BATAD RICE TERRACES, PHILIPPINES
Outdoor Activities,  Philippines,  Walking

The Rice Terraces Of Banaue: A Stay Of Two Halves

February 15, 2025 /

Our stay in Banaue took something of a different turn as a proper deterioration in the weather took hold. The Philippines has this week been hit by a weather front known as a “shear line” – no, we hadn’t heard of it either – which has brought torrential rain to several islands. South of here the damage has been much worse with devastating flooding, here in northern Luzon it was less damaging but still pretty extreme. Our perseverance in getting out to the rice terraces on the wet day was rewarded by some better weather on Day 2. This is how it went… 

The thing which draws visitors to the mountain village of Banaue is a spectacle which can only be seen in a handful of locations around the world – the layered vibrant green of rice terraces. It’s what we’re here for too, to view those spectacular scenes from across the mountain valleys. However, as we make the drive over from Sagada, our spirits start to sink as we get nearer to our destination.

Banaue, Philippines in the cloud
Poor visibility on arrival

Rain pours down, water flows from hillsides and turns roads into rapids, piles of earth sit where mudslides are creeping across the road, impromptu waterfalls spurt from hillsides. Nearing our destination, everywhere is shrouded in mountain cloud and the visibility is akin to that of a winter fog. A few kilometres short of Banaue we pass the first of the renowned viewpoints for the rice terraces, and we can see absolutely nothing except the whiteout of cloying cloud. If it stays like this we won’t get to see much of those amazing views.

“How long has the weather been like this?”, asks Michaela as we check in to our room.

“Seven days now”, says Irene, our new host. Ugh. 

Banaue town, Philippines
Banaue

This is completely unexpected, not least because February is slap bang in the middle of the four month dry season here, there’s only meant to be occasional showers, not a full week of downpour. Our accommodation is a couple of kilometres outside of the village, so we trudge down on our first afternoon, rain gear on, splashing through puddles and staring at the nothingness which is the cloud fog and the falling rain. It’s a bit grim. Grim is also the word for some of the housing here too, dilapidated and squalid looking apartment blocks which just seem so out of place up here in mountain country, like inner city monsters in a green valley.

Banaue Town, Philippines
Not so attractive blocks of Banaue

Shelving our original plan to hike from Banaue to Batad to get the best of the views – the trails will be quagmires – we instead arrange to be taken tomorrow by “tri cab” (motorbike and sidecar) to several of the best vantage points in the hope that the weather clears and we see the sights which brought us to Banaue in the first place. Fingers crossed.

Wednesday arrives and day breaks to the sound of crowing cockerels and….. pouring rain. Not a good start. Even our tri cab driver and our tiny guide Conchita – yes, four of us on the little contraption – look dubious. There are a few quizzical looks around the quartet but in the end we decide to give it a go. It sort of pays off, in as much as at least we do get to see the marvel (and UNESCO World Heritage site) which is the rice terraces, as the dense cloud drifts in and out and gives occasional fleeting glimpses of the beauty below. 

Batad rice terraces, Philippines in the cloud
Batad rice terraces in the rain

The rain though is less compliant and infinitely more stubborn, its only two speeds today being “torrential” and “ridiculous”. Hunched inside a tri cab which gives little protection from the rain we make our way out to a series of vantage points where, whenever the fog drifts away, the scenery is breathtaking. 

Sunny evening in Banaue, Philippines
View from our balcony

Ok, let’s fast forward to evening. An hour before sunset, as if by magic, the weather bomb which has blighted Banaue for a week suddenly passes and the clouds part just in time to reveal a setting sun. When the following day our breakfast omelette is accompanied by even brighter sunshine, we decide to revisit those viewpoints and take in a few more, this time driving ourselves in the rental car rather than cramming into another tri cab. Now, this time, the views are truly amazing. We have our reward.

Early sun over Banaue, Philippines
Banaue

These rice terraces are estimated by some historians to be around 3,500 years old, and, wonderfully, they are mostly still used for that original purpose today. Constructed by the Ifugao mountain people, these ingenious designs enable natural irrigation by the tumbling mountaintop water while at the same time avoiding both excess water on any one terrace, and any collapse of the dividing walls. As a result, the whole construction looks now exactly as it did centuries ago. 

