Bayawan Boulevard & Tawo-Tawo Festival
Bayawan City, Negros Oriental · about 155 km from 3ACs Apartment, Talisay City
The seaside promenade of Negros Oriental's rice granary, home of the scarecrow festival.
About
Bayawan's seaside boulevard is where the city comes out in the evening for the breeze, street food and sunsets over the Sulu Sea. Every February it is also the starting line of the Tawo-Tawo Festival: barangay contingents in costumes of farmers, scarecrows, maya birds and carabaos dance along a 2-km route with giant scarecrow figures, celebrating the rice harvest. February 18 is a special holiday in the city for the festival.
History
Long called the 'Rice Granary of Negros South', Bayawan is now the Agricultural Capital of Negros Oriental. The Tawo-Tawo started in 1986 as a fiesta attraction, was made part of the official fiesta in 1990, and honours the patron Santo Tomas de Villanueva.
Why visit
Sunsets, street food, and one of the province's grandest festivals.
How to get there
Bayawan city proper, about 2.5 hours west of Dumaguete by bus.
- Bus Dumaguete–Bayawan
Prices (estimates)
- BoulevardFree
- FestivalFree
Hours / best time: Evenings; Tawo-Tawo Festival mid-February
Nearby places
- Santa Catalina — Banana Capital & Pakol Festival — Rolling green hills, banana farms and the Pakol Festival in Negros Oriental's 'Banana Capital'.
- Bao-Bao Peak — A short ridge hike in Bayawan's uplands with wide views over Negros's largest city by land area.
- Cayaso Cave & Underground River — A cave near Basay town with a hidden underground river of clear, drinkable water.
- Niludhan Falls — A wide curtain waterfall right beside the Bayawan–Mabinay highway — one of Negros Oriental's prides.
- Palaypay Falls — Pamplona's sulfur-tinged waterfall, fed by springs from the mountains of Sibulan.