Tuguegarao is a city located on the northeastern side of mainland Luzon. It is about 485 kilometers away from Metro Manila and is part of Cagayan Province in the Cagayan Valley Region. The province is bordered by Ilocos Norte, Apayao, Kalinga, and Isabela. Tuguegarao’s main claim to fame is the record temperature it set for the Philippines at 42.2°Celsius in 1912 and 1969.

But temperature aside, Tuguegarao has a few tourist spots up its sleeve that might surprise travelers who usually just pass through it on their way to the nearby town of Penablanca for spelunking, or Palaui Island and Claveria. It has a couple of historical churches, one of the longest bridges in the country, and a delectable noodle dish—pancit batil patong—that can rival the best of what the Philippines has to offer.

Before taking that bus ride up north once again, think about dropping by Tuguegarao City and let this travel guide and trip itinerary open your maps towards the hottest city this side of the Philippines.

Quirino is a land-locked province found on the north eastern part of the Philippine’s Luzon Island group. Composed of six municipalities, it is bordered by the provinces of Isabela on its north side, Aurora on its south east, and Nueva Vizcaya on its west. Named after former Philippine President Elpidio Quirino, it used to be a sub-province of Nueva Vizcaya.

Popularly known as Quirino Province, the place is not usually found on the tourism map. But this does not mean that it has nothing to offer for visiting tourists. The province has massive and pristine caves for spelunking, river rapids for canoeing and tubing, exquisitely carved mountain gorges, verdant rolling hills that can rival those in Batanes, and—as of last count—twenty waterfalls all within its land area.

Tourist spots in Quirino cater more to eco-adventurers more than the usual sight-seeing travelers. It is one of the most underrated places in the country for tourism, but has so much to offer once discovered.

An itinerary of three days is the minimum to see most of Quirino Province’s tourist spots, but for a more thorough visit, you can stretch your itinerary to at least five to six days.

Cresting a ten-foot wave, our boat crashed back down to the sea with a massive force, effectively smashing my face with a wall of cold sea water. This has been going on for almost half an hour now and I’m getting sick of wiping salt water off my face. The thought of sitting out front seemed like a good idea when we sailed off from the port of San Vicente, it definitely didn’t seem like a good one now. Another wave came into view. We climbed. We crested. We slammed. Wipe. Repeat.

NAVIGATING THE ROUGH WATERS OF PALAUI

Our Palaui Island tour wasn’t a hundred percent sealed even as our Lakbay Norte bus drove to Sta. Ana’s wharf. It was drizzling and the sky didn’t seem to approve of us boarding the outrigger boats dancing lightly on the choppy shoreline. We waited a few minutes for the coast guards’ verdict. And it’s a go.

I didn’t know if I should be glad or not.

After getting fully drenched by the boatride to Palaui Island, two tableful of bounties from the sea welcomed us—plates of crisply fried tilapia lathered in tomatoes, fresh seaweeds, hinalabos lobsters, shrimp sinigang and lumot. Lumot?! Yes, lumot. Lumot as in sea algae. Can we actually eat these?! I asked myself in disbelief.

And so goes our culinary adventure in the Province of Cagayan, a mix of familiar dishes in between food totally alien—but not less delicious—to us. There is, of course, the ubiquitous northern noodle dish, the pancit batil patong, in almost all the places we visited. But indeed, there is more to the north than carabeef and noodles.

 

 

CHICHARABAO

  WHERE TO BUY: LIGHTHOUSE COOPERATIVE YBANAG FOOD PRODUCTS, TUGUEGARAO • GPS COORDINATES MAP: 17.613028, 121.726361

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Tuguegarao City’s version of the chicharon (pork rind), is strangely enough, not made from pork, but from carabeef. Dubbed as the chicharabao, this uniquely Cagayan snack is lighter than your usual chicharon and without the crisply fried fat and meat. It is made from precisely cut carabao skin which are popped on an extremely hot cauldron of cooking oil. It comes in three flavors, garlic, onion & vinegar and, my favorite, hot & spicy. A note of caution, this snack is extremely addictive.

