Seven Wonders of the Philippines

1. Banaue Rice Terraces

The Banaue Rice Terraces (Tagalog: Hagdan-hagdang Palayan ng Banawe) are 2000-year old terraces that were carved into the mountains of Ifugao in the Philippines by ancestors of the indigenous people. The Rice Terraces are commonly referred to by Filipinos as the “Eighth Wonder of the World“. It is commonly thought that the terraces were built with minimal equipment, largely by hand. The terraces are located approximately 1500 meters (5000 ft) above sea level and cover 10,360 square kilometers (about 4000 square miles) of mountainside. They are fed by an ancient irrigation system from the rainforests above the terraces. It is said that if the steps are put end to end it would encircle half the globe.

The Banaue Terraces are part of the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, ancient sprawling man-made structures from 2,000 to 6,000 years old. They are found in the provinces of Kalinga, Apayao, Benguet,Mountain Province and Ifugao, and are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

2. Tubbataha Reef

Tubbataha Reef is anatoll coral reef located in the Sulu Sea of thePhilippines. It is a marine sanctuary protected as Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park. It is nominated at the New 7 Wonders of Nature.

Tubbataha is located in the Sulu Sea, 98nautical miles (181 km) southeast of Puerto Princesa City in the PalawanProvince. The reef is made up of two coral atolls divided by an eight-kilometer (5 miles) wide channel. The South Atoll, the smaller of the two is five kilometers in length and three kilometers in width; while the North Atoll, the larger of the two is 16 kilometers (10 miles) long and five kilometers (3 miles) wide.(Knipp 22) Each reef has a single small islet that protrudes from the water. The atolls are separated by a deep channel 8 km (5 miles) wide.

3. Chocolate Hills

The Chocolate Hillsare an unusual geological formation in Bohol, Philippines.According to the latest accurate survey done,^{[citation needed]}there are 1,776 hills spread over an area of more than 50 square kilometres (20 sq mi). They are covered in green grass that turns brown during the dry season, hence the name.

The Chocolate Hills are a famous tourist attraction of Bohol. They are featured in the provincial flag and seal to symbolize the abundance of natural attractions in the province. They are in the Philippine Tourism Authority’s list of tourist destinations in the Philippines; they have been declared the country’s 3rd National Geological Monument and proposed for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

4. Taal Volcano

Taal Volcano is acomplex volcano on the island of Luzon in thePhilippines. It is situated between the towns of Talisay and San Nicolas in Batangas. It consists of an island in Lake Taal, which is situated within a caldera formed by an earlier, very powerful eruption. It is located about 50 km (31 Miles) from the capital, Manila. It is one of the active volcanoes in the Philippines, all part of the Pacific ring of fire.

5. Mayon Volcano

Mayon Volcano, also known as Mount Mayon, is an activestratovolcano in theprovince of Albay, in the Bicol Region, on the island of Luzon, in thePhilippines.

Renowned as the “perfect cone” because of its almost symmetrically conical shape, Mayon forms the northern boundary of Legazpi City. Local folklore refers to the volcano as Bulkang Magayon (Filipino: ‘Magayon Volcano’), after the legendary heroine Daragang Magayon(Bikol: ‘Lady Beautiful’).

On October 13, 2008 it was included in New 7 Wonders of Nature Top 10 list. However, it did not make the cut to the Top 25 finalists, giving way to thePuerto Princesa Subterranean River, another site in the Philippines.

6. Boracay

Boracay is an islandof the Philippines located approximately 315 km (200 miles) south of Manila and 2 km off the northwest tip of the island of Panay in the WesternVisayas region of thePhilippines. In 1990, it was voted by the BMW Tropical Beach Handbook as one of the best beaches in the world and again in 1996 by British publication TV Quick as the world’s number one tropical beach.

The island comprises the barangays of Manoc-Manoc, Balabag, and Yapak (3 of the 17 barangays which make up the municipality of Malay), and is under the administrative control of the Philippine Tourism Authority in coordination with the Provincial Government of Aklan.

7. Hundred Islands

The Hundred Islands National Park(Pangasinan: Kapulo-puloan or Taytay-Bakes) is in theprovince of Pangasinan in northern Philippines. It is located in Alaminos City,Pangasinan. The islands (124 at low tide and 123 at high tide) are scattered along Lingayen Gulf and cover an area of 18.44 square kilometres (4,557 acres). They are believed to be about two million years old. Only three of them have been developed for tourists: Governor Island, Quezon Island, and Children’s Island. The islands are actually ancient corals that extend well inland, in an area previously comprising the seabed of an ancient sea. Lowering sea levels have exposed them to the surface and the peculiar “mushroom”-like shapes of some of the islands have been caused by the eroding action of the ocean waves.