PUERTO PRINCESA TRAVEL DIARY: Mitra’s Ranch and Baker’s Hill

Mitra’s Ranch and Baker’s Hill are the two of the most popular destinations and are always included in the itinerary when you do the Puerto Princesa City Tour. I included them in our second city tour itinerary because they are just near Irawan Eco Park and Binuatan Weaving Creations. Plus I wanted to try the hopiang ube (purple yam filled bread, a favorite of mine) from Baker’s Hill.

Mitra’s Ranch
Mitra’s Ranch, also known as Sta. Monica Ranch  is located on top of a hill in which I think is a subdivision-type community in Puerto Princesa. The place is owned by a family of politicians, the Mitra family. There is no entrance fee here and you can visit it from 6:00am to 6:00pm. But the view deck and the house is off-limits to tourists.

What makes this a popular tourist spot is the location, wherein you can see and admire the beautiful view of Honda Bay. There activities that you can do here like zipline, trampoline and horse-back riding.

But most of all it is a very nice location for photo ops and selfies, having the most breath taking view of Honda Bay and the nearby mountains as your back drop!

We stayed here for awhile to enjoy the view, the cold temperature and the cool breeze. This place will somehow remind you of Tagaytay or Antipolo. 

Before leaving, we bought and drink sodas while we and our tour guide/trike driver Bryan had a small chit-chat with the old lady who mans the registration and sells refreshments, after which we said goodbye and proceeded to Baker's Hill which is just a few meters away.

Baker's Hill

Baker’s Hill is also in the vicinity of Sta Monica, Puerto Princesa. Entrance here is also free and tourists and locals alike go here to enjoy baked goodies especially their famous hopia in different varieties. There are also 2 restaurants here (if I’m not mistaken) and a pizza place where you can get quick fix for your hungry tummies. Not only tourists come to visit here but also locals, since we saw a lot of students that hang out here.

As for me, since we were still full from the morning’s breakfast, we just roamed around the place and adored the different landscaped garden displays that are probably created by the owner of Baker’s Hill, since there are a lot of signs that advertise the landscaper’s business contact numbers.

There are also a lot of life size statues that are scattered around Baker’s Hill but what caught our attention is this house that imitates the set of movie Shrek.

We stayed here longer than we should because both of us got so caught up with the peafowls (peacocks and pea hens) that are being taken care at the park, and there were lots of them too! The variety of the pheasant birds that are in Baker’s Hill is the imported one, probably the Indian or Sri Lankan peacocks (different from the Palawan peacock that we saw earlier at Palawan Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Center). What caught our attention and that of the other tourists, was this peacock (male) displaying its extravagant eye-spotted tail covert feathers, which it does when its  courting a peahen (female). The peacock did this for like 30 minutes and seemed like he was really showing it off, because the other peacocks are just resting in some parts of the pen, and he’s the only one doing it. Unfortunately, the peahen was not impressed and just ran away from him. After we were able to take good pictures of its beautiful display of its tail we decided to check out the bakery.

There are a lot of baked items that you can buy from the bakery but we decided to buy just the hopia, in monggo (mung beans) and ube (purple yam) flavors. I thought they would be pricey considering it’s a tourist spot in Puerto Princesa, but was surprised that a box containing 6 or 8 pieces of hopia (can’t remember…) only cost around PHP 50 (around USD 1.15). And man, they were good! The purple yam filling of the hopia taste like that of Good Shepherd’s. We were supposed to bring it home to give out as pasalubong but we ate them all even before we get back to Manila.

Mitra’s Ranch and Baker’s Hill

Puerto Princesa Tour Assistance/Licensed Tour Guide: Bryan Elivera - 09152788528


Read about my Puerto Princesa Travel Diary blog posts here:

Go & See:

- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Kuyba Almoneca, Your Alternative to the Palawan Underground River
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Plaza Cuartel, & - Puerto Princesa Baywalk
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Palawan Special Battalion WWII Memorial Museum
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Emerald Playa Beach & Nature Park
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Dos Palmas Island Resort
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Where to Buy Souvenirs
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Honda Bay Island Hopping Tour Part 1
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Honda Bay Island Hopping Tour Part 2
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Irawan Eco Park and Zipline
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Crocodile Farm and A Peacock I've Never Seen Before
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Mitra's Ranch & Baker's Hill
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Binuatan Creations Handloom Weaving 

Eat:
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Badjao Seafront Restaurant
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: KaLui Restaurant
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Bona's Chaolong
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Kinabuchs Bar & Grill
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Rene Saigon Vietnamese Specialties
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: White Fence Country Cafe

What I wore:

- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: What I Wore #1

- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: What I Wore #2
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: What I Wore #3

Sleep:
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary:  The Legend Hotel Palawan
- Puerto Princesa Travel Diary: Purple Fountain Courtyard Inn

Follow Me:  Facebook | Instagram | Twitter