Pangasinan is one of the four provinces in Region 1-Ilocos Region which is located in northern Luzon, the chief island of the Philippines. The capital of Pangasinan is Lingayen.

Cities

There are 4 cities in the province of Pangasinan.

• 1 Dagupan is the home of bangus (milkfish) and a chartered city located in Pangasinan. Bangus Festival is celebrated annually every month of April. There are two malls in Dagupan, CSI: the City Mall and Nepo Mall, and there are many attractions in Dagupan City that you can visit.
• 2 Urdaneta tops in finance not only in Pangasinan but also in the entire Ilocos region. Because of this, Urdaneta, in its 9th year of cityhood is being eyed for upgrade to 1st class city status also in the Region 1 beating older cities such as Dagupan. There are also several malls in Urdaneta including Magic Mall, CB Mall, Palm Plaza & CSI. SM Prime Holdings has a 15.6 hectare lot in the city for its future mall. Urdaneta is home of the largest cattle market north of Manila and also the largest bagsakan market in the region.
• San Carlos is the home of Mango and Bamboo located in Pangasinan. In addition, San Carlos is the most historic political unit as well as its cultural capital. Mango-Bamboo Festival is celebrated annually every month of April and which the city dresses up in green and yellow. The said festival showcases not only delicious mangoes and durable bamboo handicrafts but also the hospitality of people of San Carlos City.
• 3 Alaminos is home of its famous Hundred islands

Municipalities

Pangasinan is mainly composed of 44 municipalities.

• Bugallon is a second class municipality in the province of Pangasinan. It has 24 Barangays. Well known on its different agricultural products like carabao milk, duhat wine, nipa hut roofings, tuba and other products.
• 1 Lingayen  is the capital of Pangasinan and famous of its fermented fish sauce or that so-called bagoong
• Binmaley is a first class municipality in the province of Pangasinan. According to the 2015 census, it has population of 83,052 people.
• 2 Sison  is a third class municipality in the province of Pangasinan.
• Pozzorubio is a first class municipality in the province of Pangasinan.
• Basista is a third class municipality in the province of Pangasinan and also the smallest. It is well known for its orchestra and basket weaving industry.
• Urbiztondo  is a third class municipality in the province of Pangasinan which is subdivided into 21 barangay.
• 3 Bolinao  is a first class municipality in the province of Pangasinan well known for its white sand beaches, Patar beach and its product Binungey also known as Bamboo cake.
• San Quintin is a third class municipality in the province of Pangasinan, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 32,945 people and compose of 21 barangays.
• Mangaldan is founded by Dominican order missionaries from Spain.
• Bayambang was the fifth capital of the Revolutionary Philippine Republic.
• San Jacinto is a small municipality that is subdivided into 19 barangays. It is located at the middle or in between of the municipalities of Mangaldan and Manaoag, and known for its corn crops.
• Aguilar The municipality was named after Spanish governor-general Rafael Maria de Aguilar, who ordered the establishment of an independent civil political unit on 16 July 1805.
• Mangatarem Mangatarem is a Pangasinan word for "mango plantation" The town's name also came from the Ilocano Phrase which means "mango and oyster".
• San Nicolas San Nicolas is a place with many waterfalls from the Caraballo Mountain Range and a number of rivers that serve as a picnic ground for vacationers during holidays and summertime.
• Tayug got its unique name not from people who were influential or from name of saints but from a very tall tree that once grew in the heart of the town; the bacayao tree was so tall that in Ilocano they call it “Layug”. In view of the difficulty of the people to pronounce the letter “L” they change it to letter “T” by common usage. Hence, the name Tayug came about.

Other destinations

• Hundred islands is a lovely area on the coast north of Manila. As the name implies the region, it showcase numerous tiny islands. Some has beaches to which you can charter a boat. Typically, the boat will leave you for several hours on your own private beach.

Boats can be caught at the "Lucap" wharf, which is 5 km away from the city of Alaminos (which is where the buses terminal).

• Umbrella Rocks is a nature's masterpiece in Agno, these rock formation are mushroom/umbrella shape boulders along the mouth of Balincaguing River, in Sabangan.
• Sunflower Maze is a giant maze in a farm in Tayug. The 2,600-m² sunflower maze consists of more or less 8,000 sunflower plants in its 3-hectare farm. It was set to open in public on February 17, 2017.
• Patar White Sand Beach is considered to be the hidden treasure of the north. It is almost untouched that some roads heading to the beach are still unpaved, however, upon reaching the place, the views and sceneries of the white sand beach is surely satisfying.

