Cybercaptain: Vigan

Friday, December 26, 2025

Vigan

Vigan historical town

As the name may imply I can assure you there is nothing vegan about Vigan and local specialties includes Empanadas and longganisa that we tried out during our stay.

Vigan by night

We left Banaue in good weather and it stayed quite dry until we reached higher latitudes when literally drove into the clouds again. It didn't last long and we saw new vistas we hadn't seen on the way to Banaue as it was much rainier few days ago. We headed back to the city of Bontoc where we filled up gas and continued towards Rosario (or Cervantes), it didn't take us long and the town was actually quite small and had really nothing to give. We thought we'd stop there for lunch but they had no good looking venues worth visiting. Next stop was Quirino, it was equally small and we stopped at a roadside stall for a cup of tea and a stretch. From here on we had already started going downhill off the Hill Province to the coastal stretch of Ilocos Sur for Vigan. It was great driving with curvy roads but at times it was so steep we had doubts whether we'd make it up and same going down I had to sit on the brake and force the smallest gear as we screamed downhill. The gradients were so extreme but the rebel took the uphills in a stride, great torque.

Alba ice cream shop

As we came into Vigan the traffic increased and soon we were on a multi laned thoroughfare and we had to hang a left to get into the centre of the city where we had a room booked for 2 nights. The hotel was not big but quite close to the centre and had a parking spot for us. Evening came soon and we only went out for some necessities and dinner. It was also like being in a new country as it was the Ilocos sur and most people spoke Ilocano, I could not catch what hey were saying and Cheche spoke Tagalog only to them which at times was also not understood very well.

Alba ice cream shop

The day in Vigan was spent walking about and also Cheche splurged out on some pasalubong when the lady at the shop said she could mail the package home so we wouldn't have to try and fit it on the motorcycle. We had some lovely coffee at a cafe' a bit out of the center, they had a menu full of so many different brews we had trouble to decide what to order so in the end we got 4 different drinks that we shared.

Vigan plaza

For lunch we came across Irene's Empanada restaurant and decided to try them out, we got 2 different meats and surveyed our surroundings, looked like the restaurant was known far afield as there were pictures of local hi-so guests that had enjoyed her food. We also enjoyed and continued our walk after having had our fill.

Local tricycle

For dinner we ended up in an Ilocano restaurant that served local dishes and we got a couple of dishes to sample, then on our way back to the hotel we walked around the town plaza with the multiple empanada stalls but ended up to the only ice cream parlor in town and tried out 2 local flavors.

At the pasalubong shop

The next day we contemplated to go on but decided to get back along the coast towards Batangas and after check out we headed for the southern coastal highway. The weather up north did not look very good so decided to leave the completion of the Luzon loop for another time.