North Luzon – World Travel

Vigan North Luzon

WorldTravelDB.com — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 06:01:01 +0000

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.

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The Cordillera North Luzon

WorldTravelDB.com — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 06:01:01 +0000

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.

The people of the Cordillera, collectively known as the Igorot, own a fascinating culture that is reflected in the area’s varied and multitudinous attractions. Banaue’s renowned rice terraces have been dubbed ‘the eighth wonder of the world’, and they thoroughly deserve the label. Lesser-known but no less spectacular terraces exist throughout Ifugao, Mountain Province and Kalinga. So little has changed in Sagada since its days as a hippy hang-out that it would certainly become one again if there were another ’60s. Bontoc is a busy mountain town; Kabayan has mummies in mountain caves; Kalinga has a few old head-hunters hanging around. Even Baguio, often maligned, is a fine stopover for a day or two.

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Sagada North Luzon

WorldTravelDB.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 06:01:09 +0000

The absence of noise and pollution are probably the first things you’ll appreciate about Sagada, a tranquil mountaintop town where you can walk down the middle of the road and only occasionally be disturbed by a passing vehicle. Backpackers have been flocking here for years to enjoy the incredible mountain scenery, cheap dope and companionship of like-minded travellers.

Sagada fills up quickly in the March-to-May high season. But despite its popularity it manages to stave off changes that would detract from its appeal as an ‘ecotourism’ destination – there are no massive hotels or blaring discos, and videoke is conspicuously absent. For many Sagadans, the traditional way of life remains intact. During harvest celebrations, women wear tapis while older men don G-strings and gather in the dap-ay; chickens are sacrificed, gongs are played and general merriment ensues.

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North Luzon

WorldTravelDB.com — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 07:01:18 +0000

Generalisations fall short when describing this vast region of misty mountains, sprawling plains and endless coastline, whose population is as diverse and unique as the landscape.

The central mountain range known as the Cordillera is the region’s trophy piece, with lush green forests blanketing vast areas of gloriously crooked earth. Isolated sandy beaches ring almost the entire coastline. In the rice terraces of Banaue and elsewhere, humans and nature have collaborated on one of the world’s truly sublime displays of beauty and ingenuity. Off Luzon’s northern tip, the grassy hills of the Batanes islands possess their own austere beauty.

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Batad North Luzon

WorldTravelDB.com — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 07:01:39 +0000

Batad’s amphitheatre-like stone-walled rice terraces are widely considered the world’s most striking. The recent arrival of electricity has brightened things up a bit, and the completion of a road nearby has brought it a bit closer to civilisation, but Batad remains your quintessential backpacker mecca, a place where you can lose yourself amid stunning scenery and the serene aura of isolation.

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Banaue And The Rice Terraces North Luzon

WorldTravelDB.com — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 07:01:40 +0000

Banaue is synonymous with Luzon’s most famous icon, the Unesco World Heritage–listed Ifugao rice terraces, etched out of the hillsides using primitive tools and an ingenious irrigation system over 2000 years ago. The Ifugao by no means had a monopoly on rice terraces in the Cordillera, but they were arguably the best sculptors, as the mesmerizing display overlooking Banaue suggests.

Banaue itself – a ragged collection of tin-roofed edifices along a ridge – often spoils things for those looking for a perfect first ooh-and-ahh moment. But you can’t argue with Banaue’s setting, and accommodation remains of stellar value compared with most tourist hot spots in the Philippines. Meanwhile, that perfect ooh-and-ahh is not far away, in Batad.

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Baguio North Luzon

WorldTravelDB.com — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 07:01:41 +0000

Vibrant, woodsy and cool by Philippine standards, Baguio (bah-gee-oh) is the undisputed nerve centre of the Cordillera. For Filipinos, it’s the escape of choice from the stifling heat of the lowlands. For foreigners, it’s the primary gateway to backpacker bliss up north in Sagada, Banaue and Kalinga.

The city was constructed as a mountain retreat by US military forces in the early 1900s. WWII in the Philippines began when the Japanese bombed Baguio’s Camp John Hay, which later served as General Tomoyuki Yamashita’s headquarters. The city was subsequently flattened by US bombs dropped to drive out the Japanese – who had already left. It was levelled again by a massive earthquake in 1990.

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