Longest river in the Philippines. It bisects the Cagayan Valley from north to south and it abounds with different kinds of fish especially the most delicious and rarest fish called "lurung", which is in demand during the months of October to November.

Cagayan Museum.

This was aimed to salvage the remnant of the dramatic past. It is made of very extensive collection of fossils. Iron age potteries, chinawares dating back to the Ming and Sung dynasties and other liturgical collections said to be miracle.

Bell of Antiquity.

It is believed to be the oldest church bell in the Philippines. It is found in Camalaniugan, Cagayan. It was brought to Manila in 1638 during the Marian Congress where it was rang. It was forged during the15th century in the year 1595.

Callao Caves Resort.

Located 24 kilometers away from Tuguegarao. This national park features a huge seven-chambered cave with a chapel. It has massive limestone formations, abundant wild lilies, clear waters of the Pinacanauan River conclusive for fishing, boating and swiming, fully furnished cottages, tennis court and different archaeological sites. Watch the spectacle of millions of bats circadian flight everyday at about 6:00 p.m.

St. Peter´s Cathedral.

The stately witness to Cagayan´s link with Spain, was built in the year 1761 and completed in 1768 now, the seat of the Diocese of Tuguegarao.

Cape Engano

Palaui Island. Has white beach of wave polished corals and seashells. Beautiful rocky formations are everywhere. A very ideal place for snorkeling, scuba diving, shell collecting, fishing, swimming, forest exploring, and a try of mountain climbing to reach the lighthouse which gives an unlimited view of the China Sea, the Dos Hermanas Islands and of other beaches sprawling in the vicinity.

Agta Festival -

Gattaran, Cagayan - June. The festival showcases the rituals, ethnic indigenous arts and crafts, food and pageantry through street dancing accompanied by noisy drums, bands and all sorts of music instruments.

Cagayan, with 9,003 sq.km , forms the lower basin of the Cagayan River. It is covered by forest about half of the province, and the rest consist of arable land, brush, grassland and swamp. Cagayan is one of the country's major rice producers Logging is a major industry, while both inshore and deep-water fishing are practiced around the coast. Anchovy is an important species here, and shellfish, oysters and agar-agar are gathered. Manufacturing enterprises include cigar and cigarette factories, and food processing, wood, textile, leather, footwear and chemical companies. Home industries center around rattan and other forest products.

Brief history. Cagayan is undoubtedly one of the richest archeological sites in the Philippines. Excavations by the National Museum and field researches of the Cagayan Museum have unraveled vast archaeological findings, including artifacts dating back to the paleolithic age. It is the presence of such discoveries which gives evolution of the Cagayano.

The whole northeastern part of the big island of Luzon, plus some small islands on the Balintang Channel, was once upon a time a single political unit known as "La Provincia de Cagayan". Protected on its eastern side by the Sierra Madre, and on the north by a chain of sentinel islets called by the Babunanes, this is where the forefathers of Cagayan chose to settle when they came from beyond these shores either on land-bridges or in frail "birays" which other people prefer to call "binidays".

Archeologicalists say that the earliest man in the Philippines probably lived in Cagayan thousands of years ago. In their search for this guava man, a likely contempory of the Java Man, excavators are turning earth downside up, but unless and until they can convince the Cagayanos with evidence beyond scientific doubt , it cannot be pointed to that guava man was the ancestor or precursor on terra Cagayana.

From available evidence, the first man hereabout was the Atta, a short dark-skinned nomad who was at home nowhere until the Indo-Malays came from somewhere, in the jungles where root and fruit helped him survive. Indigenious tribes still live in the Cagayan, although their livelihood is or has been treathened by illigal logging. Recently some indigenious tribes got 1 million hectares ancestral land back.

Sometime between 200 B.C. and 300 C.C. when mass immigrations into Cagayan took place, the Indo-Malays who eventally came to be known as Ybanag, Ytawit, Yogad, Gaddang, Yraya, and Malaweg, settled in the Cagayan Valley. Though they were known by different handles and labels, they were really one ethnic family, albeit for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, and for any number and kind of excuse, they opted for a parting of ways when they arrived at points where the traits forked out here or there.

Evidence of their original oneness are the similarities in their features, the common elements in their languages, beliefs and practice, and the unchanging reference among all of them to the same legendary heroes, Biwag and Malana.

These were the people whom the Spaniards found in villages on the sea-coast and along the rivers all over the valley. These villages followed modus vivendi among themselves described in the unom of "maguray y maporay, mesipo y masippo, mawawan y karwan".

Rightly judging these people to be of a single racial stock, the Spaniards decided to make the Ybanag tongue their lingua franca, civilly and ecclesiastically enforced, and they lumped them together under the common denominator of "Cagayanos". In later years, the Cagayanos of yesterday became the Cagayanos of today.

