Experience the best of Bacolod

Bacolod is the capital of Negros Occidental, on the north-west coast of Negros Island in the Visayas, in the heart of the country's sugar region. Sugar fortunes built its ancestral houses and plazas, and the city's nickname is the City of Smiles. San Sebastian Cathedral stands beside the main plaza, and the Negros Museum and the lagoon at Capitol Park are in the centre.

At nearby Talisay, the roofless ruins of the Lacson mansion, burned in 1944, are a popular landmark. Silay, about 15 km north, keeps rows of heritage houses. Mambukal, on the slopes of Mount Kanlaon, has waterfalls and hot springs, and the active volcano Kanlaon, the highest peak of the Visayas, towers over the island. Iloilo City is a short ferry ride across the strait.

Chicken inasal, chicken marinated in lemongrass and vinegar and grilled over charcoal, is eaten with rice and annatto oil, and piaya, a flat pastry filled with muscovado sugar, is the favourite sweet. The MassKara Festival fills the streets with masks and dancers each October. The dry season from December to May is most comfortable, while typhoons are most likely from July to November.