Visit Eastern Visayas

Every village, town, city or province, whether big or small, has its own popular spot where locals would bring their families or visiting friends to a picnic or just to relax and enjoy. This place may either be a park, a beach, a spring, a waterfall or a hilltop that gives a panoramic view of tall trees, rolling hills and winding rivers.

Yes, this is true in the Eastern Visayas region, which is located in eastern central Philippines. Composed of Samar, Leyte and Biliran islands, Eastern Visayas boasts, among others, of several beautiful man-made structures like the picturesque 2.16-km San Juanico Bridge, one of the longest bridges in Asia; the Agas-Agas Bridge, which is one of the tallest at nearly a kilometer high; and several old historical churches.

Samar Island has been known as the site where navigator Ferdinand Magellan and his men landed on March 16, 1521 in Homonhon Island in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, an event that has been known in our history as the “discovery of the Philippines,”and the Balangiga Encounter and the Battle of Catubig, events that occurred during the Philippine-American War in Balangiga, Eastern Samar in 1901 and Catubig, Northern Samar in 1900, respectively.

On the other hand, Leyte is famous as the place where Gen. Douglas MacArthur and the Allied Forces landed on the shore of Red Beach, Palo, Leyte (and on nearby beaches) on October 20, 1944 and for the Battle of Leyte Gulf, considered the biggest naval battle in history, which started about two days before the landings.

For nature lovers, Eastern Visayas offers beaches either with pink, white, grey or black sand; natural rock formations like those found in Biri town; caves like those found in Basey, Calbiga and Maasin City; magnificent waterfalls like the Lulugayan Falls in Calbiga and the Amandaraga Falls in Lawaan, Eastern Samar; beautiful lakes like Lake Danao in Ormoc City and Lake Mahagnao in Burauen, Leyte; and white-sand beaches like the Higatangan island in Naval, Biliran and Kalanggaman island in Palompon, Leyte.

While in Eastern Visayas, visitors can go swimming, zip-lining, scuba diving, snorkeling, spelunking, mountain climbing, trekking, biking, skim-boarding, kayaking, boating, river cruising, whale watching, bird watching and island hopping, among other activities. They can also watch and even join the merriment in our festivals (we have many of them), partake on our foods during our fiestas and mingle with our amiable and hospitable peolple..

A visit to our region can never be boring. I have traveled to many different places in Eastern Visayas, and I was awed by the beauty of the place and the hospitability of the people.

There’s really more fun in the Eastern Visayas.

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Getting to Eastern Visayas

There are regular daily flights plying the Manila-Tacloban-Manila route. It takes about an hour to arrive at the destination. There is also a regular flight from Cebu City to Tacloban and vice versa. It takes about 30 minutes of air travel.

Aside for air travel, there are also buses plying from Metro Manila to Tacloban City and vice versa. It takes about 24 hours of land travel.

There are also many vans, buses and motor boats that travel to several destinations within the region and back to Tacloban City.

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