Spanish-era mansions, cobblestone streets and kalesa (horse-drawn carriages) are the hallmarks of historic Vigan. Miraculously spared bombing in WWII, the city is considered the finest surviving example of a Spanish colonial town in Asia. In 1999, Vigan was designated a Unesco World Heritage site.
Several threshold events in the history of the nation occurred in the Visayas. Magellan landed off the Cebu coast in 1521, marking the Philippines’ first contact with Europeans, and MacArthur fulfilled his vow to return to the country during WWII, landing near Tacloban on Leyte.
To many travellers, North Luzon simply is the Cordillera, with everything else fading into insignificance. These spiny mountains, which top out at 2900m, are beloved, worshipped and feared in equal doses by those who witness them and those who live among them.
While it’s the political capital of Leyte, this bustling city is the geographic and commercial centre of both Leyte and Samar. Smack in the middle of this pair of islands separated only by the San Juanico Strait, Tacloban is a relatively cosmopolitan outpost in a large underdeveloped and poor territory.
Leyte’s bowlegged rump straddles Sogod Bay, where whale sharks frolic from about mid-October to late April. The sharks here are fewer and more elusive than their more famous cousins in Donsol, but for many this just makes the thrill of spotting one that much greater. For now the village of Pintuyan, where the whale sharks [...]
The southern Luzon peninsula of Bicol is home to two of the Philippines’ emblematic tourist attractions: the whale sharks of Donsol and the regal - and deadly - Mt Mayon volcano.
The Spaniards called it Isla del Fuego (Island of Fire) because of the soft glow generated by the island’s abundant firefly population. To Filipinos, Siquior (see-kee-hor) has an aura of mystery and magic; its mountainous interior is home to a number of mangkukulam (healers) who practise not with spooky incantations but with smelly herbs and [...]
About 200km from both Bacolod and Dumaguete, the remote seaside town of Sipalay (si-pah-lie) is surrounded by spectacular white-sand beaches, secluded coves, scattered islets, dive reefs and waters teeming with marlin, trevally and tuna.
After several days of either riding the waves or simply watching others take them on, your mission to decompress and take it easy accomplished, it’s still difficult to pack up and leave. Siargao (shar-gao) is the kind of place that seems to give off a magnetic force, transforming weekend-long stays into weeks or for the [...]
‘Rugged’ is usually the word you hear associated with these two eastern Visayan provinces, separated from each other by the narrowest of straits near Leyte’s capital, Tacloban. It’s an apt tag. The interior of both islands is consumed by virtually impenetrable forest. This naturally creates opportunities for adventure, although you either have to learn advanced [...]