sumaging cave

this is spelunking in its finest! Its just amazing how this cave preserved it own beauty. People of Sagada, Thank you for letting us experience this and thank you for preserving this magnificent cave.

I love this place. I always go inside this cave whenever I go to Sagada. I even memorize this place hahahahaha. I could be your tour guide hahaha.

Its one adventurous stretch inside the caves- We experienced something totally out of the world. And that feeling when you come out with alive. :D Thanks to the cave experts, they helped us experience this part of the nature.

Sumaguing Cave is the first spot in our itinerary since we cannot explore the lumiang cave which is part of the cave connection because the way there is under construction. I must say that the Spelunking experienced is incomparable and worth it. Entering the cave, it's like it will eat us alive for its grand. You have to take in a lot of courage to do it. It takes us 2hrs which requires scaling, rappeling, and kneeling. There is another level if you take the challenge to get wet above your chest level and you will experience to pass a hole where only one person can fit. You can also swim in its crystal clear water. We saw rock formations like King and Queen's curtains, the Pregnant Woman, Alligator, Rice Terraces and a shell fossils that prove that the cave Is beneath the sea long time ago. You can hear also bats and be careful in holding the rocks you might touch a bat dung.It is a must if you visit Sagada and so all the Sagada attractions and the nature itself so I can say I survived Sumaguing Cave! :)

Sumaguing cave has a regular caving and a connection caving. Better to bring a waterproof flashligth,bottle of water and wear a sandals for trekking. Connection caving consist of spelunking, crawling,gliding,climbing,decending and rappelling. Always be aware everytime you step because its quite slippery and steepy. The connection cave will goes through the Echo Valley and the duration of adventure is about 3 to 4 hours depends on the pacing of the groups. My suggestion just follow the guide for your assurance of safety!!

The Sumaguing Cave attraction offers 2 routes (short-150pesos approx 1hour while the long route 400pesos per head 3-4hours depending on the volume and speed/pacing of your group or the other groups ahead of you). We took the long route. And guides with lights will assist your group.. :). .. I suggest to wear light clothing, water proof headlight, sensible trekking footware, bring water and food bar or chocolate bar to replish your energy as it is a very demanding spelunking especially for first timers (please keep all your garbage/trash with you at all times and help keep the caves clean and graffiti free).. The long route consist of crawling, sliding, climbing, rappelling etc, as long as you follow your guide's instruction all will be ok.. Always be mindfull of your step as some or most parts are quite slippery and steep.. At the end of the long route you will be given another option if you would like to continue further to explore the King's Curtain or go out.. And fortunately me and friends decided to see the King's curtain which extended our adventure for another hour or so, but it was worth it!!! It was one of the most awesome experience I had!!

The best decision I ever made was to go spelunking from Sumaguing to Lumiang cave. Do not pass out on the opportunity as the experience was amazing. Most of our tour mates did not opt to take the cave connection as they did not want to get so tired. Prepared to get wet and go into steep holes. Also the best footwear for this are slippers and wear something light to get around as you will get wet. One of the highlights of my trip here.

We took the long tour of Sumaging Cave which we booked through the tourist center in town. We are American and were with a few Filipino friends. Overall the tour through the cave was quite amazing. Amazing but very dangerous by American standards. There are practically no safety features in the cave. Climbing down steep drops was sometimes done by crawling down our tour guide like a ladder then stretching to reach a rock that we could only hope was there. Our tour guides had gas lanterns. Two of the lanterns broke while we were in the cave which was pretty scary since we were in close spaces breathing in the gas fumes. You need to be very fit, agile and willing to get filthy and wet. It was definitely an amazing life experience but very dangerous. Do not bring a lot of baggage or electronics as it is wet in the cave and backpacks make it much more difficult and dangerous (we learned this the hard way).

