What better way to reinvigorate from a stressful week than to go on a joy ride with your friends and family and enjoy mother nature. Thankfully here in Baybay City, a chartered city in Leyte, there is an emerging tourist destination that is free to tourists and is just relatively accessible to vehicles.
Dubbed by some as Baybay City’s highest point (although I highly doubt it since there is the Mt. Pangasugan), Lintaon Peak is becoming a go-to destination for those living in the city who want to breathe in some fresh air and experience the cool breeze. It also gives one a picturesque view of Baybay City similar to that of Cebu City’s Tops or Mountain View or Cagayan de Oro City’s High Ridge.
I first heard of Lintaon Peak maybe four or five years ago when some of my friends posted their “jump shots” on Facebook. Like any “newly-discovered” destination and thankfully through social media, people started going to this place. I am not really sure about the history of Lintaon Peak and why it is called as such. In Cebuano, “Lintaon” can be derived from the word “linta” or leech which in this case roughly translates to a “place full of leech”. Maybe in the olden days this place was full of leeches 🙂
Lintaon Peak is located in Barangay Lintaon (previously, I thought it was part of Barangay Pomponan) some 5 to 10 kilometers by way of Brgy. Pomponan south of Baybay City via the Baybay-Maasin road. You can go there by car or motorcycle. Pomponan is also a popular place because of its miraculous icon of St. Anthony of Padua so you can easily ask for the way going there. When you are already entering Brgy. Pomponan, there is a signboard at the right side of the road saying that it is the road leading to Lintaon Peak. You can just use that road going to Lintaon which in my estimate is around two to three kilometers. The road is easy to traverse since the local government already had road concreting projects in the area.
As you arrive at the destination, you can observe that it is really not the “peak” since you can still see some elevation and the terrain going up is planted with coconuts. However, at the “peak” you can have a nice vantage point where you can see Baybay City in the north and the Camotes Sea and Camotes Islands in the west. The area is grassy and you can see a lot of cows grazing. Going to the peak, there is a building being constructed which may be a residential building or a restaurant.
All in all, it was a really nice experience and the air up there is really cool. We went there in the last week of May so it was already starting to rain. You can have a good view of the city much more if it’s nighttime where you can see the city lights. The wind up there is pretty strong too at times. A good time to go there is either early in the morning or late in the afternoon. I wouldn’t suggest going there midday because there is no shade (you don’t want the scorching sun do you?).
Anyway, here are some photos I took to give you some idea of the place. Don’t forget to have the “jump shot” pose when you’re there 🙂
NOTE:
As of 2017, the City Government of Baybay already developed the area as a tourist destination where they put 16,000 plastic LED roses which they call “16K Blossoms”. Entrance is P20.00.
Morpheus 