Events and Culture

This religious and cultural festival in Iloilo City, held annually on the 4th Sunday of January, is one of the biggest and world-class festivals in the country. It commemorates the devotion to the Sr. Sto. Nino, the arrival of the Malay settlers, and the barter of Panay Island from the Ati natives. This award-winning festival features colorful performances that depict life in Panay before the Spanish settlers arrived in the island.

Madge Cafe is a casual, homey coffee shop that has been serving native Iloilo coffee since 1940. Located inside La Paz Public Market, it mostly sells native Arabica coffee and beans harvested north of Iloilo.

Calle Real, officially named as J.M. Basa Street, is a historic street located in the old downtown district Iloilo City Proper of Iloilo City, Philippines. It is often referred to as the "Escolta of Iloilo", with American era, neoclassical, beaux-arts, and art deco buildings. The street's heritage designation by the local government, has been expanded into a zone known as Calle Real Heritage Zone.

The Old Iloilo City Hall, officially known as the University of the Philippines Visayas Main Building, is a historic building in Iloilo City which features neo-classical architecture that was built in the 1930s, used in 1947 during the war by the Japanese, and later on given to the University of the Philippines Visayas by then Mayor Fernando Lopez.

Griller's Oyster House is a chain of restaurants that specializes in steamed, baked, hot chili, crispy fried, and sizzling oysters. It now has several branches even outside of Iloilo.

Arevalo Handwoven Products is a specialty shop that sells handwoven textile products in Iloilo City, Iloilo, Philippines. Locally called "hablon", which was derived from the Hiligaynon "habol" which means "to weave", hablon refers to both the process and finished product. It is reminiscent of the time when Iloilo was the leading center of the textile and other weaving crafts in the Philippines.

Casa Mariquit is a well-preserved Spanish colonial "bahay na bato" (house of stone) owned by the prominent Javellana and Lopez families of Iloiilo. It is open to tourists during the day.

Tatoy's Manokan and Seafoods is one of Iloilo's most popular family-owned restaurants which has been in business for 45 years. It was founded by Honorato “Tatoy” Espinosa, whose family first started chicken barbeque in a humble setup outside the house as a means to augment livelihood. Today, the small business has expanded to several branches where inasal-style (stuffed with lemongrass and tamarind leaves) chicken barbecue remains to be a besteseller along with seafood specialties.

Breakthrough Restaurants have been serving specialty seafood and local Ilonggo cuisine for three decades. They opened their first restuarant in Jaro, Iloilo in 1986.

Located on the former site of Mandurriao Airport in the heart of Iloilo's business district, Iloilo Comvention Center contains exhibition halls, function rooms, VIP rooms fronted by an iconic facade whose architecture was inspired by the sails of the Paraw Regatta Festival.