Tarlac City itself is short on big sights, but the surrounding province makes for rewarding day trips. The Capas National Shrine, half an hour north, is the biggest single attraction — a hilltop memorial to the tens of thousands of Filipino and American soldiers who died at the end of the Bataan Death March in 1942. Closer to town, the Aquino Center in Hacienda Luisita is a small museum dedicated to Ninoy and Cory Aquino, founded on the family estate where Cory grew up. The Museo ng Tarlac on Romulo Boulevard covers the province's full history from pre-colonial Aeta culture through the American period — free admission, well worth an hour.
The Monasterio de Tarlac on Mount Resurrection at San Jose is the other set-piece — a Catholic shrine with a giant statue of the Risen Christ overlooking the plain, reached by a winding mountain road. San Sebastian Cathedral anchors the Plaza Maniago in the town centre. Tarlac's Spanish-era churches in the smaller towns of Camiling and Paniqui are also worth a stop if you are driving through.