My Very First Time in Tagaytay (Comparing it to Balamban, Cebu)

Tagaytay is a popular highland town located in the southern part of Luzon. Known for its cool climate and unrivaled views, the town of Tagaytay is visited by millions of people each year. The town is also famous for two of the most recognizable natural wonders in the Philippines – the Tall Volcano and the lake that surrounds it called Taal Lake.

First Look at Tagaytay

To be completely honest, I had no idea what Tagaytay looks like prior to this trip. All I know is that it is extremely popular among locals who want to escape the hustle and bustle of the Metro.

The very first time I laid eyes on Tagaytay, I immediately thought about the town of Balamban in Cebu. Like Tagaytay, the town of Balamban has a pretty interesting landscape and offers a wonderful vantage point of the thriving communities below.

Here is a view of a portion of Taal Lake as seen from the window of my room in Summit Ridge Tagaytay. Gorgeous, right?

From the balcony, you can clearly see the massive Taal lake as well as the island in the middle where the famous Taal Volcano sits. I got goosebumps when I saw this view for the very first time!

Comparing Tagaytay and Balamban

Compared to Balamban, however, I must say that the ‘populated’ or active areas of this town are much wider and bigger. For this reason, establishments have more freedom to build and grow along the ridges of the town. If you study Balamban closely, on the other hand, you will find that the active areas are only the ones very close to the TransCentral Highway.

Take a look at this shot, for example. The national highway cuts through the central part of the ridge. However, on both sides, there is still plenty of open space for development and activities. In Balamban, in most cases, one side is a steep cliff while the other is a solid mountain slope.

With today’s technological improvements and great engineering efforts, however, I am pretty confident that Balamban will someday look just like Tagaytay. I give it at least 10 years.

Here is a view of more establishments sitting on the edge of the slope. These establishments are lucky to have such awesome view.

Imagine waking up every morning and seeing the wonderful lake and volcano below. Wow! What a treat!

From this shot, we can clearly see the advantage that Tagaytay has over Balamban in Cebu. There’s still plenty of flat areas beyond the ridge. Therefore, the town still has a huge potential to become even bigger.

And here’s a panoramic view of Taal Lake and just some of the many establishments along the ridge.

With Tagaytay’s amazing views and great weather, it is easy to understand why people love to ‘escape’ here. If I were a Manileno, I would visit Tagaytay often, too! (I escape to Balamban, too, when things get a bit rough, actually).

We Love Tagaytay

Here is a quick photo of the team from Cebu visiting the town of Tagaytay for the very first time. We love Tagaytay!

One final pose before leaving Tagaytay. I would love to come back one day soon. Not just so I can see the incomparable views and enjoy the amazing weather once more, but also so I can again see how similar (or different) Tagaytay and Balamban are.