Visita Iglesia in Pampanga: seven historic churches

Visita Iglesia, visiting seven or more churches to pray, is a Holy Week staple, and Pampanga has some of the country's most beautiful old churches. This route keeps driving short by looping through the south-west and back north.

1. San Guillermo Parish Church, Bacolor: half-buried by lahar, a symbol of resilience.
2. Betis Church, Guagua: the Sistine Chapel of the Philippines for its ceiling murals.
3. San Agustin Church, Lubao: a stone-and-brick Important Cultural Property.
4. Santa Rita de Casia Parish Church, Santa Rita: built from 1839, with a relic of Saint Rita.
5. Santa Catalina de Alejandria Church, Porac: a Baroque church with a rose window of Saint Catherine.
6. Holy Rosary Parish Church, Angeles: Pisamban Maragul, the big church.
7. Finish at the Apung Mamacalulu Shrine in Angeles.

Go early: churches are busiest on Maundy Thursday evening.