Visit Kalinga

It is perfectly understandable for people to think that going to Baguio City is a good plan if you want to get to Kalinga. After all, Baguio is the major city in the Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR) and as a regional hub, there would be lots of trips to choose from for sure.

The truth is, it’s actually a worse idea to approach Kalinga from Baguio (the eastern side of the region). There are direct buses to Tabuk, Kalinga that leave the Dangwa Station (the terminal that houses the Lizardo station – the buses that go to Sagada) leaving Baguio City in the morning.

If you were traveling from Manila, you would only have to sit through 12 hours in a bus to get to Tabuk, Kalinga. If you’re traveling from Baguio, Tabuk could be a good 11-12 hours as well!

Here are the other estimated durations of transit:

Manila-Baguio – 6 hours

Manila -Tabuk – 12 hours (direct)

Manila-Tinglayan – 15 hours (bus to Bontoc + jeep to Tinglayan)

Baguio-Tinglayan – 9 hours (bus to Bontoc + jeep to Tinglayan)

This has got to be one of the major concerns when traveling to a place that is unfamiliar and is not that well-known. There is no shortage of people who would try to talk you out of going to Kalinga. For some reason, the chit-chat from all over the Cordillera Administrative Region is pretty similar – “don’t go to Place X because of *insert negative thing here*. I am not washing my hands regarding this issue because I have been guilty of this several times – most notably the very abusive practices of some hawkers in Banaue, Ifugao – but I’m very happy that I didn’t listen to what other people had to tell me about Kalinga. Continue reading →

As mentioned in a previous post, the accommodations in Tinglayan, Kalinga are currently limited to home stay options. The Lonely Planet Guide (the latest edition) has the names of the families who were willing to take people in. I was quite lucky that I did this trip with Ed Yap of Eazy Traveler since he had a copy of the book.

For night #1 we stayed in Tulgao. Miguel Guyang (+63 9067576236) is your man if you want to stay in his village.

For night #2 we stayed in Butbut. The Baccoy Family (+63 9275569119) was generous enough to let us stay in a traditional Kalinga house – similar to what you see in Batad and other parts of the Cordillera Administrative Region.

There are no fixed rates for these accommodations and your hosts would ask you to give what you feel like giving. Ed and I gave around 100-150 per night for the lodging and 50 pesos per meal.

The villages are situated in areas were cellular phone signal is quite erratic. Do not expect a fast response to your messages.

Sagada is not exactly a tourism hot spot but with close to 40 000 visitors yearly, it’s definitely way past the mark of being a “best kept secret”. With tour companies already taking dozens of people up the so-called Shangri-La of the Cordilleras, some of the long time loyal visitors of Sagada have started noticing changes with the town. Construction has certainly boomed in Sagada and as the concrete buildings grow in number, the whole vibe of the place is somehow affected. It’s a fact of life that more tourists would lead to more development but almost all of us would yearn for a more nostalgic and laid back Sagada – the one that we fell in love with.

While Sagada, Mountain Province has become a tourist’s paradise with all its inns, foreign cuisine restaurants and specialty gift shops, Kalinga has remained to be relatively underdeveloped and largely off the beaten track. As you cross the boundary from Mt. Province to Kalinga, there is barely any fanfare. There is no big arch that greets you – instead there is an almost nondescript milestone that is the same size as the Baranggay Council signs that we see all over the country. The roads are terrible and the ravines? Well, the ravines give you a stunning view of the raging Chico River – about 100-200 feet below the narrow dirt road. I’m telling you, it’s hard not to be paranoid when you’re sitting above a rickety and overloaded mini-bus.

If you do get to Tinglayan, it’s best to not assume that you’re in for a vacation. Tinglayan is every bit as gorgeous (if not even more stunning) as Sagada but the tourism infrastructure is hardly existent. There is only one lodge in town (Sleeping Beauty Guest House – named after the mountains) and the villages of interest have no inns or restaurants. You would literally have to stay at a local’s home, eat what they eat and live with them for the days that you’re visiting. As with any home stay setup, the prices are not fixed. You will be asked by the hosts to just pay what you feel like paying – this actually makes it harder for you to figure out just how much you need to give!

This is going on because tourists in the area aren’t really dime a dozen. We were there during a long weekend and we had the place to ourselves! Kalinga was just added to the latest edition of Lonely Planet Philippines so you might expect a minor spike in visitors. The book was quite helpful as well – we took the names of the host families from the short section of Tinglayan.

If you’re the type who wants to go to places before they start overflowing to the brim with tourists, go to Kalinga now.

Photo: Ed Zeta Yap

As with other places (not named Baguio City) in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), trips to Kalinga are pretty hard to come by.

Here are the bus trips that you can catch to get to Kalinga:

Victory Liner (to Tabuk)

There are two daily trips out of Manila from the Kamias station of Victory Liner to the provincial capital Tabuk. The bus leave at 7:00 AM and 8:45 PM. You may buy tickets up to ten days in advance at the terminal. For seat availability concerns, you may call the Kamias station at (02) 920-7396.

The fare as of September 2010 was 493 pesos. The trip lasts around 12-13 hours and the bus makes four stops along the way.

The town of Tinglayan is about three hours away.

Cable Tours (To Bontoc)

Bontoc, Mountain Province is a major hub in the eastern side of the Cordillera Administrative Region. It serves as a major transit point to the other major towns in the region – Baguio, Banaue, Sagada and La Trinidad.

Bontoc is also only three hours away from the town of Tinglayan. This town is the one known for its tribal villages and age-old tradition of full-body tattooing.

Cable Tours has a terminal near St. Luke’s along E. Rodriguez Avenue in Quezon City. A night bus leaves at around 8:30 PM. The fare is a bit steep at 650 pesos for a 12 hour trip.

Once in Bontoc, look for the bus that takes you to Tinglayan. It should be down the road from where you got off from the bus. It is to the east. The bus is more of a mini-bus and by the time you get there, you would have to probably ride on top. The ride is rough and very scary.

The cost is 100 pesos and it lasts three hours – imagine being on top of a mini bus til noon-time. Slap on some sun block and watch out for power lines and tree branches!

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There are probably more ways of getting to Kalinga through several cities like Baguio, Laoag, Vigan and Tuguegarao but coming from Manila is probably going to be a lot easier for most people. Please do share more information if you happen to know any other alternate routes.