Aerial Views of Luzon, Philippines

New AirVuz contributor totoempainado brings us this stunning yet haunting drone video of the great city of Manila under a near-lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2019.  The Philippines capital is the center of a metropolitan area that by some measures is over 20 million in population; it's  likely been centuries since it appeared as empty and quiet as it does in the video.  With its first Covid-19 case announced in late January, by late April the Philippines had seen over 8,000 confirmed cases and over 500 deaths.  

Ride along with former Drone Video of the Week Winner davetke2002 on a journey to Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines, the site of a historic volcanic eruption in 1991.  Part of the Zambales Mountains, the stratovolcano is located in the central part of Luzon, the most populous island of the archipelago.  While there was sufficient warning to evacuate nearly all of the nearby population, the eruption pushed over 30 billion tons of dust and sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere, disrupting the global climate for at least two years thereafter.  

Sisiman is a small coastal village at the tip of the Bataan Peninsula on the island of Luzon in the Philippines, just across Manila Bay from the great capital city.  Contributor Carlos Caacbay's drone video captures this magnificent looking place, whose beauty hides a grim past: this was the starting point for the infamous Bataan Death March in an early phase of World War II, in which thousands of US and allied POW's died during early 1942 while being force-marched through the jungle by their Japanese captors.   

Bicol is the southern region of Luzon, the largest island of the Philippines.  The Bicol region also includes several large islands, such as Masbate and Burias, and many smaller ones.  Much less populated than central Luzon, Bicol is perhaps best known as the home of Mayon, an active volcano with a perfectly symmetrical conical shape.  Contributor Crlo Caacbay created this epic drone video of the region, home to some of the most stunning natural scenery in Luzon and indeed in all of Southeast Asia.

The official region of Luzon in the northern part of the Philippines includes not only the huge namesake island itself but many islands surrounding it.  The Batanes are a group of islands lying well north of Luzon Island.  These sparsely occupied islands are home to stunning cliffs and magnificent views of the South China Sea.  Content creator and pilot JC Gellidon used a DJI Phantom 4 drone to create this spectacular view of these islands, which constitute the northernmost territory of the country.  

Take an aerial tour through Luzon and Siargao by drone with pilot PinpinBobis. Luzon is the country’s largest and most popular island. It’s known for its natural landscapes like its mountains, beaches, and coral reefs. Manila, the national capital, is famous for its sunsets and Spanish-colonial landmarks, centuries-old Chinatown, and plenty of national memorials, and is located on Luzon. The much smaller Siargao Island is only 168.7 square miles, but is equally tropical and beautiful. 

While the Philippines island Luzon is the country's most heavily populated, the vast majority of the island's population lives in the central part of the highland.  In contrast, the mountainous northern part of the island, which is home to some of its most spectacular natural scenery, is sparsely populated.  In this video by top contributor Jack Shirley, you'll get an aerial tour of the region, including some awesome bird's eye views of Sagada, Banaue, Buscalan, Tinglayan, Bugnay, and more.

Contributor Liwanders brings us this beautiful drone's eye view of Baler, a beach town in the Philippines with a storied place in the world of film.  Baler is situated in the Aurora Province of east central Luzon, a 2-3 hour drive from Manila.  Famously, baler was the shooting location for one of the great scenes of 20th century film: the "Ride of the Valkyries" helicopter attack sequence in the 1979 epic  Apocalypse Now.  The movie helped turn Baler from an obscure beach town to the surfing capital of the Philippines.

Contributor Guio gives us an amazing bird's eye view of the area around Sagada in the Highlands of Luzon, the most populous island of the Philippines.  Sagada is part of the Mountain Province, which itself is part of the Cordilera Administrative Region which takes up much of north central Luzon.  It's a stunningly beautiful area, and in the video you'll see some of the most amazing rice terraces in the Philippines.  Sagada is also home to numerous caves, valleys, and other points of geological interest. 

Contributor and pilot Travel Imagez created this amazing aerial view of the Batad Rice Terraces in central Luzon, Philippines.  The Batad are part of the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, which has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site.  The age of these terraces isn't known exactly but is believed to be as old as 2,000 years.  Moviegoers may recognize the Batad; the famous rice terraces made an appearance in the ending scene of the 2018 blockbuster film Avengers: Infinity War.