Understand

The name "Pangasinan" can be ambiguous; it can refer also to the people and the language.

Pangasinan's name derives from the word for "place of salt", with the root word "asin" (salt). Salt production is the main source of income, but the local economy has since diversified. It is the richest province among the four in Ilocos Region.

The local people are of the same name, Pangasinan, but the region has been heavily settled by Ilocanos from the north. Other ethnic groups are the indigenous Sambal peoples, who live in western Pangasinan.

While historically linked to Central Luzon, Pangasinan is rather lumped up as part of Ilocos Region.

Talk

• Most people of Pangasinan, especially central Pangasinan, speaks the Pangasinan language (also called Pangalatok, but Pangasinan people consider this name derogatory).
• Ilokano is spoken in the western and especially the eastern part of Pangasinan.
• Many establishments use the national language known as Filipino that is based on Tagalog.
• English is widely-spoken in the province especially by the youth.
• Bolinao is spoken in portions of the municipalities of Bolinao and Anda in the province of Pangasinan.
• Santa Barbara particularly brgy. Nilombot which 80 percent of its population is spoken in ilocano language.

Get in

By bus

Victory Liner runs buses every hour from Manila to Alaminos, Lingayen or Dagupan (and vice versa), with stopovers at Dau and Tarlac City; some buses continue onward to Baguio through MacArthur Highway/Manila North Road (Route 2). Five Star, Victory's sister bus line, also serve the same destination pairs, but they also have a trip from Santiago in Isabela with an ordinary (non-air-conditioned) bus.

By car

Pangasinan is served by the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway since 2015, shortening travel time from Manila. Taxis can take you to the province, but is expensive

By plane

There is no airport in Pangasinan with commercial flights, and the two only airports, in Lingayen and Binalonan, are mostly used by general aviation and flying schools. The nearest major airport is in Angeles. There are plans to build a new airport at Alaminos, but construction is stalled by political debate.

Get around

Like other Philippine provinces and cities, jeepneys, bus and tricycles are very common. In some parts, there are sidecars or pedicabs.

Do

• Mountain hiking in mountains of San Nicolas, Pangasinan.
• Picnic in Sitio Puyao, Brgy. Fianza, San Nicolas, Pangasinan.
• Bike or hiking on the mountainous areas of barangays Binday, Ambalangan - Dalin, Inmalog Sur, Inmalog Norte, Gumot and Bolaoen, San Fabian, Pangasinan.
• Go island hopping and snorkelling in the Hundred island.
• Eat Pigar-pigar, a famous dish in Dagupan City made out of beef and vegetables like onions and cabbage. Most if the eateries that serve this food can be located at Galvan Street, beside CSI Square Dagupan.
• Visit Our Lady of Manaoag Shrine, the Minor Basilica in Pangasinan.
• Visit Veterans Park behind at the Capitol Complex and discover the history of the province during the Japanese Occupation.
• Visit the largest dam in the Philippines and 16th largest in the world, the San Roque Dam located at Barangay San Roque, San Manuel, Pangasinan.
• Try scuba diving in Dasol, Pangasinan
• Mountain hiking and witness the breathtaking view in Mount Zion located in Bugallon.
• Enter and seek your way out in the Sunflower Maze in Tayug.

Swim

• Bonuan Blue Beach in Dagupan
• White Beach in San Fabian
• Cape Bolinao Beach in Bolinao
• Tambobong White Beach in Dasol
• Tondol Beach in Anda
• Lingayen Beach
• Binmaley Beach
• Dacampat Falls
• Dipalo river in San Quintin
• Balungao hot and cold spring resort
• Kadampat falls in Labrador
• El Puerto Marina in Lingayen
• Bisay Falls in Bugallon
• Manlelwag Hot Spring in Mangatarem

Buy

CSI is a very popular chain of malls in Pangasinan. Some of them are CSI: The City Mall in the Lucao District and CSI Square in downtown Dagupan. Nepo Mall is also a main mall that is in Dagupan. Magic Mall , the first legit mall in Pangasinan is located in Urdaneta City. Other Malls in Urdaneta are CB Mall, CSI-Urdaneta, CSI Warehouse Club and Super Magic. There also a Magic in Mangaldan.The new open mall in Pangasinan are. Robisons Place in Calasiao this is the 1st Robinson branch in Pangasinan and also Pure Gold it is also newly open mall in Calasiao Pangasinan but now it has a branch in Bonuan. Unitop Mall has the quality and yet affordable rate of goods in the city of Dagupan