Mayon Volcano @ Ligñon Hill Nature Park, Legazpi

Mayon view from the deck... 

Ligñon Hill (pronounced “Lin-yon”) is the best place to view the majestic Mayon Volcano in Legazpi City. It’s walking distance from the airport, so if you’re not dragging around heavy luggage, you can just walk from there. The local city government is currently leasing the operation of the hill to a private company, so we saw marked improvements from our last visit.

nice view of Albay Gulf and Legazpi City

the observatory where PHIVOCS camps out

A year ago, there wasn’t an entrance fee collected from visitors but the ₱20/person you’ll pay to walk or drive up the hill is a small price indeed for the better management of this place. I must say it looks a lot nicer now, and the bathrooms are clean too. So far, so good.

the family posing at the newly-landscaped entrance

with our game face on

I like that there are a lot of fun stuff you can do now at Ligñon. You can choose to drive up Mayon in an ATV to look closely at the lava front and volcanic rocks, go rappelling, wall climbing or ride the 320-meter zipline run by Globe Quest Adventures.

I love ziplines, but none of my sisters wanted to try it with me this time, so I dragged my nervous cousin Manay Malyn along. It was great and pretty cheap too; for just ₱250 they will also take a picture of you with Mayon Volcano in the background.

uncle & sis posing with Mayon hidden by thick clouds...

and showing us her charms before we left

One important reminder though, it is better to come  here in the morning, so you can have a higher chance at viewing the volcano without the clouds that obstruct it when it is later in the day. Fortunately, the near perfectly-coned beautiful lady (daragang magayon aka Mayon) showed us her face before we left, or else Manay Malyn, the first-timer in our group would have been crushed.