Tagaytay Ultimate 4 Days Itinerary
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Tagaytay is one of the favourite destination among the local tourists and weekenders from Manila. Since Philippines is a tropical country, the scorching sun will be too much to bear at times. The weather in Manila could hit as high as 37 degree celsius.🌞🌞🌞
To escape from melting under the heat, many will head to Tagaytay where the high elevation and lush greenery contributes to a cooler weather in the region!☁️☁️☁️
This is also one of the factors we considered during our travel as Singapore is summer all year round.❄️⛈🌥🌤
To be honest, I have not heard about Tagaytay. I only heard about this place when my sis told me that there is a nice volcano where we can trek up via horse riding!🎠🎠🎠
Our definition of trekking is actually a relaxed trek yet we can see a paranormal view.🌋🌋🌋
Getting to Tagaytay
The nearest international airport from Tagaytay is Manila airport. Flying to Manila from Singapore is approximately 3 hours 40 mins.🛬🛬🛬
Upon reaching Manila airport, the drive to Tagaytay takes about 2-3 hours depending on the traffic condition.🚙🚙🚙
As transport in Tagaytay is not commercialised, we booked a private van to and from Tagaytay.🚐🚐🚐
Interesting Fact: In 2015, Manila was voted for the worse city to drive on Earth.
With that in mind, I would strongly recommend all to book a private car or van with chauffeur instead of self-drive as the traffic in Manila is insane.
Cost: P6,500(Approximately S$172) per van-10 seaters
(Return transfer between Manila and Hotel Monticello-Tagaytay)
Getting around Tagaytay
It is hard to find taxis in Tagaytay. The common mode of transportation in Tagaytay is the jeepney and trike. There are signs on the jeepney heading to different spots of Tagaytay.😲😲😲
However, for tourists like us, we could not understand how the route of these jeepneys.🙁🙁🙁
Tagaytay is not yet a touristy place for foreigners.
We booked a van to bring us around so do plan your own transport in advance.
Other than having the van, we also have a team of crews with us throughout the journey!😋😋😋
Accommodation
Christopher helped in the booking of hotel. He booked penthouse that can accommodate all of us. From the exterior, we were impressed and looked forward to staying in Hotel Monticello.🏩🏩🏩
Upon entering, the living room and dining area are very spacious. We love travelling and sleeping together in a room as we can just talk and have fun!
The beds are very clean and cozy.
There are many interesting situations during our stay at Hotel Monticello.
- Firstly, we realised that the safe box is not working, we called the front desk. A technician came to assist us a moment later and took another safebox to replace.
- The next day, we realised that we hear engine generator in our room as their engine room is right next to ours. The technician came again to find the source of the sound and we managed to change to another room.
- Lastly, we requested to have breakfast earlier as we need to leave earlier that day due to our itinerary.
We had an awesome stay at Hotel Monticello with excellent service! Thumbs up!👍👍👍
The staff were very friendly and they accede to all our requests.
Here’s an itinerary on what we did in Philippines, Tagaytay
Day 1 – Dinner at Carmencita
It was already 9pm when we reached the hotel. Upon checking in, we were famished. Luckily, there is a cafe just opposite Hotel Monticello that is opened till 10pm. We quickly went across the street to cafe Carmencita for late dinner.🍱🍱🍱
✅Travel tips: Order different varieties of food for sharing to taste great Filipino food!
For food review of Cafe Carmencita, check out the details here.
Day 2 – Tagaytay City Tour
After a good rest, we woke up early to have our breakfast before heading for Tagaytay City Tour.🌇🌇🌇
Along the way to the city,we start our tour with a photo taking where we alighted for photos of a panoramic view of Taal Volcano right behind us.🗻🗻🗻
1st Pit Stop – Galleria Taal
A place where we can see many antique and limited edition cameras from 1800s till now. It is known being the first Vintage Camera Museum.📷📽📹🎥
2nd Pit Stop – Taal Basilica
Continue the day by visiting this cultural heritage- Taal Basilica church which was declared as one of the country’s national shrine and Asia’s Biggest Catholic Church.⛪️
Lunch at Siglo
Siglo is a modern Filipino restaurant. Siglo’s food is also influenced by Chinese and American cuisines.🍚🍮🌯🍹
This is one of the All time favourite authentic filipino dishes-Barkada Bilao.
