Share Iloilo: Tinagong Dagat, Miag-ao

#NakitaNaAngTinagongDagat is the official hashtag for our trip in Miag-ao. After a year of planning and couple of times being rescheduled, it has been finally materialized.

tinagong dagat miag-aoTinagong Dagat Miag-ao Budget

Here’s a quick budget breakdown of how much we spent for our day hike.

  • Iloilo Terminal Market (Super) to Miag-ao town proper – P100 individual
  • Private Jeepney from town proper to the barangay – P2000 group
  • For the love of the tour guides – P any amount from your heart (group)
  • Budget for your food.

Just pack lightly. Bring your lunch and snacks – enough to fill your stomach. Include chocolate, nuts and sweets for energy. No need to bring a large water bottle. A small one would do because there are available water sources along the way. Bring basic medicine and extra clothes to freshen up after the trip.

Tinagong Dagat Miag-ao Trip

5:00 AM was our meetup time at Iloilo Terminal Market where we can ride PUJ going to Miag-ao town proper. Special thanks to Cris’ father this time for the ride. Travel time is around 30 to 45 minutes depending on the speed. We also needed to pickup friends along the way.

Once you reached the plaza, you need to register at their tourism office. You can also have a quick breakfast while you are waiting for the jeepney you hired.

Miag-ao Plaza

Travel time from plaza to the barangay is about 30 minutes. The road isn’t fixed yet so it was a dusty ride.

Start of the trip

We then reached the starting point. Said a little prayer and started the real adventure. Since it is my first time doing such thing, I must admit that struggle is indeed real. We haven’t reached our 1st stop when I already started vomiting. It was just me; the rest of the squad is alright.

Miag-ao or Switzerland

The view along the way is totally refreshing – gives us a foreign country feels. There were like four stops before reaching Tinagong Dagat.

Secret Garden Feels

After almost 3 hours, we reached our destination. This picture sums it all:

tinagong dagat

But wait there’s more. Our guides took us somewhere where a breath-taking view awaits us. It’s like a viewing deck of Tinagong Dagat.

Tinagong Dagat Viewing Deck

You can also see Mt. Napulak from afar which seems to invite us to climb it next.

Mt Napulak View From Tinagong Dagat

See the line where the skies meet the mountains? It calls us. And no one knows, we can this far.

Tinagong Dagat Horizon

After the series of photo opportunities we came down and prepare to go up again somewhere to eat lunch and be in the place where pine trees are in.

Tinagong Dagat Adventure

After lunch, we started the hiking up again. Here’s to another close moment with nature.

Nature Tripping at Miag-ao

The last time I saw real pine trees was almost 10 years ago at Baguio? City.

Pine Tress at Miag-ao

This was already the last stop and before we finally leave, we took the opportunity to sip freshly brewed coffee by the locals. It felt energizing enough to fuel us up as we prepare to go down.

Sipping coffee

Surely there is no shortcut to see unspoiled beauty. Like life, you may experience the most difficult route to reach the most beautiful destination in Iloilo. There are ups and downs; you’ll slip and fall countless times; you’ll get tired but live according to what Dr. Seuss said that “it doesn’t matter how slow you go, as long as you do not stop.”

Going Down

Many thanks also to our guides who are definitely valuable to let us experience these once in our lives.

guide at mia-ao

guide at tinagong dagat

Photo Credits to: Nile Banga and Alen Mapillo

This is just one of the trips we have published to count as blog in Iloilo. Stay tuned for more travel tips!

shemaegomez

Sheila is a legal editor and a digital marketing enthusiast. She is a kdrama fan, a dog person and a certified foodie!

Next Post

Share Iloilo: Mt. Napulak, Igbaras

Tue Apr 25 , 2017
After accomplishing the trails of Tinagong Dagat in Miag-ao, our awesome fambam decided to take a higher challenge – on to the higher mountain peak – Mt. Napulak. We also invited some personal friends to climb with us. Through this time mountain has become a favorite hiking spot in Igbaras. […]
napulak

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