I originally planned to write this right after our Holy Week trip, but with the news of Pope Francis’ death, I couldn’t get myself to do it. Pope Francis is my favorite pope, you see… he’s literally the reason I came back from being church-less. His passing paralyzed me. But today, we have a pope in Pope Leo XIV. I guess it’s time to write about our Holy Week and maybe start moving on.

Why We Chose Vigan City

To be honest, after the May 2022 elections, Francis and I had hastily decided to visit only provinces that voted pink. For this year, we originally planned to stay in San Jose City, but as the Holy Week approached, we entertained this stupid FOMO, and booked a hotel at Vigan City to join my family.

Additionally, I went to Vigan back in high school for a field trip and I remember falling head over heels in love with it. So I thought, why not bring my family there? After all, Vigan is a heritage city and there would be lots of Catholic activities for the Holy Week for sure, right? Maybe we would be lucky enough to witness a procession.

The Trip

From San Jose City to Vigan City via private car, the travel time was more or less five hours, utilizing TPLEX. We departed San Jose City before 7:00 a.m. It was Good Friday, and there was zero traffic. We expected that, since in previous years most travellers would already have arrived by Holy Thursday. Still, it seemed like there were very few travelling.

We made a short stop at San Fernando City, La Union for breakfast and stretching. We bought munchkins from Dunkin. Sprout and Francis had breakfast at the McDonald’s right beside it. (Sprout vomited all of that in a manner of thirty minutes. She was a bit sick already.)

We arrived at Vigan City and at our hotel at exactly one p.m.

Ciudad Fernandina

The hotel we booked was Ciudad Fernandina at A. Mabini St., very near the famous Calle Crisologo. Our room was at the third floor at the left side of the hotel. It didn’t have an elevator. (It’s a good thing we didn’t book our parents’ hotel because it would have been tough walking the flight of narra stairs.)

Our room had a normal-looking queen sized bed. By normal, I mean it had no carved poles and things like that. Being in Vigan City, you would expect that the hotel would look straight out of a Spanish occupation history book, but it was normal.

The best thing about the room was the toilet and bathroom. The lavatory was spacious and Sprout kept on saying we should redo our bathroom. There were also regular toiletries for free. And, yes, there’s bidet.

Our only other issue is the parking area, since you’d have to walk two blocks to get to it. But they allow street parking on a first-come, first-served basis. We managed to get a spot, and it seems everyone is very polite. Every time we returned, our parking slot would always be empty. Nice.

All-in-all, Ciudad Fernandida is a nice three-star hotel. Good thing we managed to get a good price from Booking.com even if we booked just a week before our vacation – it was good value for money.

Where We Ate

As I mentioned, my parents were also in Vigan at that time. They arrived the day before. On the day of our arrival, Mama treated us to an unlimited buffet and seafood restaurant in a nearby municipality. JB BAR’s Seafood Restaurant is located at Caoayan, Ilocos Sur. And yes, the path is quite scary, having very minimal streetlights. If you think you’re getting lost, you’re on the right track. That was our first dinner in Vigan City. The food was quite good.

The most surprising is that the breakfast at Ciudad Fernandina was buffet-style! The booking details said it would be plated, so we are pleasantly surprised at this feature. I’m not sure if the buffet is a regular feature, or just a special for the Holy Week, so take this information with a grain of salt. If you do consider going to Ciudad Fernandina because of this, please call the property to confirm. Anyway, on both days, we had the famous Vigan longganisa, which very quickly ran out and had to be refilled all the time.

For our Black Saturday lunch – no, unfortunately, we didn’t successfully fast this Lent and Triduum – we went to Casa Jardin, famous spot for Vigan empanada. Their restaurant was closed for renovations, but they had a temporary branch a couple of blocks away. When we arrived, the place was jam packed. It took half an hour before our orders arrived. Francis ordered two of the king (?) variant. When they arrived, I got scared at the size: it was almost as big as my face (and I have a long face). But once we started eating, we realized it wasn’t difficult to finish. It’s delicious, but also filled with just enough Vigan longganisa, egg, and vegetables. That was enough for a meal.

After walking around Calle Crisologo, we went back to Ciudad Fernandina to refresh. We decided to have an early dinner before we went to the Vigan Cathedral to attend the Easter Vigil. I had halohalo, Francis had a breakfast plate, and Sprout had ramen. Unfortunately, these were not good at all. The halohalo was nothing special. The bacon on the breakfast plate was rubbery. And the ramen tasted of too much cilantro. But Sprout finished the chocolate chip walnut cookies – that was the saving grace.

After the Easter Vigil, we bought Sprout a happy meal at McDonald’s, which she finished at the hotel. That’s just the way with toddlers: it’s impossible to get to explore food.

On our last day in Vigan City, after the hotel breakfast, we went to two Vigan bakeries featured by Lokalpedia.

Our Itinerary

Day 1: August 19, 2025

-1:00 p.m: Early Check in at Ciudad Fernandina

-4:00 p.m.: First round of kalesa ride with Mama and my niece

-6:00 p.m.: Dinner at JB BAR’s Seafood Restaurant

Day 2: August 20, 2025

-9:00 a.m.: Swimming at Sta. Catalina Beach

-11:00 a.m.: Back to hotel

-1:00 p.m.: Lunch at Casa Jardin

-3:00 p.m.: Kalesa ride and walk around Calle Crisologo

-5:00 p.m.: Early dinner at Ciudad Fernandina

-7:00 p.m.: Easter Vigil at Vigan Cathedral

-10:00 p.m.: Back to hotel

Day 3: August 21, 2025

-8:00 a.m.: Breakfast at hotel

-9:00 a.m.: Bought ube from Lagasca’s Native Delicacies (featured on Lokalpedia)

-10:00 a.m.: Check out

-11:00 a.m.: Bought lots of bread from Im’s Cakeshoppe (featured on Lokalpedia); home sweet home