Part 4 Adventures in Ilocandia: The Should Have Dones

posted by Jen on 4/19/2014 11:11:00 AM 1 comment

It has been a month since my Ilocos trip and I still feel nostalgic whenever I thought about it. This trip will always be memorable for me. I will be blogging about the things that we should have done during our Ilocos trip. Gosh I really wanna go back to Ilocos and hopefully if that happens my stay would be much longer than before. Like I wanna go back there to just chill and experience the Ilocano life. How I wish I have lots of moolah to bring me back to Ilocos ASAP. Lol! So let me start the "what should have dones" during our trip.

After our trip, I realized that we shouldn't have stayed at Laoag City during the whole duration of our trip. So I suggest that if you plan your Ilocos trip have a one night stay in each of the tourist destinations, Vigan, Laoag and Pagudpud.

Why an overnight stay in Vigan? So you would experience the beautiful night view of the Heritage Village as what the locals say. There are also old Spanish themed inns within the vicinity of the Heritage Village. So imagine having to sleep in a centuries old part of Vigan. It's like you are transported back in time.

Picture not mine

Why an overnight stay in Pagudpud? For a beach lover like me, having to wake up with all the sea breeze and picturesqe view of the blue lagoon is like heaven on earth.

picture not mine

As for the hotels in Laoag, there are cheap inns for budget travelers. I booked a PHP 1,200.00 per night room because of my paranoia. Around two weeks before our trip, we still didn't have a hotel to stay in so I found Balay da Blas and they were quick in answering my queries so that's the reason I chose to just stay in this hotel. The rate is also inclusive of breakfast so it's fine. But then if you are patient enough you could still find a much cheaper budget friendly hotel. So be patient and prepare for your hotel bookings ahead of time.

I always wanted to try some Ilocos dishes. We dined in La Preciosa (scroll down for my blog about this restau) but I wasn't really satisfied with the food. I suggest to try at the Hidden Garden restaurant. Though we weren't able to dine there, there were a lot of good reviews about Hidden Garden in the internet. I guess it will be a little pricey than in La Preciousa.