Quezon Province is a long, narrow, mostly rural province on the south-east side of Luzon, Philippines' main island, named after Manuel L. Quezon, the country's second president and a native of the area. It stretches for over 200 km along the Sierra Madre mountain range and the coasts of Lamon and Tayabas Bays, with the Pacific on one side and the Sibuyan Sea on the other. The interior is dominated by rugged jungle-covered mountains and extinct volcanoes — most famously Mount Banahaw (2,170 m), a sacred mountain whose slopes are dotted with hermitages, healing springs, and small religious communities.
Most visitors to Quezon come for one of three things: beaches, mountains, or the Pahiyas Festival. The beaches are scattered along the long coastline — Borawan Island off Padre Burgos is sometimes called the "poor man's Boracay", and the Polillo Islands (Polillo, Patnanungan, Jomalig) in the Pacific to the north-east are remote and largely unvisited, with white-sand beaches and good surf. For mountain walking, Banahaw and Mount Cristobal (also known as "Devil's Mountain") are the main targets; both require permits and local guides. And the Pahiyas Festival in Lucban, held every 15 May in honour of San Isidro, is one of the most photogenic events in the Philippines — every house in the town decorates its facade with hundreds of kilos of dyed rice wafers (kiping) in elaborate patterns. Lucena City is the provincial capital and the main transport hub.
