Daraga is a quiet municipality in Albay province, in the Bicol region of the Philippines, best known for something it didn't plan to have: the dramatic ruins of the Cagsawa church, buried to its bell tower by the 1814 eruption of Mayon Volcano. That bell tower, jutting from green fields with the near-perfect cone of Mayon rising behind it, has become one of the most photographed scenes in the Philippines.
The town itself is a short drive from Legazpi City, the provincial capital. Most visitors come on a half-day trip from Legazpi to see the Cagsawa Ruins — but the surrounding countryside, with rice paddies and views of Mayon from every angle, rewards a slower pace. The hilltop Daraga Church is one of the finest baroque churches in Bicol, and the volcano dominates the landscape entirely: you stop noticing it, then you turn a corner and there it is again, impossibly symmetrical against the sky.
Daraga is small and largely untouristed beyond the ruins. The atmosphere is unhurried, the locals friendly, and the setting — between the volcano and the coast — genuinely beautiful.