one day to explore..... much better if you have a car..:) eat on some restaurants...facing the taal volcano.... then ride the horses....there going to the taal lake....don't worry they'l find you.... then maybe do a zipline afterwards... then eat mushroom burger.....:):)

you may also wish to visit the palace in the sky, an unfinished residence of the late president marcos. from here you can have a 360 degree view of the surrounding area. Caleruega, though technically not part of tagaytay (its actually in nasugbu), is alo worth visiting when you go there. they have gardens, koi ponds, and basically a quiet place to have some moment to reflect. The Picnic Grove is a place where you can have your lunch, have a good view of the Taal Lake and take a siesta :)

while in tagaytay dont forget to eat beef bone marrow soup popularly know as bulalo, or have a light snack of mushroom burger, or taste the distinct taste of alamid coffee (coffee bean harvested from the poo of alamid or a catlike civet)

this is interesting.. how long will it take to get to the crater on foot? thanks

It should take less than an hour to reach the top. There used to be only one trail going to the top but it seems that there are other routes already. I'd probably take one trail going up and the other coming down. Still have to check though with TLYC whether that is possible. I did not take TLYC when we made the climb and the rates of TLYC are definitely better than the one we negotiated.

Thanks semper.max. There are 3 trails. The Christie Kenney Trail is an easy walk under the trees mostly. But the view of the crater is not as good as the one that TLYC recommends, which is much longer - horses/ponies are available.

BTW, we left Manila and took the SLEX/STAR toll - Tanauan - Talisay route. I wonder if it was a better /faster route than the Sta. Rosa - Tagaytay ridge - Talisay route. Our driver was worried about the steep descent to Talisay.

I have always taken the Tagaytay route going there. Never had problems negotiating the steep descent going to Talisay and vice versa. I guess it all depends on how roadworthy your vehicle is. So it seems that there is a different view depending on which route you will take. I've seen the usual route and yes, it does offer a magnificent view of Taal.