Limestone chambers
Huge, locally named forms.
Germartin1 — CC0 · Patrickroque01 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Patrickroque01 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Patrickroque01 — CC BY-SA 4.0
Sagada's best-known and most adventurous cave, a large limestone cavern descending into the mountain. This part of Luzon lay under the ocean tens of millions of years ago, which is why you see fossilised seashells in the cave walls themselves. You go down with a guide carrying a gas lamp, over slippery rocks and slopes, into great chambers with huge limestone formations that locals have named after what they resemble, among them shapes like curtains and rice terraces. In parts of the tour you walk barefoot through cold water, sometimes knee- or waist-deep, and climb the rock on ropes. The standard tour takes about two hours; the longer «cave connection» links Sumaguing with another cave in about four hours and needs good fitness. A guide is compulsory by local law for every cave. Register first at the tourism office in town and pay the environmental fee; you book your guide there. Wear clothes that can get wet and shoes that grip rock, or be ready to go barefoot, and leave valuables behind.
Huge, locally named forms.
Barefoot underground.
Your guide's only light.
South Road, Sagada, Mountain Province; about 12 hours by bus from Manila or 5 from Baguio
Moderately: slippery rock, slopes, cold water and some rope climbing. It suits anyone of reasonable fitness, and the guide helps at the hard spots.