The Road to Laoag

map from google

From Vigan, we rode a non-air conditioned bus going to Badoc (fare is P50). Based on the blogs that I've read, Badoc has a beautiful church called "La Virgen Milagrosa de Badoc" and the Juan Luna Museum was there too. It was a nice and small town.

The Churchwas small and it was already repainted, making it look more modern. The bell tower, however, was kept on its original look. So it is still worth seeing. It is just near the municipal hall.

The La Virgen Milagrosa de Badoc

Just a few blocks away, you can see the Juan Luna Museum which was originally the house of the Luna family. It exhibits Juan Luna's impressive paintings. Really interesting. The house was very beautiful too--inside and out :)

From Badoc, we rode a bus going to Laoag but we dropped off to Batac- Marcos' hometown. There we visited the Marcos Museum and Mausoleum and ate Ilocos empanada :)

Pres. Ferdinand Marcos

From Batac, we rode a tricycle going to Paoay (fee is P50-P70-special). The Paoay Church welcomes us with her magnificient structure :) The old church was very pretty and we took a lot of pictures. We were set to go to Paoay Lake and the Ilocandia of the North but there was no public transportation available. The tricycle fee would cost us another P100. We felt it was too much already so we decided to skip it.

We rode a jeepney going to Laoag and we arrived after thirty minutes or so. We checked in to a budget hotel (that I wouldn't recommend-haha) and after an hour rest, we went roaming around the town. Laoag is a very small town and you can just roam around the city by foot. We went to see the front of Laoag Museum, municipal hall and the sinking bell tower.

The Sinking Bell Tower at the center of Laoag City

We decided to have dinner  in the nearby nice cafe and ate some unusual food :) And there we were, ready for the next day's travel to Pagudpud. :)

My dinner that night: Pesto with tuyo

Option: From Vigan, you may go directly to Laoag. There are regular jeepney and bus trips going to Paoay, Batac and Badoc.

If you're not coming from Vigan, you may opt to take an airplane. Cebu Pacific and PAL Express offer regular trips to Laoag. (Sometimes, the promo fare's cost is only P1000 below). The bus from Manila going directly to Laoag costs P850+. Vigan to Laoag-P150 (direct).

(This post is based on a whole day travel starting 6am-6pm. From Paoay, we arrived in Laoag at 2pm. We had the rest of the afternoon to wander around Laoag.)

See my post about Vigan here.
See my post about Pagudpud here