Tagaytay is a tourist town for local Filipinos in Manila who want to get out of the rat race for the weekend and get some fresh air and cooler temperatures.

It's very similar to Baguio in that the place is popular because of the cooler climate and fresh air, along with abundant fruit, pies and flowers to bring home as gifts(pasalubongs).

Tagaytay's main attraction is the view of Taal Lake and Taal Volcano in the middle of it. The best vantage point is from Leslie's Restaurant and from Starbuck's...both in the same area. Leslie's has amazing Bicol food for a decent price and a huge veranda for your viewing pleasure. Lots of candies and whatnot for your hko to bring as gifts to her family and friends...and believe me they will remind her to bring back gifts(tact is not a Filipino strongpoint when it comes to gifts).

The Starbucks is fairly new and is probably the nicest Starbucks I have seen in the world thus far. The view on the open air top floor is spectacular. They also have a unique feature in that you can order your coffee in a french press for two.

The only form of transportation are jeepneys and trikes unfortunately. The trike drivers are thieves as usual. You must use jeepneys if you stay at one of the resorts away from the center of town. Try to sit near the driver as the exhaust systems will leave you lightheaded...my ko told me that they use kerosene for fuel in that town and that was the reason for the strong fumes...hmmmm.

Best way to get there is to hire a taxi from Manila or AC. From Manila, you will have to pay 750-1000 pisos or less, depending on how desperate the taxi driver is. You will have to pay about 2000 pisos from AC.

We stayed at the Royal Taal Inn which had decent rates. There rates depend on the season and can be found at www.royaltaal.com. One of the really nice places to go is the Picnic Grove in Tagaytay. Very beautiful place to walk around and there are long trails all over the place. I would avoid this place on Sundays as the place is loaded with Filipinos picknicking with their immediate family of 50-100 people. You can stay in one of the nice cottages at the Picnic Grove for 1,400 pisos a night...has a Scandinavian flair to it.

Here are the only pics that dont have pictures of myself or my gf in them.

Blazers, did you ever take the boat across and hike into the volcano, it's quite a trip. I took a whole troop of Boy Scouts in there about a year before it erupted, and one tried to "run" down the vocano. He ended up a bloody mess and I ended up in the back of a pickup getting him back to Clark, but all ended well. Your pics bring back a lot great memories, thanks!