When in Laoag: Fort Ilocandia

The last stop for our Ilocos getaway was Fort Ilocandia, the only 5-star hotel and resort in Ilocos Norte. It was said to be built by the Marcoses in order to accommodate the high profile wedding guests who flocked to the province for the grand wedding of their daughter. It was later on sequestered when the Marcoses were toppled from power and is now said to be owned and managed by a Taiwanese/ Chinese company. Judging from the Chinese characters in the posters and brochures, it’s also marketed to Chinese tourists for the golf and the casino.

The architecture of the whole place is amazing. It’s grand and has sprawling two story brick buildings, with a riot of bougainvillea abundantly climbing the walls. And each room has its own balcony where one can get a view of the grounds. It was so pretty! I made a promise to myself to definitely stay here the next time I visit Laoag 🙂

And we even had a last taste of Vigan empanada!

Fort Ilocandia is such an oasis in Laoag. There’s a fountain in the middle and were it not for the coconut trees, one can almost imagine being in a Mediterranean villa, instead of in the tropics. But I still love this tropical paradise 🙂 We spent the rest of the afternoon just enjoying our last few hours in Ilocos.

With the beach like this and the sun surely directly going to set right in front of Fort Ilocandia, I didn’t want to go to the airport and go back to Manila!

All too soon, we had to leave and get to the airport. And even at the end, we even encountered a serendipitous highlight.:)

As we were boarding, I couldn’t find my boarding pass and had to rummage through the maps and brochures inside my bag. Because of the delay, B. and I were able to walk across the tarmac and board our PAL plane with no other than the Province of Ilocos Norte Governor herself, Imee Marcos. Of course, B. and I had to have our picture taken with her. She was nice and we even told her that we weren’t able to see the Malacanang of the North and she seemed surprised that it was closed that day!

Our girlfriend getaway to Ilocandia has ended. It was nice, to begin summer with friends, amidst the unparalleled beauty of Ilocos. I would love to go back.

Our last Ilocos girlfriend getaway group picture