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  • UNESCO

Is it worth visiting Vigan?

August 28, 2019 | Michael Turtle | 9 Comments

WORLD HERITAGE SITE

Old Town, Vigan, The Philippines

By Philippines standards, Vigan is a unique example of a European colonial city. If you’re going to compare it to others around the world, though, you may be disappointed.

And so here is the conundrum I face – would I say it’s worth the visit?

Vigan was established in the 16th century, when the Spanish arrived on the islands of the Philippines and began to colonise it. Much like they had done in other places – most notably Central and South America – they built their cities in the way they were accustomed to. The European way.

So that meant a grid-like structure with main plazas and the most important public buildings around them.

World Heritage Site, Vigan, The Philippines

Even 500 years since its founding, that’s what you still find in Vigan today. It, in fact, has two main plazas – Plaza Salcedo and Plaza Burgos. One of the city’s most prominent buildings, St Paul’s Cathedral, separates the two.

Whenever I walk through the plazas, they seem to be full of kids. It’s either little ones playing with toys under the occasional watchful eyes of their parents or teenagers having a game of basketball.

World Heritage Site, Vigan, The Philippines

World Heritage Site, Vigan, The Philippines

The city stretches out from here. Straight roads hit others perpendicularly. It’s hard to get lost here and, no matter how much I wander, I always seem to end up back at something I recognise.

It helps that the main street through the most historic part, Calle Crisologo, is cobbled and closed to traffic. It stands out and makes for a perfect navigation tool.

World Heritage Site, Vigan, The Philippines

Most of the buildings in Vigan aren’t from the original 16th century period. The majority were built in the 1700s or 1800s. There are some beautiful pieces of architecture among them and these offer some of the most interesting sights in the old city.

World Heritage Site, Vigan, The Philippines

Although it may have been the Spanish who set up the city, they didn’t really live here. It was actually mainly people of Chinese origin who filled the city of Vigan in the earlier years and their influence can be seen in this architecture.

The facades on the ground floor appear European – but when you tilt your head upwards, you’ll realise the upper levels look different.

Up there, the Chinese influence comes through. It looks like the classic Oriental roof, the top of a pagoda perhaps.

This, as I say, I find interesting. Beyond that, I’m unsure exactly what I think.

World Heritage Site, Vigan, The Philippines

Vigan is a World Heritage Site and is described by UNESCO as “the best-preserved example of a planned Spanish colonial town in Asia”.

There’s not a huge amount of competition really. Outside of the Philippines, I think the only other places Spain had in Asia during the colonial centuries were Guam, Micronesia, a bit of Taiwan and a bit of Indonesia.

World Heritage Site, Vigan, The Philippines

Vigan was also chosen as one of the cities for the ‘New 7 Wonders’ cities campaign and it’s a fact proudly displayed here.

Let’s be clear, though. This title is awarded by a marketing company that charges countries to be involved and for the right to use the title in promotions.

It is also based mainly on an online voting system, not any kind of independent assessment – and we all know how active the Filipinos can be on social media.

Personally, I place absolutely no weight at all on a ‘competition’ like this. However, if you really think Vigan is one of the 7 best cities in the world, then we can have a discussion about how authentic this campaign is.

World Heritage Site, Vigan, The Philippines

So let’s have a look at Vigan on face value.

As I’ve already mentioned, there are quite a few older buildings here that have wonderful architecture and design. Most of the ones along the main street are now being used for tourist services (hotels, restaurants, shops) but you can easily just go a block or two away and find ones still being used as homes or for local businesses.

World Heritage Site, Vigan, The Philippines

What you’ll also find in the side streets, though, are buildings in various states of disrepair. Some have been abandoned, some just neglected. For every few grand old houses, there’ll be one fenced off with broken windows and no inhabitants.

World Heritage Site, Vigan, The Philippines

Perhaps we shouldn’t compare Vigan to other Spanish colonial cities in Latin America. Some might suggest it is better to compare it to other trading cities of the same era in Asia. So, ok, let’s compare it to Hoi An in Vietnam.

There are quite a lot of similarities in the design and the architecture, so I think it’s a fair comparison. However, the big differences that I see are in the preservation and the atmosphere.

Hoi An has been much better preserved and the city has a consistent level of authenticity, unlike Vigan which is a little bit piecemeal.

And in terms of atmosphere, Hoi An is a much more pleasant place to spend a few days, to sit in the restaurants and cafes, do some shopping, and watch a bit of life go by. There are no fast food chains in Hoi An – compare that to Vigan where most of the major chains are directly on the plazas.

