Bicol Region
The Bicol Peninsula is the southeastern arm of Luzon, dominated visually by Mayon Volcano — a 2,463-metre stratovolcano famous for one of the most symmetrical cones on earth, watching over the towns of Albay province like a piece of stage scenery. The classic Mayon photographs are from the Cagsawa ruins, where the lone bell tower of a colonial church rises out of grass that buried the rest of the building in the 1814 eruption, and from the hilltop Daraga church, whose volcanic-stone baroque facade lines up with the cone behind. Two hundred kilometres north of Albay, the lagoons of Caramoan in Camarines Sur are a quieter, less-visited alternative to Palawan — jagged limestone karsts rising out of clear turquoise water, reached by van and bangka from Naga. Bicol is also the home of the country’s spiciest food — coconut-and-chili stews like Bicol Express and laing.