Contributor Franz_pilot created this beautiful drone video of Mindoro, a large island of the northern Philippines.  Mindoro lies off the coast of Luzon (the country's largest island), and is itself the seventh largest island in the country.  Mindoro has a unique native culture, one which is distinct from the various cultures of Luzon to the north and the Visayan Islands to the south.  As you will see from the video, it's a mountainous island, featuring brilliant white sand beaches along its extensive coastline.  

Contributor Ian Gongona created this stunning aerial of Tinalisayan, a tiny island in the Philippines.  It's located just north of Burias Island, an oblong-shaped island which in turn lies to the west of southern Luzon.  The entire group of islands makes up the province of Masbate.  While Masbate is technically part of the Luzon region (which includes the main island as well as many surrounding islands), in terms of the landscape and culture it is closer to the Visayan Islands (central) region of the country.  

The Philippines consists of over 7,000 islands, many of which are just barely visible on a map. Here is one of them.  It's called Animasola, and it sits roughly between Burias Island and the main island of Luzon in a body of water called the Gulf of Ragay.  It's part of the Marbate province, which is in turn part of the Luzon region.  Barely visible on Google Maps if you zoom in enough, you'll see why when you check out this fantastic bird's eye view of this tiny bit of tropical paradise, compliments of Ian Gongona.  

Content creator and drone pilot Marc Piramide created this beautiful bird's eye view of a town in the mountains of the northern Philippines.  Baguio is in the highlands area of Luzon, the country's largest island.  With an elevation of about 1.5 km (around a mile) and a cool mountain climate, it's known as the Summer Capital of the Philippines.  Located in the province of Benguet, the city is comparatively young: it was built out of a US Army position established after the Spanish-American War in 1900.   

Contributor and drone pilot @surf.the.sky shares aerial footage of tropical storm Rosita taking over a beach on the Catanduanes Island in the Philippines.  It's part of the Bicol region, off the southeastern part of Luzon, the most populous island in the country.  The relaxing vibe of the island is suddenly shaken when a violent wave sweeps in, flooding the entire beach full of vacationers and grass covered huts. How do things turn out in the aftermath of Rosita? Keep watching to see for yourself.

Talk about a wedding for the ages!  This prenuptial video was filmed primarily with drone footage from the province of Zambales in western Luzon, Philippines.  The area around Anawangin Cove features epic views of the South China Sea, backdropped by the mountains which run up and down this part of the country, part of the official region of Western Luzon on the country's most populous island.  With this kind of production for the prenup, we can only imagine what's in store for the wedding ceremony! 

AirVuz contributor Jibo888 returns to AirVuz after a hiatus of three years, bringing us this excellent drone video of Pangasinan, a province of western Luzon in the Philippines.  Situated north northwest of Manila in the area surrounding the Gulf of Lingayen, the native inhabitants of Pangasinan maintain a distinctive culture and language.  Featured locations include San Roque Dam;  the Dipalo River, San Quintin; Sky Plaza and Maranum Falls, Natividad; Hundreds Island, Alaminos; Sun Flower Maze; Tayug; Busay Falls, Bani; and much more. 

Contributor and drone pilot Ian Gongona created this marvelous video of a tiny island off the coast of Luzon in the Philippines.  Not to be confused with an island of the same name near the Caribbean island of Anguilla, it's located just to the north of Marikiban Island in Balayan Bay.  The entire area is part of the Batangas region of western Luzon.  For semi-obvious reasons, it's also known as Sombrero Island.  Barely visible on a map, the tiny island (which does indeed resemble a hat) sparkles in the bright blue sea.  

The westernmost portion of the Pangasinan province of Luzon is the municipality of Bolinao.  Situated in the western part of Luzon, Bolinao is surrounded by the sea, with the Lingayen Gulf to its east and the South China Sea to its west.  Bolinao is generally considered to be one of the most scenic areas in all of Luzon, the Philippines' largest island.  Content creator and pilot Carlo Caacbay used a drone combined with ground camera footage to create this spectacular virtual tour of this spectacular tropical region.  