As part of my husband's 50th birthday, we all decided to visit Sagada & visited this famous attraction. It was a long walk to the cave yet worth it since the scenery along the way were breathtaking. Our family together with our guide just reached the dark entrance when we decided to back out since my little 9 year old boy is already crying, he's afraid to go in. Besides our guide told us that it is very slippery inside. Yet my 13 year old boy, Joseph went for a challenge. He told me, " Mom I want to go there & see for myself!". Me & my husband looked at each other at first, we were both hesitant to let him go further into the cave with the guide, Manong Jacob. But later, we also approved of him going inside. I was scared & kept praying for his safety while we waited outside for 2 hours. And I was so overjoyed when my son & his guide came out triumphant after 2 hours of caving inside the cave. And here are my teenager's mementos inside!

I'm a big guy and we have to think carefully before doing something like this. Lots of clambering both up and down steep inclines. At times climbing on bare rock face and, at the most extreme, 'walking' down a sheer drop hanging onto a rope or climbing on tyres up a sheer drop. Also some tight squeezes to get through.That said, it's spectacular and worth the effort to go through. A real sense of achievement at the end!

The experience I had on the cave connection is a hundred times better than what I experienced in Palawan's underground river.

Sumaging cave is part of the ‚cave connections’ underground hike route you can follow. Mosly, you exit the caves through Sumaging and enter it through Lumiang. If you’re not that of a hiker, you could also just hike the Lumiang track. We hiked through both caves in 4 hours. We can say it was thé highlight of our stay in Sagada. When you exit the caves, you’ll be glad to see daylight again but you’ll probably be amazed at the same time. To fully exit the caves, it’s required to climb some steps to the road again. But the exit is like a movie scene, where you slowly come back to the roads through this little jungle. 
We were quite unprepared because we accidentally bumped into the entrance and a guide with two pinot tourists. We asked them what they were doing and they answered that they were preparing for the hike and asked us if we wanted to join if we paid. Of course we said yes, but we were walking on flip flops, carried a big backpack and another big camera bag. 
So, we suggest you put on some comfortable old clothes that are aloud to get dirty and wet, good shoes (or bear feat likes us), a camera, water and money (for the guide P 400 p.p, and a refreshing drink after). Oh and maybe a bikini/shorts because there is an opportunity to swim in the cold waters running through the caves.

NOTE: you can’t hike through these caves alone. A foreign couple tried to follow us and our guide without paying, but that is highly irresponsible. You really need a strong and reliable lantern, since there’s total darkness and a skilled guide to lead you the way. There are very dangerous cliffs in the cave, which can be very deceiving at first sight.

We did the cave connection tour, which means entering Lumiang cave, and then going through two-three hours of crawling through tunnels, rock scrambling, descending on ropes, wading underground streams etc, until you emerge at Sumiang. We even went in for a brief swim in an underground pond next to the main cave. I'd recommend this experience to anyone, though not if you have a large frame or are out of shape (I barely squeezed through some of the rocks myself, and I think I'm reasonably fit). Ask for Novi as your guide through the tunnel, he knows all the cave-related wise cracks, but is pretty serious about safety. We had a great time with him.

i had to go down in this big black hole, with no security rope, slippery steep ground (slippery for the guano of bats) and illuminated only by the guide petrol lamp, felt like Indiana Jones! only that when i reached the bottom I discovered there were also other tourist, not so scared like me,.. but the place is wonderful, with limeston concretions, to see!!! but with good nerves!sono dovuta scendere in questo grande buco nero, senza nessuna corda di sicurezza,ed un terreno scivoloso e in pendenza (scivoloso per la cacca di pipistrello...) e illuminato solo dalla lampada a petrolio della guida,sentendomi come indiana Jones! solo che arrivata in fondo ho scoperto di non essere da sola, ma che c'erano diversi turisti, meno paurosi di me... un posto comunque fantastico, con sculture di calcare, da vedere!

Here you could see various rock formations, and a lot of cold small pools to walk through. This place is bigger than Lumiang, and I suggest you to remove your slippers as you traverse on the slippery rocks, for there are cliffs in some of the trails that you will pass through. Bring a headlight with you. You will need your arms in holding onto the rocks so a flashlight would be of little use.