 

 

PAWA

  WHERE TO BUY: AROUND PIAT BASILICA, APAYAO ROAD, CENTRO, PIAT, CAGAYAN • GPS COORDINATES MAP: 17.786678, 121.480211

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Besides the venerated Black Virgin Mary, Piat holds another heavenly gem along its church grounds, the sweet pawa. The bite-sized snack is made from steamed glutinous rice filled with sweetened grounded peanuts. We were able to sample it for desserts when we visited the Cagayan State University for a brief tour of their farming facilities—which is free, by the way. But if you don’t have the time to visit CSU, there are readily available on the streets near Piat Church.

 

 

YBANAG LONGGANISA

  WHERE TO BUY: PUBLIC MARKETS AROUND CAGAYAN

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Made by the same guys that produce chicharabao, Tuguegarao’s version of the pinoy breakfast favorite, the longganisa, is made from, guess what, carabeef. Like the Vigan longganisa and Baguio longganisa, it is on the garlicky side with bits of fat interspersed with meat, making it really flavorful when slowly fried to a crisp. If carabeef’s not your thing, which is a shame since it is more flavorful, they do have a pork version of this one too.

 

 

PUTOFLAN

  WHERE TO BUY: SEGURO SNACK HAUZ, GATTARAN, CAGAYAN • GPS COORDINATES MAP: 18.106224, 121.671517

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After finishing three pieces of fried chicken, a scoop of veggies and a helping of pancit batil patong, we were treated with a variation of puto in the town of Gattaran by Seguro Snack Hauz. These are soft rice cakes made from flour and egg yolks, but with twist, it has sweet leche flan bottom. Lovely little things.
~ PHOTO BY MARTIN SAN DIEGO FOR NPVB

 

PANCIT BATIL PATONG

  WHERE TO BUY: CARINDERIA STALLS AROUND CAGAYAN

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We’ve had a total of four servings of Tuguegarao’s famous pancit batil patong throughout our journey across Cagayan Province. Indeed, this noodle dish, a concoction of miki, minced carabeef, topped with crunchy carajay and poached egg, and paired with batil soup and chopped onions is so popular, it’s available not only in Tuguegarao where it originates, but all over Cagayan as well. Besides Win-Mae Panciteria in Tuguegarao, we also dined on it at the towns of Gattaran, Lal-Lo (surprisingly, they use sotanghon as noodles and not the traditional pancit batil patong miki) and Aparri. Those last three were served in a bilao, good for big groups like us.

 

 

SINANTA

  WHERE TO BUY: CARINDERIA STALLS AROUND CAGAYAN

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Another noodle dish by the Ybanags, sinanta is usually eaten as snacks and served during birthdays. The soup is a mix of everything—sotanghon and miki noodles, chicken, pork and clams, all swimming on a soup flavored with patis (fish sauce). It is usually paired with pinakufu, a sweet rice cake, and hot choco. Talk about a mix-matched combo! This isn’t only popular in Tuguegarao, but the whole of Cagayan. Point in fact, it was served to us as a pre-dinner appetizer at the Lyceum of Aparri!

 

 

LUMOT

  WHERE TO BUY: JEROLYNDA WHITE BEACH RESORT, STA. ANA, CAGAYAN • GPS COORDINATES MAP: 18.516046, 122.159253

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And finally, lumot. Served with a host of seafood, lumot is lato’s (which they call pukpuklo, by the way) lesser know cousin. Both are seaweeds, the former having a more algae-ish consistency. Which is, of course, quite apt, since it is a kind of green algae. The taste is a tad similar to lato, which is salty, like sea salty. Speaking for myself, I can’t eat this on its own, but it definitely goes well when paired with fried fish and lobsters.

~ PHOTO BY MARTIN SAN DIEGO FOR NPVB

 

CAGAYAN PASALUBONG

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And as if these are not enough, we also brought home a taste of Cagayan with us back home. Besides Tuguegarao’s chicharabao, Ybanag longganisa and carabeef tapa, we also brought home packs of Alcala and Lal-lo’s carabao milk candies. And personally, after tasting how good the local chili dip is with pancit batil patong, I bought a couple of bottles of Puti’s spicy chili garlic dip in Lal-lo.

