Tayid Lighthouse

Tayid stands on a rise above Mahatao on the eastern side of Batan Island, a hexagonal stone tower built in the 2000s alongside the others in Batanes to mark the coast and to give the island's roads a destination. What it overlooks is the reason to go: Racuh a Payaman, the communal pasture that everyone calls Marlboro Country, where cattle and carabao graze on grass running to the edge of cliffs that drop into the Pacific, with the hills of Uyugan beyond and Iraya behind. The tower itself is closed more often than not, and nobody minds - the point is the walk out along the ridge and the view. Wind here is relentless, which is why the grass is short and the trees are absent, and why the Ivatan build their houses of metre-thick stone. It sits on the standard south Batan circuit with the Mahatao church, the House of Dakay at Ivana and the Chawa viewpoint.

What you actually see

• The hexagonal tower - the stone light on the ridge.
• Racuh a Payaman - the cliff-edge communal pasture below.
• The Pacific cliffs - drops straight into open ocean.
• The Iraya view - the volcano north across the island.

When to go

March to June for settled weather; the wind blows year-round and is fierce in the typhoon months. Morning light suits the east-facing cliffs.

Honest expectations

The tower is usually closed to climbing. There is no shelter from wind or sun on the ridge, and cliff edges are unfenced. It is a viewpoint stop, not a site with facilities.

Nearby

Mahatao church, the House of Dakay at Ivana and the south Batan road circuit are all close; Basco is twenty minutes north.