Best Restaurants and Cafes in Sagada: What to Eat and Where to Find It

Sagada is a small town in the Philippines that is famous for its hanging coffins and stunning mountain views. It is also home to one of the best coffee beans in the country, and you'll find coffee practically in every restaurant you visit. In this article, we will share with you the best restaurants in Sagada, what to eat, and where to find it.

Church of Saint Mary the Virgin Sagada (Photo © IHeartPH 2019)

Yoghurt House

Possibly one of the most popular

Blue Soil Hills just 30 minutes away from Sagada Blue Mountain Cabins (Photo © IHeartPH 2019)

How do I go to Blue Soil Hills?

The most common way to reach Kaman-Utek Hills is by booking a tour via the Sagada Tourism Office, which you'll find along the main road right in front of the Sagada Municipal Hall. There are also other private tours that you can book when you get to Sagada, or you can also pre-book this online. Usually, the Blue Soil Hills tour is packaged with Marlboro Hills, and they call it Marlboro Hill - Blue Soil Hill Traverse Trek:

Number of trekking hours: 4-5
Sites to see: Marlboro Hill and Blue Soil Hills
Price: P1,800 for 1-5 pax + P1,300 for transport to jump-off point (price as of 2021)
Call Time: 4:00 am
End Time: 8:30 - 9:30 am (depending on your speed)

If you want to save on the additional transport cost, you may opt to hike from the town center to the jump-off point. This hike will take about 30 minutes over a paved road. When you get to the jump-off point, you'll find a booth where you can register and get a guide.

Our trip to the Blue Soil Hills was arranged through a different route, more of a lucky accident and a chance encounter, really. We were having breakfast and looking for something we could do on that bright sunny day. I searched Google Maps for tourist spots nearby and saw Blue Soil Hills. Our route didn't involve a lot of trekking, so it's more appropriate for titas, wannabe titas, and titas-by-heart who were never fans of anything that involves walking and hiking.

One of our captures from the hike up to Blue Soil Hills (Photo © IHeartPH 2019)

Us enjoying the view and the pine trees during the hike up to Blue Soil Hills (Photo © IHeartPH 2019)

So, how can you go to Blue Soil Hills without trekking?

Okay, I may have gotten your hopes too high. There will be SOME hiking involved but not as much as if you were to arrange this via the Marlboro Hill - Blue Soil Hill Traverse Trek. But yes, you can go to Blue Soil Hills without the 4-5 hours of trekking. We stayed at the Sagada Blue Mountain Cabins, which is strategically located near the Blue Soil Hills, so this was where our jump-off point was. The staff just gave us instructions that didn't even register because I haven't had enough coffee yet at that time. All I remember was to go up until you see a water tank, something like going straight until you see a sari-sari store, and then turning left. Maybe that's all we needed because we eventually reached the site and didn't even need a tour guide.

Me against the blue and green backdrop that is Blue Soil Hills (Photo © IHeartPH 2019)

One of our captures from the hike up to Blue Soil Hills (Photo © IHeartPH 2019)

The sari-sari store before the hike to Blue Soil Hills (Photo © IHeartPH 2019)

So yes, you'll need to book a room with Sagada Blue Mountain Cabins or somewhere in this area. Sagada Blue Mountain Cabins is located along Mabisil - Payag-eo - Balili Road if you want to search for options. I would highly suggest Sagada Blue Mountain Cabins, though, since they can assist you on where to go, and their location is quite close to the path going to Blue Soil Hills. And the best thing I love about Sagada Blue Mountain Cabins is that one of their dogs, Bella will accompany you up the hill until a few steps away from the property right before you reach the sari-sari store, which another dog guards.

I have reviewed this accommodation here if you want to read more about our stay with them.

Bella accompanying us uphill at the start of the hike to Blue Soil Hills (Photo © IHeartPH 2019)

What's the best time to visit Blue Soil Hills?

If you don't mind the sun, I suggest you do this after all other tourists coming from Marlboro Hills are done with their trek. I would say that's around 9:30 am onwards. We got there at about 10:00 am, and it was as quiet as it could be. There are no tourists around, so we have the entire place to ourselves and can take photos without any photo bombers around. It wasn't as hot since the area is surrounded by trees, and there's also a sari-sari store somewhere in the middle of the hike where you can refresh and drink something. Just make sure you start your walk back before sundown.

How long does it take to hike to Blue Soil Hills from Sagada Blue Mountain Cabins?

While the usual traverse trek from Marlboro Hills to Blue Soil Hills is all downhill, ours was ascending from Sagada Blue Mountain Cabins, but it shouldn't take you more than 30 minutes. We slacked a lot and took many photos and videos along the way, took a lot of breaks too, so it was 45 minutes until we reached the site. The hike was very easy, we comfortably did it in flip flops and sneakers because we didn't bring appropriate footwear. We saw a couple of trekkers coming from Marlboro Hills and they were looking at us funny. They were probably thinking why we were going the opposite direction, why we wearing flip flops and sneakers and why were we not breaking any sweat. LMAO!

How much is the cost to go to Blue Soil Hills from Sagada Blue Mountain Cabins?

If you're going via the route we took, we didn't spend a single dime. We bought some refreshments at the sari-sari store on own way back and that's it.

If you have any comments or questions, feel free to post them here: