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Road Trip Guide: New al fresco cafes + things to do in Tagaytay

Kara Santos

For those coming from Metro Manila, Tagaytay in Cavite is one of the most popular choices for a road trip or quick weekend getaway. You can enjoy the cooler climate with a refreshing view in this mountain town overlooking Taal Lake without having to drive too far.

We’ve all been cooped up for the past 2 years since the pandemic hit, and it’s great that we can finally rediscover and revisit our favorite spots again.

For a change of scenery, a road trip for the day or weekend staycation in Tagaytay is always a popular choice, especially now that travel restrictions have eased and children are allowed to dine-in at restaurants and stay in hotels again.

Why it’s great for riders

Tagaytay is one of the most popular destination for motorcycle riders based in the South, as it’s very near busy cities in the provinces of Laguna, Cavite, Batangas and southern towns of Metro Manila like Las Pinas and Alabang.

Once you get past the high-traffic areas, the cooler weather is a treat, and the tourist town is home to many good restaurants and sightseeing spots that offer a nice break from the weekday grind. 

If you’re feeling adventurous, you can try different routes going there and back, such as making a detour through Kaybiang Tunnel in Cavite, going down to Talisay for a Taal Lake Loop, pass through Amadeo going up, or explore sights in other nearby towns like Silang or Nasugbu.

Route Map (small displacement bikes)

The last time we drove to Tagaytay in 2019 before the pandemic hit, we took a very roundabout scenic route around Laguna Lake and stayed in Talisay to do a Taal Lake Loop by motorcycles and hike to the crater lake on Taal Island.

Sadly, since the destructive volcanic eruption of Taal Volcano in January 2020, Taal Island is no longer inhabited and hiking there is no longer possible as of March 2022. But Tagaytay is still a popular destination in itself just for chill staycations and food trips.

There are various routes to get to Tagaytay from Metro Manila.

If you’re driving a private vehicle or on a 400 cc motorcycle, you can pass the expressways, but scooters and small displacement motorcycles and bicycles have to use toll-free roads.

For our recent trip this March 2022, we just passed C5 and the service roads to Alabang to avoid heavy traffic in the Pasay, Las Pinas, Imus and Bacoor area.  Be warned that what GoogleMaps shows as the most direct and shortest route is also the most congested in terms of traffic.

From C5, we took the East Service Road and West Service Road to Alabang, then right on the Molito Alabang road to Daang Hari, then all the way to Silang and Tagaytay via the Emilio Aguinaldo Highway.

Possible routes (via C5) 

We took the first option because we weren’t familiar with the other exits and wanted to get out of the main highway as soon as possible. From Quezon City, the route is about 80-95 km and takes about 2.5-4 hours one way depending on the traffic, time and whether it’s a weekday or weekend.

We had a few navigation problems, as we don’t normally drive through this area and GoogleMaps directed us to pass through a private subdivision in Cupang where guards stopped us. After some rerouting and asking around it was fairly straightforward. A Grab driver told us to take Binan for the fastest route, but we just did the Alabang route.

I was expecting the worst, but surprisingly, it was a fairly pleasant drive going up on a Thursday. Traffic was much heavier and more congested going back though. Saturday and Sundays can be absolute hell, so plan your trips accordingly. If you can, travel on weekdays for the best experience.

We left Quezon City around 9:00 am and arrived in Tagaytay around noontime, right in time to check in and have lunch.

Where to Stay in Tagaytay

There are a lot of accommodation options in Tagaytay, depending on your budget. You can easily take your pick from the 5-star hotels, cozy boutique bed and breakfasts, farm stays, AirBnbs and more. 

For this road trip we stayed at Taal Vista Hotel, the oldest and most established hotel in Tagaytay City. It’s centrally located beside Sky Ranch, and it offers a convenient base to the other tourist spots and restaurants in and around the city. The hotel has several in-house restaurants and secure basement parking for vehicles including motorcycles.

Another hotel option we came across was View Park Hotel, a charming and homey hotel, right across the Tagaytay Picnic Grove. The hotel has a peaceful garden, a restaurant that serves modern Filipino dishes and a cozy cafe/bar with local coffee and craft beer.

Other hotel options in Tagaytay include:

What to do in Tagaytay

Food Tripping

Food tripping is really the number one reason to go to Tagaytay. People just drive here to eat or have coffee with a view. See the section below.

Tagaytay Picnic Grove

Public park and sightseeing spot where you can bring your own food. Activities here include horseback riding, ziplining, riding a Ferris wheel, souvenir shopping, and cable car riding.

Sky Ranch

An amusement park with kid-friendly rides. This is home to the Sky Eye, the second tallest Ferris wheel in the Philippines, Super Viking, and Sky Cruiser, as well as smaller rides fit for kids. You can get a great Tagaytay view of the Taal Volcano from the Ferris wheel. 

Museo Orlina

A modern indoor-outdoor museum spotlighting the works of glass sculptor Ramon Orlina.

Puzzle Mansion

A museum for jigsaw puzzle enthusiasts which hosts a collection of jigsaw puzzle. This was once recognized to have the biggest collection in the world according to Guinness.

Crosswinds

A new dining and recreation complex located in a hilly area with pine trees, with Swiss-inspired cafes, an Alpine Village, al fresco dining, a pine cone trail, and more. Popular for sightseeing and photo ops.

Where to Eat in Tagaytay

Tagaytay has always been known for bulalo, tawilis, and garden restaurants in surrounding towns like Alfonso and Silang. While some of these have been around for a while now, they have become popular again after the pandemic, as people want to revisit old favorites.

Sonya’s Garden

Sonya’s Garden has always been a family favorite for road trips and is one of the first places I think of whenever someone mentions Tagaytay. Sonya’s Garden in Cavite offers a refreshing escape where you can enjoy healthy meals in a lush garden setting.

Marcia Adams

Technically not in Tagaytay, but close enough. Marcia Adams is a garden restaurant located on the boundary of Tagaytay and Alfonso, specializing in home-cooked Mediterranean cuisine.

This restaurant has beautiful interiors and a lush garden feel that will make you feel as if you’ve traveled far.

Chateau Hestia

Chateau Hestia is a hidden Bed & Breakfast garden restaurant in Silang, which features European farm-to-table cuisine coupled with Filipino hospitality.

But aside from established favorites, there are a lot of new restaurants you can check out. The pandemic has led to a new crop of al fresco cafes, picnic dining concepts, and other restos with overlooking views that are worth checking out.

Himalayan Dome Dining at Taal Vista Hotel

The Himalayan Dome Dining is the newest dining concept by Taal Vista Hotel to meet the demand for al fresco dining options.

The hotel offers Glamorous Picnic packages in the afternoon and fine dining dinners for 2 with steak and wine in the evenings.

Taza Fresh Table 

Taza Fresh Table, the a la carte restaurant located inside the grounds of Taal Vasta Hotel serves a seasonal menu of the freshest local organic produce. Taken from the Arabic word of Taza, the meaning of fresh in their dishes contains natural sources from our best local suppliers. The meals here are made with garden-fresh ingredients.

Siglo Brew

Opened in 2021, Siglo Brew is a new cafe / bar that specializes in craft beer and local coffee from sourced from around the Philippines. There’s a resto in front that serves modern Filipino cuisine and the cozy coffee/beer spot at the back beside View Park Hotel across Picnic Grove. Siglo Brew is a good spot for riders and cyclists heading up to Tagaytay for weekends.

Speaking of craft beer, there are a couple of other spots in Tagaytay that craft beer enthusiasts can check out if they happen to be in the area, including Tap Station Twin Lakes and Santiago Brewery & Malthouse‘s showroom along the Tagaytay-Sta. Rosa Road. I also spotted Three Bulls Craft Beer in Brgy. Iba in Silang while driving back, but the bar was still closed.

Crosswinds Tagaytay

Crosswinds is a newly developed area in Tagaytay that takes inspiration from Napa Valley. There are several Swiss style structures here and and unique dining concepts with both indoor and outdoor options situated in an area with pine trees. The most visible spot from the highway is The Coffee Project at Crosswinds Drive.

The Ruined Project?

Down the road from the highway, you can find “The Ruined Project?,” a unique al fresco cafe with lots of plants and very IG-worthy interiors. This was apparently supposed to be Coffee Project’s 50th store but the pandemic happened so plans were ruined. They pushed through with bare concrete walls, wooden furniture and lots of plants for an imperfect but still appealing cafe.

The Ruined Project is bike-friendly (I spotted a bike rack under the trees) and pet-friendly. The food and drinks here are a bit on the pricey side, but the interiors and concept are cool and obviously made for Instagram, if you’re into that kind of thing.

Picnic by Napa

Another area nearby is Picnic by Napa, an al fresco picnic area with shaded tables nearby and tents set up under pine trees. You can buy food & drinks from restaurants and stalls.

There’s also Napa by Crosswinds, a cafe surrounded by wine barrels and a new Japanese al fresco dining area called Cafe Yama.

Salakot Al Fresco Dining 

We spotted this restaurant driving in from Silang, but unfortunately didn’t have time to check it out. Salakot Cafe is a new Filipino-themed restaurant that serves local and international cuisine in an outdoor setup.

Salakot features an open-style nipa hut in different sizes and designs for a unique and private dining experience. The restaurant also caters to big groups for special occasions like weddings and birthdays.

Twin Lakes Shopping Village

Twin Lakes Shopping Village is another new hub that’s become popular among road trippers, motorcycle riders, and bikers for stopovers. The contemporary, hillside leisure hub offers several dining options and a lookout deck with mountain and lake vistas located along the Tagaytay-Nasugbu Road.

Technically, this area is already in Laurel, Batangas, and not in Tagaytay anymore, but is near enough to drive to. Dining options here include Bag of Beans, La Creperie, Starbucks, Buon Giorno Caffee & Bistro and Tap Station, to name a few.

There are just too many restaurants in Tagaytay to list down. You could actually plan a whole trip just centered around food-tripping or cafe hopping. Some other popular restaurants in Tagaytay include:

Trip Summary

After a chill 3 days, it was time to head back to Manila. We decided to just take the same route we took going back, but I wanted to take a shortcut recommended by other Kymco Likers through Molino-Paliparan traffic getting to Daang Hari to avoid traffic.

Since our last stop was at Crosswinds, Googlemaps directed us to take the some side roads (Kaykulot Road, Brgy. Ulat, Sabutan-Iba, Paliparan-Silang) to get to Molino-Paliparan. While some sections were ok, I can’t recommend this route, as parts of the roads were terrible, still under construction, or had a lot of trucks.

I suggest you just stick the main highway and suck up the traffic at least until Dasmarinas to get to Molino-Paliparan. From SM City Molino, turn right back to Daang Hari and backtrack all the way to Alabang.

We left Tagaytay at around 1:00 pm after lunch (on a Saturday) and got home at around 4:45 pm, for a travel time of almost four hours because of heavy traffic at C5.

Based on my odometer reading, we traveled over 250 km during this ride to get from QC to Tagaytay and back home including all the side trips, detours, and sightseeing within Tagaytay. 

As someone based in the Quezon City, I would still pick riding to the East like Baras, Tanay and Antipolo for day trips. The route going there is still more scenic and there’s less traffic, but it was nice to revisit Tagaytay again for the first time since the pandemic hit and unlock a better route.

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