Culture
Pottery wheel workshop in Sto. Tomas
Make your own clay pot at the wheel with a Sto. Tomas potter, from PHP 300 including a kilo of clay.
Santo Tomas₱
Town
Santo Tomas
Pampanga's smallest and youngest town, known for family-run casket makers and the Sabuaga flower festival.
Santo Tomas is described as the smallest and youngest town in Pampanga, at about 21 square kilometres, with 7 barangays and about 43,000 residents at the 2020 census.
Its economy is unusual: about 300 family-owned casket businesses operate in the town, alongside ceramics and carpentry. On Easter Sunday, the Sabuaga Festival scatters flowers through the streets. The St. Thomas the Apostle Parish was founded in 1767.
Good to know about Santo Tomas
What is the smallest town in Pampanga?
Santo Tomas, at about 21 square kilometres, is described as the smallest and youngest town in Pampanga.
What is Santo Tomas known for?
Its casket-making industry, with about 300 family-owned businesses, plus ceramics and carpentry.
What is the Sabuaga Festival?
An Easter Sunday festival in Santo Tomas in which flowers are scattered. The name comes from words meaning scatter flowers.
Things to do in Santo Tomas
Attractions
Santo Tomas Apostol Parish Church
Parish of Saint Thomas the Apostle, founded in 1767, the mother church of Pampanga's smallest and youngest town.
Santo Tomas
Attractions
Pampanga Pottery and Agritourism Park
Working pottery studio and farm park in Sto. Tomas with factory tours, wheel workshops, pot painting and a showroom, open daily 8am to 5pm.
Santo Tomas₱
Upcoming events in Santo Tomas
Sat
31
Oct
Sat, Oct 31
Ataol Festival 2026, Sto. Tomas
Sto. Tomas's October 31 casket festival, with decorated coffin booths by local makers and a children's trick-or-treat.
Santo Tomas
Mar
Date TBA
Easter Sunday morning, March 28, 2027
Sabuaga Festival 2027, Sto. Tomas
Easter Sunday flower festival in Sto. Tomas, grown from the dawn Salubong, when petals are showered in honour of the Virgin Mary.
Santo Tomas
Sat
3
Jul
Sat, Jul 3
Feast of Santo Tomas Apostol, Sto. Tomas 2027
Sto. Tomas's patronal feast of Saint Thomas the Apostle, kept on July 3 since the mid-1990s.
Santo Tomas
Itineraries & guides in Santo Tomas
Travel Guides
Where to stay when visiting Sto. Tomas
Sto. Tomas has no hotels of its own. The nearest are in San Fernando, right next door.
Santo Tomas
Getting Around
How to get to Sto. Tomas
Sto. Tomas lies just south-east of San Fernando, between San Simon, Minalin and Bacolor: a short drive from the capital or Angeles.
Santo Tomas
Itineraries
Clay and caskets: half a day in Sto. Tomas
A half-day in Pampanga's smallest town: a pottery tour and workshop, the 1767 parish and the casket makers of San Vicente.
Santo Tomas
Latest stories in Santo Tomas
© LubGua987 on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SACommunity
Sabuaga: Sto. Tomas showers Easter with flowers
How the dawn Easter meeting of the risen Christ and his mother became Sto. Tomas's festival of falling petals.
Santo Tomas
© SwarmCheng on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SACulture
Pottery capital: the clay of Sto. Tomas
Kapampangan earthenware goes back to the 13th century. In Sto. Tomas, one family is making sure the craft has a future.
Santo Tomas
© Ramon FVelasquez on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SACulture
Sto. Tomas, the casket capital of Central Luzon
In Pampanga's smallest town, hundreds of families build the coffins sent to funeral parlours across the country.
Santo Tomas
History
Baliwag: how Sto. Tomas became Pampanga's youngest town
From the tardy churchgoers of Baliwag to an executive order in 1951: the long road to independence of Sto. Tomas.
Santo Tomas