When the Spaniards came to Cagayan in the second half of the sixteenth century, they discovered that the natives had long been in contact with Chinese, the Indians and the Japanese. Attesting to this are the artifacts being unearthed today which are definitely dated to pre-Hispanic times, many linguistic elements present in the speed of the people which are clearly of Chinese, Indian or Japanese origin, and the presence of a Japanese fleet at the mouth of Cagayan River in 1581. The people in that fleet must have been traders who had come with no designs of conquest, for the natives did not resent their coming to their land, although the Spaniards thought differently. Like the Portuguese, like Limahong, like the Dutch and British of later years, Tayfusu and his men had no business encroaching on al land which had already been claimed in a solemn act for the King of Spain. Be that as it may, the fact remains that before the Spaniards came to Cagayan the natives had already been in contact with foreigners who enriched their life and culture with encrustations from their own.

That the early inhabitants of Cagayan lived in villages which were properly organized and which maintained trade and security relations with one another give proof of the kind of culture which existed among them already at that time. The stock which they had brought from the lands of their proverance or domesticated those that they found in the new homeland; they wove cloth form plant fibers and kapok thread; they fashioned household and farm implements from metal; they cooked their food in pots and vessels made of clay.

Language / Dialect. Ilocano and Ybanag are the main dialects. Cagayan had a rapid population growth which now has about 860,000 inhabitants consisting of the native Ybanags and Gaddangs, the migrants Ilocanoes, Negritos (Attas, Agtas, Pugots and Dumagats), Malaueg, and Itawes.

Points of interest:

Fuga Island. And the Babuyanes islands are 67 to 70 nautical miles from the mainland. It´s the home of the winds or typhoons, it could be reached only by boat, lampitaw and ships, a good place for scuba diving, snorkeling and similar undertakings.

Tanlagan Falls. Located at the eastern portion of Gattaran, Cagayan. It has a hot spring. Facilities are not available within the area except at the nearby barrio of Cumao which is regularly plied by Gattaran-Cumao routed buses and jeepneys. From Cumao private jeeps must be hired to Tanlagan Falls.

Iguig Calvary Hills. Situated on a 11-hectare rolling hilly terrain overlooking the Cagayan River, it duplicates in life-sized concrete structure the Fourteen Stations of the Cross set-up amidst a cluster of assorted Spanish era such as the brick stairway, the 3-century old well and the Dominican Convent ruins.

Tuguegarao. Bolo making industry , Buntun  Bridge, Cagayan Museum and Historical Research Center, Provincial Capitol Compound, Horno Ruins and the ruins of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Dos Hermanas Island. Located near te port of San Vicente and beautifully viewed from Cape Engano. Legend says that these islands were formerly 2 sisters who bade goodbye to their husbands 2 centuries ago only to be left waiting since then for their return. It is found in Sta. Ana.

Mororan. A spot located at the Callao Caves Park in Peñablanca known for its continous rain shower. Ideal swimming area for all ages at the clear waters of Pinacanauan River. One finds natural diving boards out of limestone formations. Boat riding at the traversing Pinacanauan River which is bounded with thickly canopied cliff heights is fun for everyone.

Tuguegarao Horno. It is found at the southern edge of the town of Tuguegarao. It is here where Old Spanish kiln bricks used to construct the St. Peter´s Cathedral and San Jacinto Chapel were baked.

San Jacinto Chapel. It was the first chapel built in Tuguegarao under the supervision of Father Bernabe dela Magdalena in the year 1724. This damed San Jacinto Chapel as the enduring symbol of missionary work in Cagayan.

Cobra, Lallo. Used to be called Castillo de San Francisco. Kind of fortress similar to the walls of Intramuros built by the Friars to protect the town from Muslim raids.

Namuac River. Bordering Claveria and Sanches Mira, landing place of Juan Salcedo in 1565.

Mouth of Pamplona River. Starting point of Conquistadore Juan Salcedo when he and companions explored Cagayan in 1572.

Barrio Batagain, Gonzaga. Landing place of the Japanese imperial army during the second World War II.

Punta Lakay-Lakay. Along the northeastern coast of Cagayan about three kilometers from the town proper of Claveria , are two rocks which look like a man and woman. They are called "Lakay-lakay" in Ilocano means old man while "Baket-baket" means on old woman. Three kilometers east of these figures is another smaller one called "Ubing-ubing" which means child.

Bunton Bridge. The second longest bridge in the Philippines. It gives a view of the longest and widest river in the country, the Cagayan River. The bridge made possible the flexibility of travel from the South-western portion of Cagayan which has remainded idle for the past years due to its isolation.

Archaeological Sites

A. Solan

B. Peñablanca

C. Lallo

.