LUZON is the largest of the Philippine islands. It stretches more than 10,000 kilometers, its northernmost tip almost touching Taiwan and its southwestern finger reaching out to Borneo.

Luzon is where Manila, the vibrant national capital, and Makati, the booming financial center, are situated.  The island is connected by a network of modern roads and bridges.

Next to Manila is Bulacan, site of the Barasoain Church where the Revolutionary Congress drafted the first Philippine Constitution more than 100 years ago.  A little farther north is Pampanga, famous for carved wooden furniture and giant Christmas lanterns.  Also Filipino artists, Cavite and Batangas with their historic towns and museums, and Laguna with its string of resorts and springs with healing powers.

In the Laguna, Batangas and Quezon provinces are the enchanting Mount Makiling and mystical Mount Banahaw of the Sierra Madre.

Across the Manila Bay stands Corregidor, the island fortress that played a prominent role in the Pacific War.

North of Manila is Tagaytay, an equally cool and popular resort city in Cavite with a spectacular view of Taal Volcano, the world’s smallest active volcano.

Taal, a volcano within a lake within another volcano, is in Batangas where the St. Martin of Tours Basilica, the largest church in the Far East, is located.  Batangas is also a diver’s paradise.

Stretching along the eastern coast is Quezon, with its fine beaches and coconut plantations.  Farther south in the Bicol region is Albay and its perfect cone-shaped Mayon Volcano.

Southwest is Palawan, the country’s last frontier with the forbidding limestone cliffs fo El Nido, the subterranean caverns and river of St. Paul, the safari island of Calauit, home to giraffes, impalas and zebras, and Tubbataha Reef, the most beautiful dive site this side of the world.