World Heritage Site, Vigan, The Philippines

I posed the question at the start of the article – would I say Vigan is worth the visit?

Well, I know that it’s a popular destination with domestic tourists and for them (and tourists from other Asian countries), it probably is worth it because a European-styled city is quite unique and different in this part of the world. There really isn’t anywhere else in the Philippines like this and that makes it worthwhile.

World Heritage Site, Vigan, The Philippines

However, for international tourists, I think there are much more interesting and beautiful options for things to do in Philippines. It’s a wonderful country with 7000 islands and your time would be better spent elsewhere.

If you are travelling through this area, definitely stop for a night and see it for yourself because it is certainly not without merit. But I don’t think it is worth any special effort to go out of your way to visit.

For the nicest hotel in Vigan, you should try Hotel Luna.

This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For more info click here. You can see all the UNESCO World Heritage Sites I’ve visited here.
Philippines Travel Guide

WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE PHILIPPINES?

See my Philippines Travel Guide

To help you plan your trip to the Philippines:

  • Take a trip along the famous Underground River
  • See why Taal Volcano is still so dangerous
  • This island was critical to the war – now see it yourself
  • Should we really celebrate these World Heritage Site churches?
  • Vigan is famous but I think it’s overrated!
  • Explore the beautiful rice terraces of Batad
  • Spend some time with the ancient Batak tribe
  • One of the world’s biggest discoveries was in these caves!

Let someone else do the work for you:

You may also want to consider taking a tour of the Philippines, rather than organising everything on your own. It’s also a nice way to have company if you are travelling solo.

I am a ‘Wanderer’ with G Adventures and they have great tours of the Philippines.

You could consider:

  • Northern Philippines Adventure (9 days)
  • Philippines Palawan Adventure (9 days)
  • Northern Philippines and Palawan Adventure (16 days)

When I travel internationally, I always get insurance. It’s not worth the risk, in case there’s a medical emergency or another serious incident. I recommend you should use World Nomads for your trip.

Reader Interactions

    Comments Cancel reply

  1. Danial |

    February 5, 2016 at 2:36 am

    Reply

    I’m a bit of a fan of out-of-place sites like the Seville-inspired Plaza of Kansas City so I’d definitely give Vigan a go!

  2. Mary @ Green Global Travel |

    February 8, 2016 at 3:57 pm

    Reply

    Vigan looks like a very interesting city to visit. Great pictures! Thanks for sharing your thoughts about this unique city.

  3. Jade Johnston |

    May 9, 2016 at 1:03 pm

    Reply

    Thanks for your honest review. I wanted to go here, but due to time restraints have taken it off my visit list. I no longer feel like I will be missing out on too much though,

  4. Christy Ann |

    June 20, 2016 at 6:22 am

    Reply

    You really help me choose the right place to visit! I am heading there in 2 weeks. Looking forward to discover Vigan when I go there! Thanks a lot for sharing!

  5. Vinz Salvador |

    September 7, 2016 at 11:25 am

    Reply

    Awesome! I’ve been to Vigan twice and it’s still the same feeling like it was the first visiting the place. You should try visiting Pagudpod and Laoag, these are the places near Vigan and they have a great places to offer as well.

  6. Lisa Mitchell |

    February 3, 2018 at 6:39 am

    Reply

    Thanks so much for the post…very helpful. Think I can give it a miss and spend my time elsewhere!

  7. Jo ~ Over the Edge of the Wild |

    January 12, 2019 at 10:21 am

    Reply

    I just got back from the Philippines and was unsure whether or not we should go to Vigan. We eventually decided that we wouldn’t and now that I’ve found your post I think that was the right decision. My partner loved Hoi An previously, but I didn’t – it felt like it had lost some of its soul to tourism I thought – so if that is even more so in Vigan I’m glad we didn’t go out of our way to get there.

    • Ryan C |

      July 14, 2020 at 2:18 am

      Reply

      I think if Vigan was much closer to Manila it would be more attractive for tourists to travel. It’s just very far from Manila and it isn’t near the popular beautiful beaches or natural sites. I wish the city does more restoration and tries to improve it’s quality because even if it isn’t the best old city it arguably has the best collection even in the Philippines, though Manila probably has a better case.

  8. Wayne |

    June 17, 2021 at 1:48 am

    Reply

    I did visit city in December 2019 it a quiet and clean streets made of cobblestones, would to visit again.

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This is the website of travel writer, Michael Turtle. After working in broadcast journalism for a decade in Australia, Michael left Sydney to travel the world indefinitely and write about the places, people and experiences he discovers. This isn't a diary - these are real stories from the world.

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