Vigan survived the Pacific War almost whole, and that is the secret of its charm. Founded by the Spanish in the sixteenth century as a trading post at the mouth of the Mestizo River in Ilocos Sur, on the northwest coast of Luzon, it grew rich on Chinese silk, Ilocano goods and the galleon trade, and its merchants built houses of brick and stone with wooden upper floors and sliding capiz-shell windows. Together these make one of the best-preserved colonial towns in Southeast Asia, which UNESCO recognised in 1999.
The streets are cobbled, and the best known of them, Calle Crisologo, is lined with the old mansions, many of them now shops, hotels and cafés. Horse-drawn kalesas clop along the stones, and for the rider the central lanes are best handled on foot or at walking speed. Cobbles are rough and slippery after rain, and the town is crowded on weekends and holidays, so park the bike outside the heart and wander in. Heat and humidity are strong in summer, and typhoons between July and October can bring heavy rain and wind, so check forecasts.
The surrounding coast road is a pleasure. Running north and south through rice fields, tobacco, garlic and onion plots, it passes a series of old stone churches and small seaside towns, with the South China Sea sparkling on one side and the Cordillera on the other. Traffic is a lively mix of tricycles, buses, jeepneys and trucks, and drivers overtake with confidence. Dogs and chickens cross unexpectedly. The big Baroque churches of the region, such as Paoay and San Agustin, sit within a day's ride, and their thick buttresses were designed to withstand earthquakes.
Fuel is easy in Vigan, a city of nearly fifty thousand, and food is a high point. Try empanada, a crisp rice-flour pastry filled with egg and papaya, bagnet, deep-fried pork belly, and Vigan longganisa, a garlicky local sausage. Burnay jars, made of local clay and fired in wood kilns, are a fine souvenir, though awkward on a bike.
An early start gives you the town without the tour buses, and the golden hour on the cobbles is lovely.