Vigan Heritage Village

The Historical Beauty of Vigan Heritage Village

The Mestizo District – this is the other name of a place in the Philippines which has attracted so many foreigners from around the world. The Meztizo District is popularly known as Vigan and perhaps it’s the place which holds the best preserved historical architectures of the country. The moment you arrive at the place, you’ll immediately see the cobble-stoned streets which have those unique houses. Actually, they’re not really unique; they were the houses during the Spanish colonization. Due to the place’s one-of-a-kind look, they belonged to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. But behind the wonderful architecture of the entire place is an unforgettable history. The name Vigan originated from the word “biga”, a big taro plant which used to grow plentifully along the waterside. The entire village was established way back on the 16th century. Later, community and trade activities ensued on the Mestizo River and this progress continued all the way to the 19th century. One of the highlights of these activities was the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade where different materials were sent from Europe. Some of the materials include bricks, pebbles and adobes. If you’re wondering how the architecture was built so unique, that’s because they were constructed by Chinese laborers. Therefore, the construction of the whole village is a reflection of a fusion of the Chinese and Spanish European culture. The bird’s eye view of the place in the evening is truly stunning and this facet alone would suffice as to why it’s an unforgettable tourist spot. But aside from the view, you’ll also see those Ilocos’ elegant and fancy ornaments which are beyond perfection in appearance. The Vigan Heritage Village also has some modern additional buildings. But despite the modernization of these establishments, their architecture is still correlated to how the Spanish constructed the houses centuries ago. Fastfood restaurants such as McDonald’s can be seen in this place and you’ll be amazed that they are constructed just like the Spanish houses. There are a lot of things you can do in the Vigan Heritage Village which are truly enjoyable. You have two methods to choose from in exploring the place. You can either go to the area near the Vigan Church to ride the kalesa; or you can burn some calories by walking through the entire village and witness the different houses built by the Spanish during their colonization. If you prefer the latter, you get the opportunity to delve more on the old cultural ways of the Ilocos residents and this is more on farming. The Vigan Heritage Village is not really that hard to reach. If you go there by air, you can book a ticket from Manila to Laoag City in Ilocos Norte. Once you arrive at the Laoag City airport, you can arrange a ride or take a bus to go to Vigan. The trip is around one hour and thirty minutes. But if you want to travel by land, there are buses in Manila which go to Vigan directly. Choosing this approach is an 8-hour trip but absolutely worth it considering that you’ll witness the Manila-Ilocos highway.