Diversions of Nature: TRAVEL GUIDE: Where to go in Ilocos Norte

Traveling to North is awesome but will make your body ran out of sugar.

With a lot of great tourist spots, delicious food,

very rich history and hospitable people.

In every stop of your journey, you will want to stay a little bit longer.

We avail a 3 days-2 nights tour Package for our trip to the North by land for a group of 14 persons. The tour was organized by MK Compass Travel and Tours. We left Manila around 10PM on Sunday night and arrived in Ilocos around 6AM Monday morning. The travel time is roughly 7-8 hours with several stop over. So you better get some sleep while you were in the van coz it is a long day ahead for you.

Our first stop, the Paoay Church it is located in the Municipality of Paoay, Ilocos Norte. A National Cultural Treasure declared by UNESCO. The driver literally drop us in front of the church since we were the only tourist that time. We took some photo ops and roam around to check the old church of Paoay. There was an ongoing mass when we enter the church but it was in their dialect so we can't understand it but nonetheless we say our prayer before we head out for the Bell Tower.

People here are serious in preserving their national treasure. They have a garden at the side of the Church, were tourist are allowed to enter and take pictures. After we visit the Paoay Church, we ate our breakfast in Strasbourg Coffee where they served breakfast meal. The meal was delicious and affordable.

Our second destination is the Paoay Sand Dunes. Here is some trivia about Sand Dunes of Ilocos.

Sand dunes of Paoay Laoag, Ilocos Norte, is consist of 88-Hectares of pure fine hot sand. It is famous in shooting spot for movies and TV shows, both Local and International because of its known mini desert.

We rode the 4x4 that cost us 500php per head.The experience was unforgettable. The driver of the 4x4 will literally drive you to the high slope sand that will make you scream. Sand boarding is another activity at Sand Dunes. No additional fees to pay, drivers will drop you to sand boarding area and will assist you. The sand was freaking hot on that time, so be careful not to crash head first and wear proper outfit like long sleeves or hat that will protect your skin from the heat.. :)

Sadly we were not able to enter the Cape Bojeador Lighthouse because there was an ongoing renovation that time. So we headed for our next destination, the Kapurpurawan Rock Formation. Whch I will post it on another blog entry. Meanwhile here are some the photos I took for Day 1.

Paoay Church