 

THIS TRIP IS PART OF NORTH PHILIPPINE VISITOR’S BUREAU'S (NPVB) LAKBAY NORTE 6 TOUR,
A FOUR-DAY MEDIA FAMILIARIZATION TRIP AIMED AT PROMOTING NORTHERN DESTINATIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES.

It was almost twilight when I hefted my backpack from our Lakbay Norte bus. Like the rest of the day, it was drizzling. Totally bushed from visiting the churches of Cagayan and with rumbling tummies from helpings of Tuguegarao’s scrumptious pancit batil patong, it was finally time to rest. Or so I thought.

Coming from an all-night bus travel from the province of Nueva Ecija, it was with immense pleasure that we’re again sleeping on a real bed. And Balai Carmela’s fitted our needs perfectly.

House after house, alley after alley, we saw the same thing. Clay makers. The whole town seemed busy mashing, kneading, molding and drying all things clay. Most do it on their front yards, some on their porch—their kids looking on—and a few, right out on the street.

MAKING POTTERY IS A NORMAL DAY TO DAY THING IN BARANGAY ATULU

I’ve seen a few pottery centers in the country, from Vigan’s pagburnayan to Antique’s Tibiao clay pottery, but the scale of pottery production in Iguig is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Everyone seemed hell-bent on mashing these earthen lumps into something more useful. And surprisingly, I didn’t see a single potter’s wheel to mold their clay with. The Itawes of Iguig uses their bare hands, with the aid of simple wooden implements, to form these into jars, vases and even stoves and oven!

1581 marked the year that Spanish conquistadors set foot in Cagayan. Sent forth by the fourth Governor-General of the Philippines, a host of Spaniards marched through the valleys of Cagayan, together with their families, spreading the Catholic faith amongst the locals and building massive brick churches along the way.

OUR LADY OF PIAT’S RETABLO

To be honest, the first thing that comes to my mind when one mentions Cagayan aren’t really old churches, but noodles, their delectable pancit batil patong, to be precise. But as fate would have it, that same noodle dish is forever linked with an old church where it is most popular. The first time I asked locals in Tuguegarao where I could find a mean dish of pancit batil patong, they all referred me to one place, the street adjacent to the old church.

Before discovering pancit batil patong, the first thing that comes to our mind when one mentions Tuguegarao City is its cave—a huge one where light filters in from a natural crevice above, illuminating a row of pews facing a natural stone altar. A cave, whose chambers are large enough to hold weddings in. One unlike any other in the Philippines. Callao Cave.

INSIDE CALLAO CAVE IN PENABLANCA

But we were dead wrong on our assumptions.

During my first visit to Tuguegarao City, I was finally able to step inside this northern gem. It’s not located in Tuguegarao City, as I previously thought, but in the sleepy town of Peñablanca. Twenty four kilometers away from where I thought it was.

► CHECK OUT: TUGUEGARAO TRAVEL GUIDE

We braved the scorching afternoon heat to find souvenirs to bring back home from Tuguegarao City. We walked, scouring the local market and the main avenue of the city, finding nothing. Tuguegarao isn’t really that prominent on the tourism map and its lack of souvenir shops is quite understandable.

Tired, defeated, and dehydrated, we finally went back to our hotel, Holiday Plaza Tuguegarao, and asked where we can find some pasalubong.

INSIDE LIGHTHOUSE COOPERATIVE’S PASALUBONG STORE

Apparently, there’s only one place to buy souvenirs in Tuguegarao City. One of the friendly staff told us to head over to the lighthouse along the city center. We were taken aback, there’s a lighthouse in the city?!

Well, not a real lighthouse, but rather, a cooperative named Lighthouse along Luna Street.

► CHECK OUT: TUGUEGARAO TRAVEL GUIDE

There is absolutely no argument, Jomar’s has the best pancit batil patong in Tuguegarao, but we were tipped off that it has another branch near the city’s Buntun Bridge; a branch of sort anyways, Jasmine-Jomar’s Panciteria. With our obsession with this noodle dish at fever pitch, we hailed a tricycle one afternoon and decided to check it out for ourselves.

BUNTUN BRIDGE IN TUGUEGARAO

We timed our visit right before sunset, might as well take some photos of Buntun Bridge, the longest bridge this side of the Philippines, along the way. We looked for a way down the banks of Cagayan River, hoping to find a nice spot to pass the time and ready our tummies for another bout of pancit batil patong.

