The city is located on the northwestern coast of Luzon, the Philippines’ largest island. It faces the enormous South China Sea.
The famous ancestral houses built during the Spanish invasion maintain their popularity as they age through the years. A blend of Asian, European, and Latin American influences is evident in these concrete edifices of the yesteryears. Bigueños, what the people of Vigan are called, have learned to treasure and preserve these important tokens of their culture, tradition, and even their lives.
The University of Northern Philippines, the oldest state university in Northern Luzon that was founded through the virtue of Republic Act 4449, is also located in this world-renowned city.
Baluarte, an 80-hectare land with a mini-zoo, is another famous attraction in the city. It is owned by Chavit Singson, one of the most powerful figures in the city of Vigan and the whole province of Ilocos Sur.
Vigan City was acknowledged by the Unesco as a World Heritage Site in 199 because of being the most intact evidence of the Spanish colonization in the 16th century. Nowadays, Vigan now includes in the 630 cultural and natural properties of exceptional universal value in the whole world. Likewise, it has become one of the only five heritage sites in the Philippines.
