Northern Luzon

Northern Luzon is where you can find some of the crown jewels of Philippines tourism. Lying almost halfway between the Luzon mainland (162km) and Taiwan (190km) is the picturesque island province of Batanes, which, with its rolling, emerald green, quilt-like landscape dotted with typhoon-proof white stone houses with meter-thick adobe walls, amazes first-timers no end. After flying back to the Luzon mainland, you can laze under the sun in the fine, ivory sand beach of Pagudpud in Ilocos Norte. Of course, you wouldn’t miss the centuries-old ancestral homes along the cobblestone streets of Vigan, Ilocos Sur, and the Town’s high –cholesterol but delectable longganiza (native sausage) and bagnet (a chunk of deep-fried pork). From there, you can surf in San Juan, La Union, the only surf camp in the country’s western seaboard. After getting an adrenaline fix on a surfboard, you can drive up to the country’s premier summer capital of Baguio to savor what’s left of the original American hill station ambiance at Camp John Hay. From the :City if Pines,”you can take a seven-hour exhilarating bus ride across Benguet the “salad bowl”of the Philippines, to nippy Sagada, a popular destination among foreign and local backpackers who want to get a natural high and learn about its unique highland culture. Three-and-a-half hours south of this lofty mountain resort town in the Mountain Province is Banaue, where you can find the world-famous, 2,000-year-old rice terraces lacing its w\vast mountainsides like giant “stairways to heaven”that change color from gold to emerald, depending on the season.