The First-Timer’s Travel Guide to Sagada, Philippines (2019)

I’ve been to Sagada a total of six times. The first was in 2002, and the most recent was in December of 2018.

Much has changed over those sixteen years. I remember visiting Sagada in 2015 and noticing how much more developed it was compared to my previous trip from ten years before. Though it still looked and felt like a remote mountain town, it’s tourism infrastructure had come a long way. There were more guesthouses and restaurants, and steep trails that were once dirt paths were now paved and made more tourist-friendly with steps and metal railings. Clearly, Sagada wasn’t just for hikers and hippies anymore. It was for everyone.

I won’t lie. I do miss the old Sagada. It had an allure unique to places that are left untouched. But as much as it’s changed over the last two decades, one thing remains the same – it’s still the blissful mountain enclave that made me want to escape to it so many years ago. I still do.

Sagada is a municipality in Mountain Province,…