► SEE: TUGUEGARAO TRAVEL GUIDE

Every morning, our measly complimentary breakfast meal at the Holiday Plaza Hotel Tuguegarao always left us wanting for more. So after finishing our breakfast off in a single minute, we’d head over to the nearby Dim’s Resto, a tapsihan near the hotel, to continue our meal.

SIMPLE INTERIORS AT DIM’S RESTO

One would think that finding a tapsilog place in a bustling city like Tuguegarao would be a piece of cake, well, we thought wrong. Here, panciterias rule. It took us quite a bit of hunting to find a place selling good old tapsilog. During our three-day stay, we only found a single eatery selling our favorite morning fare.

Dim’s Resto is a simple carinderia along Blumentritt Street. It has no air-conditioning and has a bare concrete floor complemented by colorful wood furniture. It seemed popular enough with the locals, so we instantly sat down to check their menu.

► CHECK: TUGUEGARAO TRAVEL GUIDE

About two years back, coming from an week-long trip from the towns of Claveria, Pagudpud, and Calayan, we made a quick decision to drop by Tuguegarao City as we were about to board a bus bound to Manila. Since it was such a spur-of-the-moment move, we scrambled across the web, scouting for the cheapest accommodation we could find before our bus passes through the city.

Pensione Joselina was the first one we found and a quick call from our cellphone confirmed us for the night.

We arrived at Tuguegarao City at around eight in the evening. Finding Hotel Joselina was easy enough. After a few questions for directions, we were at the inn’s gates in less than five minutes.

► DIG DEEPER: TUGUEGARAO TRAVEL GUIDE

I became obsessed with pancit batil patong after trying out a plate at a roadside panciteria in Tuguegarao City a couple of years back. I’ve scoured Manila since then, trying to find that perfect eatery that serves the same pancit dish. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Looking for a restaurant selling one was hard enough, finding one that has the same legit flavor as those in Tuguegarao was nearly impossible.

INSIDE JOMAR’S PANCIT BATIL PATONG IN TUGUEGARAO

After several restaurants, I thought I finally found the perfect one at Jibs Pancit Batil Patung in Manila. My taste buds thought it has that same zest as those in Tuguegarao City—where this particular noodle dish came from. But during my recent trip to this city up north, I tried out the pancit being offered at Jomar’s Pancit Batil Patung, and realized I thought wrong.

► CHECK OUT: PANCIT BATIL PATONG IN METRO MANILA

It was literally along the street of Tuguegarao City where I first had my taste of the region’s famous pancit batil patong noodle dish.

We arrived in the city’s downtown area around eight in the evening. We bought a few cans of Red Horse from a grocery store and before going back at Pensione Joselina (now Hotel Joselina Tuguegarao), where we were staying, we passed a makeshift, hawker-style eatery set along one of the main avenues of the city. And since it looked quite popular with the locals, we decided to try it out for ourselves.

The rest, as they say is history.

► CHECK HOTEL JOSELINA’S DISCOUNTED ROOM RATES

EVENINGS AT TUGUEGARAO CITY

During our recent visit to Tuguegarao City, we were determined to find this guerilla-type pancit batil patong stall again, not only to relive that first moment where I tasted my now ultimate favorite noodle dish in the country, but also to have another taste of their offerings.

► EXLPLORE: TUGUEGARAO TRAVEL GUIDE

Tuguegarao City holds the record for having the hottest climate in the Philippines. And on in this particular day, we really can’t quite dispute that. We were sweating buckets as we moved through the city’s busy streets, walking through shades and sprinting along open areas as we made our way to the Tuguegarao Cathedral.

TUGUEGARAO CATHEDRAL’S MYSTERIOUS WALL DECORATIONS

The baroque-style cathedral stood proudly against the midday heat. A handsome brick sentinel, watching guard over the whole city. On its symmetrical façade—framed by Solomonic twisted pilasters—we could glean cryptic clay casts; two bolos with a six-pointed stars, roosters, mysterious characters topped with crowns.

Church architecture aficionados were quite particular with the cathedral’s broken and crested pediment, a style they said, typical to Cagayan churches.