Bangaan rice terraces, Philippines
Banga’an rice terraces
Bangaan rice terraces, Philippines
Banga’an village and terraces

Of course the entire terrace development, which altogether covers an incredible 4,000 square miles of the Ifugao region, was built entirely by hand – there was no helpful machinery back then. Incredibly though, due in no small part to the remote and difficult location, farming methods today have barely changed in all that time – rice is still sown, and harvested, by hand. Counter intuitively, modern day farming methods would not speed up the processes: the mountains are too steep and the terraces too narrow for machinery to be practical.

Snake River, Philippines
Snake river
Ducligan in the Philippines
Ducligan terraces
Rice terraces, Philippines
Another beautiful view

Whilst here, we can see workers down in the fields, sometimes wading knee deep in the thick mud, sometimes crouching or kneeling in the water sowing seedlings one by one. Or walking on narrow slippery walls half way up the oh so steep terraces, where every day one false footstep could be their last. It’s back breaking, slow paced work, often in extreme weather, torrential rain like today or oppressive humid heat. So remote are the homesteads, so difficult the terrain, that food is conveyed to the village, and rice crop brought back up, by a mechanism like this:

Rice terraces, Philippines


Back to the rainy day. The climb down to the vantage point at Batad is nothing short of treacherous, feeling our way down steep steps and slopes, on stone which is soaked by rain and dotted with algae, which is a lethal slip hazard combination. We survive it with just one fall, Michaela slips over and draws blood from her ankle – Conchita leaps into action with a natural remedy, picking a leaf from a nearby plant, rolling it in her fingers then rubbing the resultant pulp on to the wound. It stings then numbs, just like an antiseptic cream would.

Rice terraces, Philippines
Snake river, Philippines
Batad rice terraces in the Philippines
From rain to sunshine

Calf near Banaue, Philippines
”I don’t like the rain either “

Our precarious trail towards the terraces takes us through some of the rudimentary and primitive homes of the mountain dwellers, littered with the hand tools of the rice farming trade and populated by dozens of chickens. Labour in the rice fields is wet, hard, backbreaking work, home life is devoid of any modern comforts. Children have to climb a mountain daily to attend school. To call this a tough life is a big understatement. At least, these days, there’s a bit of tourist dollar to perhaps ease the strain a little.

Batad rice terraces, Philippines
Batad, the eighth wonder of the world

Moving on in our tin can sidecar, other viewpoints provide amazing moments, though of course all are tempered by the cloud and the incessant rain. By the time we clamber out of the cramped sidecar for the last time, our wet clothes are finally making us shiver and our bones have had enough of the shaking. But in spite of the weather’s attempts to thwart us, we’ve seen something which is truly one of the world’s most incredible sights, a result of incredible human ingenuity and endeavour. Not for the first time on our travels we are in awe at the mental strength of people with tough lives.

Ifugao mountain people, Philippines
Ifugao ladies
Rice terraces, philippines
So green …..

Next day, with the clouds gone and the skies clear, our second day feels like total vindication and reward for getting soaked on the first foray. We have seen the rice terraces – which by the way are dubbed the “Eighth Wonder Of The World” – and the magnificent, unique scenery, but have also had a glimpse of the mountain climate which makes life so, so hard for these people.

Batad rice terraces, Philippines
Batad rice terraces
Batad village, Philippines
Batad village

Earlier on in this Philippines journey, particularly in Vigan, the Spanish colonial influence was so evident that we were constantly reminded of Latin America. That’s changed. Here in Banaue this is every inch Asia, there’s no mistaking that now.

Rice drying near Banaue, Philippines
Drying the rice in the road
Banaue rice terraces, Philippines
Banaue rice terraces

Well, we got rewarded for our efforts in tackling the weather bomb, by way of good luck on Day 2. Just how lucky becomes evident later. As our last evening, the end of the better day, draws in, there is a reversal of yesterday: the clouds roll relentlessly back in, the sun is again defeated and, just around the time of yesterday’s sunset, torrential rain once again swamps Banaue. The respite, it seems, was temporary.

Flooded roads, mudslides, displaced boulders, blockages just the other side of hairpin bends. Tomorrow’s long drive back to Baguio could be an interesting one.

A rainy day in Banaue, Philippines
The end of a wet day

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