Cagayan Valley

About Cagayan Valley

Cagayan Valley — Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino in the valley between the Cordillera and the Sierra Madre, plus the Batanes islands off the northern tip, with Tuguegarao as its regional center — is Luzon's far north. For most travelers the region means Batanes, which has its own guide below.

Getting there

Batanes is a flight: Manila to Basco takes about 1.5–2 hours, there is no practical sea route, and weather cancels flights often enough that our guide builds in a buffer day. On the mainland, Cauayan's airport in Isabela is the fly-in point our Banaue guide uses for the 3–4-hour road trip into the Cordillera.

When to go

The valley floor is hot and fairly dry for the Philippines: PAGASA's Tuguegarao station averages 1,769 mm of rain a year, only 4–5 rainy days a month from January to April, and highs of about 35°C in April and May. Batanes runs on a different clock — Basco's wettest months are August and September (16–17 rainy days) and its calmest are March and April (5–7), which is why our Batanes guide puts the window at March to May. Our month-by-month guide has the national picture.

Climate: PAGASA climatological normals 1991–2020, Tuguegarao and Basco stations. Travel details come from our destination guides, where each is dated.

Destination Guides in Cagayan Valley

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