Unique Places in Philippines

Laoag was first occupied by the Spaniards in 1592 and is now the largest city in northern Luzon. Ilocos Norte is best known as the home province of former president Ferdinand Marcos. The province has many Old Spanish Churches, the best known being St. William's Cathedral in the capital city, Laoag.

see my LAOAG travel pages for more...information

Went to Banaue rice terraces the back way... via Bontoc city across the side of Sierra Madre Mountains...
The scenery via Bontoc city is spectacular although the travel is a bit rough.There are bus companies and private drivers who do the trip from Baguio city to Bontoc city, then buses and jeepneys travel from Bontoc city to Banaue rice terraces usually in the afternoon..
To take in the scenery it is best for a 2 day trip or more, accomodation available on the way but you should take cash as not many ATM's along the way..

If you're looking for some fun beach experience, try heading to La Union. It is a coastal city, just six-hour drive from Manila. There are a lot of beach resorts offering a variety of fun activities and a great relaxing ambiance for you and your family (and friends) to enjoy.

A completely non-descript town but gateway to my favourite places in the country. Firstly: Pandan island. Lots of other tourists but a stunning tropical island. Snorkeling here I saw sharks, giant turtles and a multitude of beautiful tropical fish. There are lots of beach huts of varying degrees of comfort to rent, or you can bring your own tent for a much cheaper price. There's a bar and a restaurant which serves great buffets. Much further away from the mainland is Apo Reef, a deserted set of tropical paradise islands with great diving and snorkeling. Facilities here are much less than on Pandan so you have to bring your own tent.
Inland from Sablayan live the Alangan and Batangan Mangyan people. The Alangan are very traditional while many groups of the Batangan have up to this day refused all contact with the outside world. All Alangan and some Batangan communities occasionally send members to Sablayan to buy stuff at the market and they can be seen every day wandering the streets of the town in their loincloths! The Batangan can be recognised because they smoke pipes almost permanently. Unfortunately both groups are threatened by the activities of A Norweigian / Filipino mine in the interior that is polluting their water and land.

I can't quite work out what I feel about Kalinga. I found the people among the most hospitable in the country but at the same time they are willing to kill each other at the drop of a hat! Tribal war is an accepted part of life and there were several revenge killings while I was there. These are unlikely to involve tourists but anyone worried about it should probably not go further than Tinglayan, a few hours jeepney ride from Bontoc in Mountain Province. Even around Tinglayan you can trek to mountain villages, see people with full body tattoos and human jawbone gongs, reminders of the area's headhunting past!
The drives north from Bontoc to Tinglayan and Tinglayan to Tabuk, the main town in the province, are probably the most spectacular I saw anywhere in the country, going very high up in the rice-terraced mountains.
From Tabuk I went to Tanudan, a 4 hour ride in an ex-military 6WD vehicle on the worst road I've ever seen. This area has more people with body tattoos and I even saw one wearing traditional dress but everyone carries weapons ranging from M16 machine guns to pistols to pump action shotguns to telescopically-sighted Uzis! The age-old warrior and headhunter culture is alive and kicking in a modern form. It's EXTREMELY unlikely to affect tourists though, despite what people from other provinces in Northern Luzon will tell you. The rice terraces that surround the villages are stunning.

In the virgin jungles of South Palawan live many groups of Palawan people. Many of them still live very traditionally, alternating between living in caves in the rock during the rainy season and traditional houses at other times. They hunt bats and other animals using traditional methods and some groups still have little contact with the outside world and have not been Christianised. a handful of people still wear the traditional bahag or loincloth.
The most well known and easy to access group, known as the Tao't Batu by anthropologists, tourists and coastal dwellers, live in the Signapan Basin and can be accessed from Barangay Ransang near the towns of Rizal and Sicud. They are, however, quite used to seeing tourists and money oriented, refusing even to let me take photos even of their villages without paying them. Other groups of Palawan who live further from Signapan are extremely hospitable and don't even think about money.

This truly was one of my favourite places in the Philippines. Eating in a cafe just after our arrival a young man walked in and asked, "may I sing for you?" We said yes and he went ahead and did it for several minutes! Other than that there are some STUNNING beaches and islands nearby that are COMPLETELY deserted. Very few other tourists come here.
Another extremely interesting thing to do here is visit markets in nearby villages such as Manaul. Betel nut-chewing Mangyan tribespeople come down from the mountains, most clad in loincloths, to sell their products. The Hanunoo people in particular have very colourful traditional jewelry and skirts, although fewer of them still wear the loincloth than other Mangyan groups. Many have completely red and black teeth from years of chewing the mildly narcotic betel nut.

The only real reason I can think of to come here is to get the pump boat from here to Roxas, Mindoro. My experience doing just that was so bad (days of delays, two break downs while at sea, cramped conditions and rough seas) that I would not recommend it to anyone. That said, locals are friendly, there are one or two nice beaches, indigenous people in the interior and no other tourists.