Day 1
Arrival in Manila. Your guide and driver will meet you at the airport. They will transfer you to the hotel.
Your hotel is located a few blocks away from Intramuros. Intramuros (Spanish for “within the walls”) is the oldest district and historic core of Manila. It was the original city of Manila and was the seat of government when the Philippines were part of the Spanish Empire. During the liberation of Manila in 1945 Intramuros was heavily damaged. Overnight in Manila.
Day 2
After breakfast meet your guide. Take a taxi to Intramuros and embark on a walking tour of Intramuros. Visit the interesting Rizal Museum and learn about Jose Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines. Visit the San Agustin Church, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Continue to Casa Manila, which is a replica of Spanish colonial mansion of late 19th century Manila. It is filled with period furniture and furnishings of Philippine, Chinese and European origins.
Continue on foot to the walls of Intramuros. We will walk on the walls and continue to Rizal Park.
From here we take a taxi to Binondo, the oldest Chinatown in the world. Here we start a short walking tour through Chinatown and have lunch in a very special Chinese restaurant.
We continue with a visit the Chinese Cemetery. After this return to the hotel.
Overnight in Manila.
Day 3
Your driver will meet you at the hotel. Leave Manila and drive approx. 2 to 2,5 hours to
We stop at the iconicTaal Vista hotel to enjoy a drink (on own costs) and enjoy the best view of Taal Volcano and Lake.
Continue to Talisay where we will spend the night. Board a motorized outrigger boat to Taal Volcano Island 30 minutes away.
Walk up the soft black lava sand for about 1 hour (or pay for a horse) to the rim of the crater to have a close up view of the caldera. We hike back to our boat. Continue to Taal Heritage Town.
Overnight at Taal Heritage Town
Day 4
After breakfast, your guide will take you on an epic trip down memory lane and revisit a small town richly endowed with well-preserved structures and a proud heritage. You’ll be transported back in time, from capiz windows to the intricate woodwork to the largest Basilica in all the Southeast Asia. Our first stop is the ancestral house of Doña Marcela Agoncillo Museum, where the “Mother of the Philippine Flag” grew up. If you are into old cameras then, Galleria Taal might be for you, a Spanish-era house that has been turned into a museum. The collections include rare cameras from as early as the late 1800s, and photographs from Spanish and American times. After that, walk your way to the Taal Public Market, visit the Basilica of San Martin de Tours, the largest Catholic church in Asia at 95 meters by 45 meters wide and that has a shiny silver tabernacle. Don Gregorio Agoncillo White House, the stately American colonial “white house” contains collection of beautiful hardwood antique furniture pieces and priceless personal artefacts.
Our last stop will be the Goco House or Casa Villavicencio, another interesting ancestral houses of which the owners have also been interestingly part of the Philippine revolution against the Spaniards.
Drive back to Manila. Overnight at Manila.
Day 5
Fly from Manila to Cauayan. Drive to Banaue. Overnight in Banaue.
Day 6
Visit the UNESCO World Heritage site Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras. The Banaue Rice Terraces are 2,000-year-old terraces that were carved into the mountains of Ifugao in the Philippines by ancestors of the indigenous people. Overnight in Banaue.
Day 7
Meet your guide and driver after breakfast. Vehicle today will be a jeepney again. Drive to Bontoc. We will stop at several viewpoints before leaving Banaue. Today is a leisurely travel day with time for plenty of stops. The views from this road are awesome. In Bontoc we visit the Bontoc Museum and learn about the Igorot people. The museum was founded by a Belgian nun to preserve the history and heritage of the indigenous peoples of the Cordillera region, collectively known as the Ipugao (or commonly spelled Ifugao; the Tagalog call them Igorot). The museum’s collection includes traditional costumes, hunting and farming tools, and turn-of-the-century photographs of the Ifugao, headhunter warriors and their prizes, and American missionaries trying to convert the natives.
We have lunch in Bontoc before we drive up to the Maligcong Rice terraces that are quite different from the Banaue Terraces.
Continue to Sagada. Overnight in Sagada.
Day 8
Morning free at leisure.
In the afternoon visit with a local guide, the caves and hanging coffins, amongst other the Lumiang Burial Cave. The Igorots practise unique funerary customs, in which the dead are buried in coffins which are tied or nailed to the side of cliffs. It is claimed that this practice is over 2000 years old, although nobody seems to know whether there are any coffins that are actually that old.
Overnight in Sagada.
Day 9
Your driver will meet you at the hotel. Transfer to Vigan via Cervantes. Check into your heritage house homestay.
After arrival free at leisure. Established in the 16th century, Vigan is the best-preserved example of a planned Spanish colonial town in Asia. Its architecture reflects the coming together of cultural elements from elsewhere in the Philippines, from China and from Europe, resulting in a culture and townscape that have no parallel anywhere in East and South-East Asia.
Overnight in Vigan.
Day 10
Full day in-depth visit of Vigan. Overnight in Vigan.
Day 11
Transfer to Laoag. Stop along the way at St. Augustine Church in Paoay, which is a UNESCO world heritage site.
Also visit the Juan Luna House, Marcos Mausoleum and the Sinking Bell Tower
Continue to the airport. Fly from Laoag to Manila.
End of the tour