Heading north from Manila you come to Baguio City, the main market and transport hub for the region’s diverse indigenous tribes.
Exploring the mountainous Central Cordillera you will discover a very different Philippines. Passing traditional villages you reach tranquil Sagada with its limestone caves housing hanging coffins.
Ancient culture of Bontoc
Bontoc is the next main town along the road, with a fascinating museum dedicated to the local peoples and to Masferre, a famous photographer whose black and white photos taken between 1934 and 1956 show a Stone Age way of life whose traces live on in the present day.
Rice terraces of Banaue
The highlight of the region is Banaue and its 2,000-year-old rice terraces. Built by the Ifugao tribes and stretching through the valley in a million shades of green, the grandeur of the landscape carved out by generations of traditional farmers is one of Asia’s most spectacular sights.