Ilocos Escapade

As our group's dynamic duo, we've come to a decision to travel and see new places together. What started off as a food trip eventually became spontaneous trips. This Ilocos trip of ours was planned only a month before with everything becoming a last minute decision due to our work schedules being very conflicting (coming from different industries is such a challenging thing for us to work out!). Read on to find out how we were able to survive our very first spontaneous "backpacking" trip.

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As mentioned, we planned everything LAST MINUTE. So here’s how it all went: I looked for a terminal heading North but I only found bus terminals accommodating night trips. So I had to stay up until 3 am and voila! I found a trip heading North that leaves at 6 am. I called the bus terminal to verify and they indeed said the bus leaves at 6 am. So We made sure to be at the terminal by 5 am or earlier. But when we arrived, we were told that the bus will arrive at 7 am! We’re like ‘what?’. Since that’s the only trip in the morning heading North, we had no choice but to wait. While waiting for the bus to arrive, we started to search for a cheap accommodation and the best sites to visit. We slept throughout the trip to make up for the lost rest we had the night before so we didn’t get a chance to see some places. It was a very long travel that we arrived at Laoag terminal at 9 in the evening – imagine: we left at 8 am and arrived at 9 pm. That long and tiring trip made us crave for the food and bed.

We took a tricycle going to our hostel which we booked via Booking.com. We stayed at The Guest House in Laoag. It was a cozy place, perfect for backpack travelers like us. It’s also affordable but very clean and well maintained and the people are friendly. They offered to drop us off at a nearby food place and waited for us to finish eating to avoid the hassle of looking for a ride heading home since it was raining at night. Our first day could’ve been a disaster had the staff of the hostel not been this kind.

Day 1 Travel and Lodging

For our second day, we called the tricycle driver we met at the terminal to bring us to the different tourist sites in the North. Bangui Windmills and Beaches are not in the list since it would require a vehicle to go to these places so we placed them in our “Where to go” list. For our Ilocos Norte trip, we visited the following sites: The Sinking Bell Tower, St. William’s Cathedral, Malacañang of the North, Paoay Church, and Museo Ilocos. Side trip: we had lunch at Herencia Restaurant where we tried the famous Pinakbet Pizza (this one’s to die for! Never imagined that such vegetable will go well with pizza!). We also had some of the 'must-try' in their menu: Pork Insarabasab and Poque-Poque. also went to Taoid Musem which was just beside Museo Ilocos.

Check out our Laoag adventures below!

Laoag City Tour

Malacañang of the North & Paoay Lake

Paoay Church & Herencia Restaurant

Museo Ilocos & Taoid Museum

By 2 pm, we asked the same tricycle driver to bring us to the nearest bus terminal that would bring us to our next stop: Vigan. It was a quick two-hour trip and just like on our first hostel, we booked a place using Booking.com and found a perfect accessible place named Luzon Inn. Just like The Guest House, the people in this place are very accommodating. We’re very glad that the places we’ve been staying at are really upholding the Filipino culture when it comes to hospitality. We dropped our bags and freshened a bit then headed out to see the famous Calle Crisologo at night. Some parts surrounding it were having renovation but the place itself is still a beauté. We took some photos of the place before looking for a place to have dinner. Found a place near our hostel and the food was affordable yet yummy. Since the food place was very near our place, it didn’t matter if it rained hard because we were able to head back quickly. We were exhausted from our city tour in Laoag that morning so we decide to rest early and wake up before dawn to witness the sunrise.

Day 2 Vigan Night Escapade

We woke up before dawn on our third day. The sky was perfect despite the heavy rains the night before and the sun not being in sight. As we wandered around Calle Crisologo, which by the way was only a 5 minute walk from our hostel (how amazing’s that?!), we searched for the different sites to visit near our area. First stop was the Bell Tower/ Bantay Church. From there, we walked going back to Vigan (it took us only 10 minutes to walk from the Church and back) and had our breakfast only at 7/11 to buy us some time before the places open at 10 am. Before heading to the museums that were suggested by a lot of tourists, we wandered about the plaza. We started off with Plaza Burgos which houses one of their beautiful Churches, Saint Paul Metropolitan Cathedral. The outside of the church was being fixed but the inside is breath taking. From there, we had our photos taken with the colorful “Ilocos Sur” as well as the "Vigan" sign which were a must – hahaha, and headed straight for the different museums in the area. We started with Padre Burgos’ House, then headed for The National Museum of the Philippines before heading back to our hostel to check out. They were kind enough to hold our things for a few hours since we wanted to visit some more places before heading back to Manila. From our hostel, we went to the Syquia Mansion. Visiting that place was mind blowing! We’re impressed that the guide really knows a lot about our history and was able to explain some of our favorite lines like “tabi-tabi” po.

Check out our Vigan Escapade below!

Bantay Church and Bell Tower

Around Plaza Burgos

Padre Burgos' House and National Museum of the Philippines

Syquia Mansion

Calle Crisologo

Below is our Expense Tracker for the whole trip for your reference. I did not include our personal expenses in the breakdown.

Total Expenses (per person)

Day 1

Breakfast: Php 199

Farinas Bus (Going to Laoag): Php 750

Lunch: Php 150

Tricycle from Terminal to The Guest House: Php 25 (Php 50 ÷ 2)

The Guest House: Php 450 (Php 900 ÷ 2)

Dinner: Php 100

Day 2

Tour: Php 350 (Php 700 ÷ 2)

Malacanang Entrance: Php 30

Brunch: Php 500 (Php 1000 ÷ 2)

St. Benedict Necklace: Php 120

Taoid Museum: Php 40

Museo Ilocos: Php 50

Tricycle going to Terminal: Php 25 (Php 50 ÷ 2)

Partas Bus going to Vigan: Php 137

Luzon Inn (Vigan): Php 450 (Php 900 ÷ 2)

Dinner: Php 100

Day 3

Taho: Php 20

Tricycle going to Bantay Church: Php 20 (Php 40 ÷ 2)

Kuya Photographer: Php 25 (Php 50 ÷ 2) – Any amount would do.

Breakfast: Php 71

Syquia Mansion Entrance: Php 100

Lunch: Php 105

Dominion Bus going to Manila: Php 580

Dinner: Php 100

Day 4

Breakfast: Php 43

Total: Php 4, 540

The best part about our trip is being able to travel by foot and experiencing the place like we’re locals. We were able to explore like what we’ve imagined. We even got the chance to discover cheaper alternatives the next time we visit the place. We were out for 4 days, with the 4th day arriving in Manila by 3 am. We managed to have 2 days to explore both North and South. Tiring? Yes. Was it worth it? Definitely! We already planned our next trip to Ilocos and jotted notes already on our next sites.

Any suggestions for more places to add to our ‘Must-see’? Comment below or message us and we’ll make sure to add them to our list.