Southern Nueva Vizcaya

The southern portion of Nueva Vizcaya is a rough agglomeration of small towns and two protected areas around the rugged and heavily forested Caraballo Mountains, which cross into Nueva Ecija to the south. It has the Dalton Pass, the road gateway to Cagayan Valley.

Understand
This area guide encompasses seven rural municipalities (and their central settlements) and two protected areas. The municipalities covered (with population from the 2015 census) are:
 * (53,000) — The largest municipality, with a bustling town center
 * (7,900) — A rural municipality only reachable on the highway between Nueva Ecija and Aurora
 * (37,000)— The junction between Maharlika Highway (Asian Highway 26) and Benguet-Nueva Vizcaya Road.
 * Dupax — Rather two municipalities, named (27,500) and  (19,000) since the 1970s, It has Spanish-era relics such as the San Vicente Ferrer Parish Church and Dampol Bridge.
 * (37,000) — Remote municipality with mountains and caves
 * (23,700) — A town along the Benguet-Nueva Vizcaya Road.
 * (16,000) — Remote municipality which encompasses most of Dalton Pass.

The two protected areas are Casecnan Protected Landscape and Salinas Natural Monument.

The region is remote, dominated by mountain peaks and rainforest, but has plains and valleys, where the Magat River, a tributary of the Cagayan River, runs southwest to northeast. Most of the population is concentrated in the plains along the Magat River valley, in the municipalities of Aritao, Bambang, Dupax del Norte, Dupax del Sur, and Kasibu.

Southern Nueva Vizcaya is the traditional homeland of the Ilongot, a tribe related to the Igorot in the Cordilleras. They used to follow the primitive practice of head-hunting until they were finally converted to Christianity in the 1960s, and soon called themselves Bugkalot to leave behind their bloody but proud past. Another indigenous group to the area are the Isinai, formerly called Mallat or Imaalat, a gentle tribe who easily embraced Christianity.

Get in
Asian Highway 26, or locally Maharlika Highway runs north to south through the area. South of Aritao, it crosses the rugged Dalton Pass from Nueva Ecija. Buses ply the highway all day, most plying routes from Manila to the northern Cordilleran provinces (Ifugao, Kalinga) and the rest of Cagayan Valley.

Benguet–Nueva Vizcaya Road (Rte 110) connects the area with Baguio, and meets the Maharlika Highway at Aritao.

Alfonso Castañeda is only reachable by road from Nueva Ecija and Aurora. It is served by buses headed for Baler.

The Pangasinan-Nueva Vizcaya Road, which partially follows the historic Villaverde Trail used by the Americans to reach Dalton Pass, connect southern Nueva Vizcaya directly with Pangasinan. The highway completely opened in May 2021, and also serves as an alternate route to the Maharlika Highway if coming from the south.

Get around
Outside of the municipalities served by the Maharlika Highway, you'll be generally taking jeepneys, which are often packed full and passengers on the roof and riding boards not uncommon. Along Maharlika Highway, transportation is primarily on provincial buses.

Dupax del Norte and Dupax del Sur
The main attraction is the old San Vicente Ferrer Parish, built in 1776; other sights are well-preserved Spanish-era monuments such as the Spanish Flagpole and Dampol Bridge — an unreinforced bridge made of bricks.



Kayapa

 * Kayapa Fruits and Vegetable Farms is a three-hour drive from Bambang highway. Travel over forested mountains and hills, cool climate, streams/rivers and terraced slopes of vegetables, fruits, flowers and rice fields. Kayapa town cuts travel time from Nueva Vizcaya to Baguio by two hours during summer. Bambang fruit and vegetable stalls also serve as outlets for fresh produce from Kayapa frequented daily by buyers from Manila and Baguio.

Kasibu
Kasibu, a remote municipality within from the town of Bambang and  from Solano, has a group of caves at the remote barangay of Capisaan, which can be reached by a four-hour jeepney ride from Solano.



Other caves in the area are Lion and Sabrina caves.



Sleep
The larger towns will have at least one hotel, and are mostly new. Most lie in the budget range, but due to the remoteness of the area, payment is expected to be in cash only.