Ilocos Sur: Arce Mansion in Vigan, a colonial Ilocano dinner experience

Have you ever wondered how it must have felt to dine during the Spanish and American colonial periods? At the Arce Mansion in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, you'll get to experience that, complete with period costumes!

As soon as you arrive, you are given welcome drinks and ushered into the costume room. They have a variety of costumes to choose from ranging from wealthy ilustrado garb to the simple indio, a gobernadorcillo, military officer, bishop or monk. They even have a Chinese costume since Vigan was known to have a lot of mestizos de sangley.


You basically come as you are and try out their costumes. Women don't have much problems with costume sizes since they can easily be adjusted. But for male costumes, unless you're on the slimmer side, it might be difficult to find pants and suits your size. So you're left with the religious attire.

That being the case, you might want to wear your own black pants so you don't have problems choosing a costume. And although slippers are fine, they don't look good on the souvenir photos (for females, the dress is long enough to cover the feet). So best to wear leather shoes for males. But if you don't mind hiding your feet behind a suitcase, slippers, sneakers and sandals will be fine.

After you change into your costumes, you will be ushered into a room for souvenir photos colonial style, complete with all the props which includes large chairs, vases on pedestals and large fans for the ladies. After that's done, it's time for dinner.


The dining room is air-conditioned so don't worry about eating in your costumes. They serve local Ilocano food. And while eating, you are serenaded with vernacular folk songs.


After dinner, you are ushered into the main living room for dessert, tea and coffee, and more photos. It got quite hot. So after the photos, those in the group started changing out of their costumes. This was definitely a fun experience! And Camp Suki does this in Taal, Batangas too!

Arce Mansion
87 Quirino Boulevard cor. Abaya Street
Vigan, Ilocos Sur
(02) 7250819 / (0917) 8246900

Part 1: Road trip to Pagudpud
Part 2: Road trip from Pagudpud to Vigan
Part 4: Historic Town of Vigan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Part 5: Tres de Mayo Festival in Vigan, Ilocos Sur
Part 6: Where to stay in Vigan (Hotels & Accommodation)

Ilocos Norte & Ilocos Sur: Road trip from Pagudpud to Vigan (Day 2)

The drive from Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte to Vigan, Ilocos Sur was an interesting one too. After breakfast and checking-out from the Kapuluan Vista Resort in Mairaira Cove (Blue Lagoon), we drove down to Laoag to catch lunch at Saramsam Restaurant.


On the way, we made sure to stop at the Pasuquin Bakery to taste their really delicious soft biscocho bread. That stop is well worth it. The drive to Laoag is about 2 and a half hours and we were there just in time for lunch.



Saramsam Restaurant is also know for its Ilocano pizzas, particularly the Poque-Poque Pizza which has an eggplant and egg-based Ilocano dish for toppings. Also try out the Longaniza Pizza and their Dinardaraan (Dinuguan) Pizza. We also had local dishes that included igado, insarabsab and blanched vegetables with KBL (kamatis, bagoong and lasuna). Dessert was malunggay sherbet with kalamansi which was surprisingly good.

After Laoag, we went straight to Vigan which was another two hours away. We wanted to catch the street dance parade of the Viva Vigan! Binatbatan Festival so we made sure to leave Laoag as soon as we could reach Vigan before the parade started at 4 p.m.


As soon as we arrived, we checked-in at My Vigan Home, a by-reservations only private guest house. And we were off to Crisologo Street to enjoy the street dancing at the festival.

Part 1: Road trip to Pagudpud
Part 3: Arce Mansion in Vigan, a colonial Ilocano dinner experience
Part 4: Historic Town of Vigan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Part 5: Tres de Mayo Festival in Vigan, Ilocos Sur
Part 6: Where to stay in Vigan (Hotels & Accommodation)

Ilocos Sur & Ilocos Norte: Road trip to Pagudpud (Day 1)

I found myself on the way to Ilocos Norte again for our Ultimate Philippines tour of the north! The first leg of the trip involved a long drive from Makati all the way to Blue Lagoon (Mairaira Cove) in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte. With stopovers, the trip took 20 hours.

We left Makati 11 p.m. the night before and arrived in La Union at 6 a.m. for breakfast. Oasis Country Resort has a 24-hour restaurant beside the hotel which is very convenient for travelers.


After breakfast, we went straight to our first stop, the Sabangan Cove Weaving Village in Santiago, Ilocos Sur which was two hours away. When you near the town proper of Santiago, watch out for signs pointing to Santiago Cove. The weaving village is where some of the higher-quality abel iloko cloth is woven. Ask around for the house of the barangay captain where many of the looms are located.


From Santiago, we drove over to Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur to visit the Sta. Maria Church, a UNESCO World Heritage Site which was inscribed as part of the Baroque Churches of the Philippines.


I was quite surprised vendors were selling grapes at Php25 a bag by the church. It turns out, these are grapes that are grown locally in Ilocos Sur. They're a bit small will large seeds bu sweet nonetheless. I wonder if a wine industry will follow.


We made another long drive to Batac, Ilocos Norte for a quick snack stop at Glory's Empanada. It's about two hours from Sta. Maria. For me, the best Ilocos empanada is the one served in Batac. Near the empanadahan is the Marcos Mausoleum where the preserved body of President Ferdinand E. Marcos lies in state.


We had a late lunch in Herencia Cafe in Paoay, Ilocos Norte which is most know for its Pinakbet Pizza, Dinuguan Pizza, Bagnet Pizza and other fusion and traditional Ilocano dishes. In front of the restaurant is the Paoay Church, a majestic example of Philippine Baroque architecture, and another UNESCO-inscribed church.


Our last two stops for the day were the Cape Bojeador Lighthouse, a National Cultural Treasure, and the Bangui Wind Farm Project or the Bangui Windmills.

There were just too many people in the Cape Bojeador Lighthouse. I think it's about time they charge a little entrance fee to help in its upkeep and preservation with crowds wearing out this cultural treasure. There aren't even any restrooms.

For the Bagui Windmills, most people only pass by the view deck. But you could actually drive down to the beach for a better and close-up view of this massive sustainable energy project.


We arrived at the Kapuluan Vista Resort in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte at about 7 p.m. just in time for a sumptuous buffet dinner. The main dish was Kahlua Pig, which is pork cooked the traditional Hawaiian way, wrapped in banana leaves and buried in a pit of hot charcoal under the sand. We also had salads, grilled chicken, marlin kilawin and seafood sisig among other stuff.


Part 2: Road trip from Pagudpud to Vigan
Part 3: Arce Mansion in Vigan, a colonial Ilocano dinner experience
Part 4: Historic Town of Vigan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Part 5: Tres de Mayo Festival in Vigan, Ilocos Sur
Part 6: Where to stay in Vigan (Hotels & Accommodation)