Tigaon welcome arch along the Fuentebella Highway

Tigaon is a semi urban-rural municipality of 61,000 in the Partido region of Camarines Sur. It is a rural area, with a compact town, and is known for Mount Isarog. Tigaon's coast has a beach, which still has a few resorts

Understand

Tigaon is named after the Bikol word tigaw, a species of shrub whose leaves produced extracts that is used as poison to catch fish.

It started as a sitio of Sagñay in 1701, and had its own parish in 1794, when the St. Clare of Assisi Parish church was completed. Little is known when Tigaon became a municipality due to conflicting records.

The municipality is divided into 23 barangays, one being the town proper or poblacion. The town is small, and streets set on a rough grid. Most of the surrounding land are rice paddies. In general, Tigaon is fairly rural.

Get in

By bus

• Tigaon Bus Terminal, Terminal: P.T. Leelin St, Poblacion. DLTBCo. and Raymond Transportation have air-conditioned buses from Manila to Tigaon. Waiting area is on a shed made of concrete and bamboo. Restrooms is beside a car wash on the same lot occupied by the terminal. (updated Oct 2020)

Bus stops are at Leelin corner Gomez, the bus terminal, and the municipal hall. The Leelin corner Gomez stop is generally used by buses headed for Tiwi, and the stop at the town hall by buses from Caramoan, Lagonoy and Goa. The stop around the bus terminal has an Angel's Burger shack at the waiting area, and is served by buses headed for Goa, Lagonoy, and Caramoan.

By car

Tigaon is along Route 610, which follows part of the Jose T. Fuentebella Highway from Pili to the town center, and Tigaon-Sagñay-Tiwi Road which heads to Albay.

The town is 425 km (264 mi) from Manila, and 43 km (27 mi) from Naga.

Get around

The town itself is small, and easily walkable, but you can get around with a habal-habal or a padyak (cycle rickshaw or pedicab)

Mt. Isarog is reachable through barangay Hanawon in the nearby municipality of Ocampo. Habal-habal drivers are waiting around the bus and jeepney stop, though it's possible to take a tricycle as long you've negotiated the fare beforehand. It takes 20 minutes to reach the trailhead up to Mt. Isarog and the road is steep and winding. During the wet and typhoon season, it can get blocked by landslides.

See

• St. Clare of Assisi Parish (Tigaon Church), Aguinaldo St, Poblacion. The town's oldest parish church, dating to 1794. Feast day is every August 12. (updated Oct 2020)

Do

• Mt Isarog. A 2,000 m (6,600 ft) extinct volcano covered with rainforests and rich in biodiversity. The summit is reachable through the Consocep Trail, and takes 5-7 hours. It is cold at the summit, and the mountain is covered by rainforest full of mosses, bamboo, ferns and pitcher plants. (updated Oct 2020)

Eat

• Air Lloyd Foodpark, ☏ +63 54 452 2012. 24 hours daily. (updated Oct 2020)
• Janni Chris, +63 54 452 3037. 6:30AM-6:30PM. (updated Oct 2020)

Sleep

• Hibiscus Camp, Consocep (Inside the Mount Isarog park limits). A mountain resort with three swimming pools, cottages, a gumamela (Hibiscus rosa sinensis) garden and views of the lowlands. Overnight stays only permitted on a case-by-case basis, and reservations not honored. Resort closes at 5PM. Entrance fee ₱100. (updated Oct 2020)

Go next

Routes through Tigaon

Tiwi ← Sagñay ←

E  W

→ Pili → Naga