Hiking To The Top Of Mt Tapyas

Coron might be a small town, but the locals are so confident in the awesome beauty of their surrounding islands that they've gone so far as to build a giant Hollywood style sign on the top of Mount Tapyas advertising to visitors that, unmistakably, you are in Coron.

It's a sign of their ever booming tourism industry and the number of visitors that are attracted to the town in order to explore the epic natural scenery of the Calamianes Islands. Anyone visiting Coron can't miss the huge sign and the equally large cross that's built on top of Mt Tapyas in true Filipino style.

The mountain is only the second highest near to Coron Town, but its shadow is cast over the town perpetually, and when visiting it's impossible not to wonder what the views from the top are like.

I made the hike to the top of Mt Tapyas Coron, to find out!

How Many Steps To The Top Of Mount Tapyas?

Mount Tapyas is just 210 metres in height, and like I said, only the second tallest mountain in the vicinity. If you can really even call it a mountain.

Technically, it's just a small hill. But compared to the surrounding flat landscape of Coron Town, this is a mountain, and its distinctive cone can be seen from almost anywhere.

And of course, in Coron's perpetual heat and humidity, climbing from sea level to even 210 metres can feel like ascending Everest. Except for the intense heat of course...

Leading to the cross at the top of Mount Tapyas are 721 concrete steps, with various rest points along the way offering shade and shelter from the sun. It's a lot of steps, but the views are worth it.

Fuelling Up Filipino Style On Balut Beneath Mt Tapyas

At the base of Mount Tapyas where the 721 steps begin there are a few vendors selling cold drinks, refreshments and of course, the classic Filipino Balut.

Balut is a delicacy in the Philippines, an ubiquitous snack that's consumed to give the eater energy. The perfect pre-hike eat. It's not to everyone's taste though, being, essentially, a boiled duck embryo.

That's right, they take a fertilised duck egg and boil it to keep in the juicy, crunchy beaks and wings.

I'd tried one the night before. I've tried a lot of weird and wonderful foods on my travels across the world, and I still could not stomach the Balut. To the Filipinos enthusiastically devouring Balut before they hiked to the top of Mount Tapyas, I take my hat off to you, I could not do it.

The Hike To The Top

The hike to the top wasn't difficult. The steps make things easier and it's really not that far or that high. The only difficulty is the humidity and the heat of Coron, which makes every step ten times harder than I was used to in my home country of England.

I kept stopping to turn around and to look out over the epic views arrayed before me. The town of Coron was directly below, with the boat docks, the market and all the houses displayed along the shore. Far off into the distance stretched the islands, hundreds of them as far as I could see. This was Coron, and these views, these islands, these were the reasons why people travel here from all over the world.

After a solid half hour of walking and photographing, I made it to the cross at the top of Mount Tapyas, sweaty but not exactly out of breath.

Drone Wars At Sunset

Those epic views and those spectacular islands mean that over the last few years Coron is getting ever more popular with tourists and the summit of Mount Tapyas was exceptionally busy.

The views were out there though and the number of people didn't distract from the stunning setting. There were however, a lot of drones flying around the hill, taking off and landing amongst the groups of people and even having to avoid other drones in the sky when things got a bit too close.

I'd never seen anything like it anywhere. Everyone wanted the best pictures as the sun was beginning to set. I did too, so I joined the drone war by taking my own Mavic Pro into the air for a few aerial shots of Mount Tapyas and the epic landscapes around me.

The sunset was marvellous as it slowly sunk below the clouds and behind the mountains in the distance, creating a spectacular portrait of light and colours across Coron and making those 721 steps to the top worth every drop of sweat that I shed.

All Words and Photos by Richard Collett