Mayoyao Rice Terraces

Mayoyao is the least-visited of the five UNESCO terrace clusters, three hours east of Banaue on a road that is slow and rough in stretches, and the trip is the reason it stays quiet. The terraces here are distinctive for being faced entirely in stone rather than the mix of stone and earth walls used elsewhere in Ifugao, which gives the valley a harder, more constructed look, and the traditional houses among them - square, raised on posts, with steep pyramidal thatched roofs - stand in the fields rather than gathered in a single village. Burial practices in Mayoyao traditionally placed family remains near the house, and stone platforms and markers among the terraces are part of that. It is a working agricultural landscape with very little tourism infrastructure, which means guides and homestays arranged locally, and a visit that depends on the weather and the road.

What you actually see

• The stone-faced walls - terraces fully clad in stone.
• The scattered houses - pyramid-roofed dwellings among the fields.
• The stone markers - platforms and burial features in the terraces.
• The valley - the terraced bowl around Mayoyao town.

When to go

April to June for green fields; December to February for flooded planting. The road is at its worst in the wet months and can be blocked by landslides.

Honest expectations

Getting there is three hours of rough road from Banaue, and transport is infrequent. Accommodation is homestays. There is almost no tourist infrastructure - guides, food and rooms are arranged on arrival.

Nearby

Banaue, Batad and Bangaan are back west; the road continues toward Isabela and the Cagayan Valley.