► EXPLORE: CAGAYAN VISITA IGLESIA

I tasted my first pancit batil patong dish the night before at a guerilla-type roadside eatery along Bonifacio Street near Hotel Joselina Tuguegarao, where we were staying. I was instantly hooked.

This was about two years ago and it was my first time to visit Tuguegarao City. The next morning, we hunted for a proper panciteria, asking locals as we went along. They were all saying the same thing, go to the Tuguegarao Cathedral, there’s one along its left wing. We followed their advice and we found Ed’s Panciteria (amazingly, it was just across Jomar’s Panciteria, which would later become our favorite pancit batil patong restaurant).

INSIDE ED’S PANCITERIA’S SIMPLE INTERIORS

It was basically a shack with a bare ceiling, unfinished floor with a few plastic chairs and makeshift tables. The thing that made us decide to eat there was the number of locals having their fill of their noodles, a good indication that this place serves a mean dish.

► EXLPLORE: TUGUEGARAO TRAVEL GUIDE

What we really wanted to do right after arriving from a grueling twelve-hour bus ride from Manila to Tuguegarao City was to gobble a plateful of pancit batil patong from Jomar’s Panciteria. But it simply wasn’t possible, we were too doggone tired and all we wanted was to stretch out and sleep.

And that was exactly what we did. From nine in the morning, all the way to the late afternoon, we did nothing but snooze our heads off at the city’s first international hotel, the Holiday Plaza Hotel Tuguegarao.

THE HOLIDAY PLAZA HOTEL IN TUGUEGARAO

The four-storey, four-star hotel became our home for our three days of food-trippin’ through Tuguegarao’s panciterias. We were welcomed by two beautiful gals from the front desk and were escorted to our third floor room with no fuss. They have an elevator, so no need to trek all the way to our designated room.

► EXPLORE: TUGUEGARAO TRAVEL GUIDE

My favorite noodle dish in the Philippines has always been Tuguegarao’s pancit batil patong. But I’ve always been curious about its kissing cousin, the pancit cabagan, an almost similar noodle cuisine found about an hour or so from Tuguegarao City, originating from a town whose name it came from.

CABAGAN MIKI BEING SOLD AT THE MARKET

Coming from another town in the province of Isabela where we visited the Tumauini Church, we decided to drop by the municipality of Cabagan before heading to Tuguegarao City. Our only purpose in doing so was to have a taste of its pancit. It can’t get more authentic than having my first taste of pancit cabagan at Cabagan itself.

► EXPLORE MORE: TUGUEGARAO TRAVEL GUIDE

Where are we going, again?

I just woke up from an overnight bus ride from Manila to Isabela; the sun rising from the tree-lined horizon, filtering through the curtains of our bus window. My behind hurt from the long ride and still, I have no idea where we were going.

Some minutes later and we were hauling our backpacks down the bus. We crossed the empty highway and headed down a deserted street. Seriously, where are we going?!

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It was my first time in the province of Isabela and I don’t have an iota of a clue what the province holds. Well, I know they have a mean noodle dish eponymously named after one of its many towns, pancit cabagan, but that’s about it.

Soon enough, after passing more than a few sleeping dogs and sari-sari stores starting to open, an enormous wedding cake rose into view.

Wait, it’s not a cake, it’s a bell tower! Welcome to Tumauini’s San Matias Church.

► EXPLORE NEXT: TUGUEGARAO TRAVEL GUIDE

The air was getting increasingly colder as our rented jeepney slowly clambered up to the Landingan Viewpoint at the town of Nagtipunan in Quirino. Like a panting dog, our vehicle put forth a burst of energy before finally stopping and letting us all go down.

And we were all rarin’ to go! From inside the jeep, we were all clicking our cameras like crazy as the view past our window went from gorgeous to breathtaking.

THE ROLLING HILLS OF NAGTIPUNAN

It was almost the exact same scene earlier in the day as we entered the town of Nagtipunan from Quirino’s capital, Cabarroguis. From timid sleepyheads, we quickly turned to hyper shutter freaks as the view changed from flat boring farmlands to majestic fog-capped hills.

► SEE: CABARROGUIS TOURIST SPOTS