Take in these aerial views from the island of Luzon in the Philippines, compliments of AirVuz contributor jibo888. The video was filmed over the municipality of Pagudpud in the province of Ilocos Norte, the northernmost province of the "mainland" of Luzon.  Pagudpud is the northernmost settlement on Luzon, and its beautiful beaches have made it a popular destination.  It's located about an hour's drive north of Laoag, the provincial capital city.  The video also features nice shots of the wind turbines which line the coast here.  

Check out this stunning drone video of the Balesin Island Club, a resort on a small, island in the northern Philippines, compliments of contributor Antone_maa. As its name suggests, it's located on Balesin Island.  The island is situated in the middle of Lamond Bay, a body of water which dominates the geography of east-central Luzon, more or less due east from Manila.  A tropical paradise, Balesin lies to the south of the three larger islands which form the northern end of the bay, the largest of which is Pollilo.  

Check out this stunning aerial view of a well known mountain in the northern Philippines.  It's called Mount Guiting-Guiting.  It's situated on Sibuyan, an island in the Sibuyan Sea, south of Luzon.  The mountain has a peak elevation of about 2.05k meters, or around 6.75k ft.  Known in part for its impressive range of biodiversity, the mountain is part of the Mt. Guiting-Guiting Natural Park.  The mountain (and island) is part of the province of Romblon, which covers the main islands in the Sibuyan Sea.  

Contributor and pilot Jona Bend shot this amazing drone video of an entire abandoned theme park in the Philippines.  The Fantasy World park, intended to be a sort Philippines equivalent of Disney World, was built in a remote area of southern Luzon in 2001.  Due to the owner's financial difficulties, the park near Batangas (one of the provinces of southern Luzon) was abandoned and never completed.   It now stands, empty and abandoned, as a bizarre reminder of an ambitious but ill-fated investment.  

Did you know lighthouses originated over a thousand years ago? Seaside cities would build fires on hilltops as a way to guide ships into port. Sometime later, the fires were elevated on towers. It wasn't until the turn of the 18th century, when the shipping industry got its start, that they were used to warn captains of rocks or reefs. This old Japanese lighthouse, sitting in the middle of the sea, was supposedly built during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. It sits near the southern end of Luzon.

Take an aerial tour of the Philippines province of Aurora, compliments of AirVuz contributor url_eleven.  One of the country's 81 provinces, Aurora occupies much of the middle section of the east coast of Luzon, the country's most populous island.  Bordered by the Philippines sea to the east, Aurora's western side backs up to the Sierra Madre Mountains, a chain which runs down the "spine" of eastern Luzon.  For reasons you will appreciate when you see the video, it's considered one of the most beautiful provinces of Luzon.  

Check out this drone video of the Ilocos region of the Philippines, compliments of contributor GTMonZowns.  Ilocos covers the western coast of northern Luzon (the most populous island in the Philippines archipelago), on the South China Sea.  The region is subdivided into four districts.  The video features locations in the Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur, the northernmost two districts:  Ilocos Sur and Norte, Philippines: the city of Vigan City, Paoay Church, and the wind turbines of Bangui.

AirVuz contributor Antone_maa brings us this excellent drone video record of a trip to the Philippines province of La Union.  One of the 81 provinces of this Southeast Asian island archipelago, La Union lies on the western side of Luzon, the country's most populous island.  It's considered the center of the larger Ilocos Region, which covers much of the northwestern coast of the island on the South China Sea.  Located about 275 km (aroun 170 mi.) north of Manila, La Union is bordered by the Sierra Madre Mountain range to the east.  

The Agno River in the Philippines is one of the main waterways of Luzon, the most populous island in this 7,000+ island Southeast Asian archipelago.  The Ago drains the Luzon highlands, which dominate the geography of northern Luzon.  The river runs a length of just over 200 km (around 130 mi.), emptying into the Lingayen Gulf, an inlet of the South China Sea.  In this drone video, you'll get an aerial glimpse of the river as it runs its course through Pangasinan, one of the provinces of northwestern Luzon.  

AirVuz content creator and pilot jj_maghirang created this beautiful drone video from a little-known archipelago within the Philippines.  It's a province called Romblon, and it's situated a bit to the southwest of the island of Luzon (by far the most populous of the Philippines islands), east of Mindoro, and north of the island of Penay.  Romblon is part of the region called Mimaropa, which extends west all the way to the island of Palawan, the westernmost province of the Philippines.  

