Tarlac

Explore Tarlac

Tarlac is the most multicultural of the Central Luzon provinces. A mixture of four distinct groups – the Pampangos, Ilocanos, Pangasinenses and Tagalogs – share this province and living together resulted in offering to the visitors the best cuisine of the places where their ancestors had come from, namely Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Zambales, Pangasinan and the Ilocos Region. Tarlac is also best known for its fine foods and vast sugar and rice plantations. That it has fine cooking to offer is largely due to the fact that it is the melting pot of Central Luzon. Its myriad of historical sites, fine foods, vast sugar and rice plantations, and a beautifully landscaped golf course plus so many other attractions all make the province of Tarlac one of the best places to visit in Central Luzon.

Brief History

The name “Tarlac” is a Hispanized derivation of the Aeta word for a “talahib-like” weed called “Malatarlak.” The Aetas lived in the western mountain regions of what is now the municipality of Bamban. Tarlac Province was the last province organized in Central Luzon in 1874 by the Spaniards. It was carved out from the provinces of Pampanga and Pangasinan, which explains the two major dialects spoken in the area, namely, Kapampangan (by more than half of the population) and Ilocano (roughly 41%)

Festivals and Attractions

Inuruban and Chicharon Festival of Camiling (October 8)
Buyboy Festival of San Clemente (Last Saturday and Sunday of April)
Melting Pot Festival or Malatarlak Festival of Tarlac City (January 20)
Feast of Immaculate Conception of Concepcion (December 8)
Belenismo sa Tarlac (December)

Mt. Pinatubo Crater in Capas
Sikwako River Pool in Bamban
Monasterio de Tarlac in San Jose
Anzap Twin Falls in Mayantoc
Nambalan River in San Jose