Philippines is famous for its volcanic mountains and white sand beaches. Mount Mayon is an active volcano located in the Albay province of Philippines. Mount Mayon is situated very close to the city of Legazpi. Mount Mayon is famous for its symmetrical conical shape. The symmetrical shape is visible if you visit the place during the clear day. It takes around 1 hour to fly from manila to Legazpi. Legazpi can be visited as a day tour from manila. I took the 430 am flight from manila and reached Legazpi around 6 am. From the aiport you can take tuk tuk taxi in order to reach Cagsawa ruins.
Cagsawa ruins is the best place to view mount Mayon. Mount Mayon has been photographed lot of times on the background of Cagsawa ruins. It was a famous church during the 18th century but it was completely destroyed along with the town during the volcanic eruption. Most part of the church was covered with volcanic ash during the eruption time. I was very disappointed to see the cloud at the top. I waited almost 2 hours for the clouds to recede but it didn’t happen.
There are lots of companies which offer ATV tour to the base of the mount mayon. I will advice not to book any tour in advance because it will be overpriced. I walked to a ATV tour company near the ruins and booked the tour to the base of the mountain. Total cost of the tour was USD 50. You will get your own personal guide throughout the trail. First half of the trail was easy because we had to ride ATV on the main road. During the last half of the trail we had to pass some streams, big volcanic rocks and muddy trails in order to reach the base of the mountain.
After reaching the office at the base we had to do a steep 10-minutes hike in order to reach the helipad at the base of the mountain. The place is situated well above sea level and there is a great panoramic view of Legazpi city along with the coastline. It was still cloudy at the top of the mountain but rest of the sky was clear. My tour also included a short zipline but I decided to skip the part. I returned from the tour around 12 pm and I was feeling very sleepy at this point damn I hate those early morning flights.
I booked my stay at embarcadero hotel. The hotel was situated near port area of Legazpi and it was inside a big shopping complex. There was beautiful view of mount Mayon volcano from the hotel. During the evening time I went to the lounge area of the mall in order to see the sunset. The sunset was beautiful on the background of mount Mayon. It was a great day tour to mount Mayon but I feel I was unlucky because of the clouds. The local people say if you manage to see the perfect conical shape of the volcano on the first day then it brings great fortune to you. Overall it was a great trip and the ATV ride was the highlight of the trip.
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