✅We absolutely love the cooking style!
Address: 3500 Calamba Road, Sungay West Tagaytay City, Philippines
3rd Pit Stop – Picnic Grove
Visit Picnic Grove for the best view overlooking Taal Volcano. A good place to hang out with friends and family!🏕🏕🏕
⚠️Tips: It is quite hot in the afternoon, the best time to visit in the morning or during sunset.
4th Pit Stop – Museo Orlina
Museo Orlina is a hidden gem in Tagaytay. This museum showcase glass art Sculpture Ramon Orlina and his daughters as well as other artists.💠💠💠
5th Pit Stop – Pink Sisters Chapel
Pink Sister Chapel is one of the many places to visit in Tagaytay. It is a famous church in Tagaytay City where people meditate and pray.🙏🙏🙏
6th Pit Stop – Puzzle Mansion
Puzzle Mansion is one of our favourite attraction in Tagaytay where we explored all the different puzzles pieced and completed by Gil Lacuna.Gil Lacuna, who did all the collections has been recognized in the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of Jigsaw puzzles where there are 1028 different sets in Tagaytay, Philippines on 29 November 2012.🖼🖼🖼
7th Pit Stop – Sky Ranch
An entertaining amusement park opened till 10pm. Sky Ranch has a total of 23 rides from the kiddy rides to extreme rides suitable for all age. 🎉🎉🎉
Dinner – Bali Seafoods Paluto Restaurant
As we loved seafood, we decided to try Bali Seafoods Paluto Restaurant, a filipino restaurant that specialises in freshly caught seafood.🍤🍛🍺
Address: Tagaytay – Nasugbu Road, Brgy. Maharlika East, Tagaytay City
After dinner, the driver drove us back to the hotel to have a good rest.😴😴😴
Day 3 – Taal Volcano Boating and trekking tour
Visiting the world 🌎 smallest volcano is the highlight of our trip. To get to Taal volcano, we had to drive down to the lake, hop onto the boat, ride on the horse and trek a little. 🐎🐎🐎
We started our day at 8am for this tour. This is a very relaxing and fun day where there is horse riding up to the base camp.
Find out more in my other blog post on this world smallest active volcano.
Lunch – Jaytee’s Classic Filipino cuisine
After a morning trek, we are pretty hungry by noon.😇😇😇
Kare kare (on the left) and Bulalo soup (on the right)
Jaytee’s Classic Filipino cuisine is famous for Bulalo soup-beef shank and beef marrow soup and Kare Kare-beef oxtail stew with peanut sauce.Yummy!!!
Address: One Destination, E. Aguinaldo Highway, Brgy. Silang Crossing West, Tagaytay City
Dinner – Jolibee Delivery
Jolibee is the largest fastfood chain in Philippines. This fast food chain is known to serve the best chicken around.🍗🍗🍗
We decided to try how good it is since we are in Philipines. Personally, I like the crispiness and seasoning of the chicken. The chicken is also very fresh and tender. I would eat it if I go to Philippines again!
✅Call the Jolibee hotline 8-7000 and your food will be delivered in 30 minutes!
Day 4 – Last Day
Brunch – Bags of Bean Main Branch
As we approached the last day, we can’t wait to have other cuisines such as Western, Japanese or Thai. We researched and decided to visit Bags of Beans cafe – Main branch.😄😄😄
Entrance of Bag of Beans
Bags of Bean has a nice ambience and a wide range of food to choose from. I would definitely recommend if you would like to try new food!🌯🌯🌯
Find out what we ordered in this detailed blog post about Bag of Beans.
Carmela’s Bananas cakes
Stopover at Carmela’s to buy some snacks and souvenir home!🍰🍰🍰
Carmela’s has one of the best banana cakes around. Once we entered the shop, we are welcomed by the smell of the freshly baked bananas cakes.🎂🎂🎂
Other than banana cakes, there are also some local snacks such as dried mangos and mushrooms. We bought some for our family and friends!😄😄😄
Address: Aguinaldo Highway | Silang Junction West, Tagaytay, Luzon.
Farewell Tagaytay!
After the last minute shopping, we took the van back to Manila airport to catch our flight back to Singapore! Bye Bye Tagaytay!
Interested in exploring Tagaytay Philippines, Start planning for the adventure now!
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