WHAT MAKES PROVINCE OF ALBAY UNIQUE AS DESTINATIONS?
ALBAY is every traveler’s memento. For years Albay has been synonymous to Mayon Volcano, the famous landmark shortlisted in UNESCO’s World Heritage Site. Now, the province is perceptibly shining as a hidden tourism gem offering innumerable activities for leisure, fun, relaxation, and travel.
In Albay, tourists will find many remarkable places that were previously known only to locals and are still untouched by commercialism. Many of these destinations have never been featured in travel literature and awaits discovery. Partly due to its pristineness, the province was declared as a Biosphere Reserve in UNESCO’s MAB Programme as it is the proud home of approximately 462 flora and fauna species, 137 of which are endemic.
People are also one of its tourism assets. ALBAYANOS are resilient, gracious, happy and accommodating who go out of their way to make visitors’ stay in the province comfortable, relaxed, and worry-free.
Albay is home to at least 19 festivals that are celebrated all year round by its different cities and municipalities. In each month of the year, tourists will be sure to find revelers dancing in the streets in celebration of a religious or agricultural festival. These festivals last for several days and feature activities showcasing the local culture and practice.
Albay offers not just scenic and cultural destinations. It is globally recognized by United Nations as the model for adapting to the impacts of climate change. After suffering 46% damage in 2006 due to Typhoon Durian, the province quickly recovered by using tourism as one of its principal tools for reconstruction with foreign tourists’ influx. It also built 320 kilometers of roads to provide access to new and unique destinations such as the Cagsawa Ruins, Quitinday Hills, falls, black sand beaches, Japanese caves, colonial houses, historical landmarks to name a few.
Proof to how guests were entice by its beauty, Albay hosted national and international events like UNWTO-ASEAN 2014, XTERRA Off-road Triathlon 2015, and the upcoming PATA Tourism Frontier, where the province able to share its experiences in transcending and mitigating the inevitable effects of climate change, having the world’s first and only Climate Change Academy and Disaster Risk Management Training Institute. It has zero crime rate against tourists and has modern health facilities.
With all the beautiful destinations and the warmest welcome it can offer to guests and tourists, the province make tourism as one of its priority programs.
WHAT TO DO IN ALBAY?
A. COLORS OF ALBAY TOUR CIRCUIT
Albay offers vast number of tourist attractions that are organized into tourism circuits to cater to the specific preferences and interests of our visitors. The “Colors of Albay” are the following:
• “Green Lane” refers to the special tourism circuit that focuses on eco-tourism and highlights the province’s natural resources and nature formations, such as natural habitats, waterfalls, caves, and eco-parks;
• “Blue Lane” refers to the special tourism circuit devoted to eco-nautical tourism promoting water sports, visits to marine reservation, scuba diving, interaction with marine life and other water activities;
• “Brown Lane” refers to the special tourism circuit that showcases indigenous products, processes, and services which shall include but not limited to trade and souvenir centers, showcasing and selling local culinary treats and native products including abaca handcrafted products, pottery, woven fabrics, cutlery, precious and semiprecious stones, and art products; and
• “Gold Lane” refers to the special tourism circuit that highlights Albay’s tangible and intangible heritage including but not limited to colonial houses, churches, monuments, ruins and relics, tunnels, philosophy, customs, traditions, practices and artistic works and expressions.
B. SAVOR ALBAY’S CUISINES
Food is also a great part of the Albay experience and the local cuisine is one of the most interesting fares in the country. Dishes served from the 65 restaurants in Albay are borne from tradition to culture that is mixed up in a tantalizing melting pot of various flavors, along with a couple of dashes of new fusion cuisine. These establishments are all supported and promoted by the province as part of its culinary tourism program.
Albay’s renowned local dishes are the Bicol Express, pinangat (a dish which combines taro leaves, chili, meat and coconut milk), and pili nut. Offering local specialty cuisines are encouraged and often result in interesting gourmet fusions making Albay’s restaurants some of the most distinct in the country. Another uniquely Albayano dessert that catches gourmet’s attention is the sili ice cream— made from famous scorching chili & comes in varying degrees of hotness.
C. TOURISTS READY AND FRIENDLY
Albay is accessible by land, air, and sea. It has its own airport – The Legazpi Airport, which received chartered Xiamen-Legazpi flights that started in 2014. Construction is underway for the Bicol International Airport in Daraga, which is scheduled for completion in 2016. Buses operate daily between Manila and Albay, and the buses from the South carried by ferries. It has a well-built road system with the leas capex subsidy needed from the National Government. Albay is also the only province with two international seaports in Tabaco City and Legazpi City.
There are more than 154 establishments in Albay with a total room capacity of 2,903. These include luxurious and posh hotels and resorts that also serves as a world-class convention center, hosting a variety of national and international meetings, incentives, conferences, and events.

http://albay.gov.ph/tourism/