Rizal is a province of south central Luzon, the main island of the Philippines.  It's part of a larger region called Calabarzon, which covers much of the area to the east and southeast of Manila.  Rizal covers the western foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains, a range which runs down the "spine" of eastern Luzon. Contributor Jona Bend used a drone to record a hiking/biking trip through Rizal.  Featured locations include Mt. Lagyo, Mt Parawagan, Mt. Balagbag, Wawa Dam, Mt. Pamitinan, Kinabuan Falls, Masung, and more.

Check out this drone video of the inactive volcano known as Mt. Batulao in the Philippines, compliments of contributor yeluntalan.  It's an inactive stratovolcano in Calabarzon, a region which covers a large chunk of the island of Luzon to the south and east of Manila Bay.  With a peak elevation of around 700 meters above sea level (about 2.3k ft.), it forms the northwestern rim of the formation known as the Taal Caldera.  Just 85 km (a bit over 50 mi.) south of Manila, it's a popular mountain getaway from the Philippines capital city.  

The Batanes province of the Philippines is the northernmost in this giant Southeast Asian archipelago.  The province consists of a group of islands roughly between the northern "mainland" of Luzon and the island nation of Taiwan to the north.  Seen here in this DVOM Finalist drone video by jj_maghirang, the Batanes were populated by a distinctive ethnic group which migrated here over 4,000 years ago, and didn't come under control of the Spanish until the late 18th century - much later than the rest of the Philippines.

The Philippines was hit by the Covid-19 epidemic relatively late, with fewer than 100 confirmed cases until March 14, 2020.  From that point, the case count rapidly escalated to over 2,000 by the end of the month, with about 70% of those cases in Metropolitan Manila; the  entire island of Luzon was placed under "enhanced community quarantine" on March 16.   In this drone video by new contributor brando reneses, you'll see what this looks like in Lucban, a municipality in the province of Quezon, southeast of Manila.

For a first upload to AirVuz, new contributor DharrenPark brings us this excellent drone video from the island of Luzon in the Philippines.  The video was filmed over the municipalities of Candaba and Balucuc in Pampanga, which lies along the northern shore of Manila Bay and extends some distance northwards into the interior of the island.  The first province established by Spain on the island of Luzon in the late 16th century, Pampanga is known for its extensive rice fields as well as the Arayat volcano, seen at a distance in the video. 

Check out this fantastic drone video from the northern Philippines, compliments of brand-new AirVuz contributor and pilot Vida Carag.  It was filmed in the municipality of Pagudpud, the northernmost settlement on Luzon, the most populous island in the archipelago nation.  Part of the province of Ilocos Norte, Pagudpud has become a popular tourist destination.  It's situated about 75 km (around 45 mi.) north of the provincial capital of Laoag City and about 560 km (around 360 mi.) north of the national capital in Manila.  

Jibo888 created this brilliant 4k drone video of Pangasinan, a province of western Luzon in the Philippines.  Situated north northwest of Manila in the area surrounding the Gulf of Lingayen, the native inhabitants of Pangasinan maintain a distinctive culture and language.  The video includes aerial footage of some of the region's most well-known spots, including the Hundred Islands National Park, Alaminos City, Tondaligan beach, Natividad Pangasinan, Maranum Falls, Bolinao Beach Resort, and more.

Contributor and drone pilot Andres Ascencio created this stunning aerial video of the northern part of Luzon in the Philippines.  The Iloco region of the most populous island in the Philippines archipelago is located in its far northwestern corner, on the South China Sea.  It is far less well known than the area around the Lingayen Gulf which lies to the south of Iloco.  The video includes footage of "mainland" Iloco as well as of Badoc, a tiny island which is a short distance off of a peninsula at Lobit.

Manila is the largest city in the Philippines and one of the great cities of Asia.  Situated at the head of Manila Bay on the island of Luzon (the Philippines most populous island), Manila is the center of a vast metropolitan area of over 20 million as of 2019.  It's one of the most populous cities in the world as well as one of the most densely populated.  In this drone video by GTonZowns, you'll get an aerial tour of the great metropolis, which was once one of the most important cities in the vast Spanish overseas Empire.  

Contributor Jc Gellidon created this amazing drone video of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines, the site of one of the most explosive volcanic eruptions of the 20th century.  Fortunately, there was sufficient warning such that most of the people directly in harm's way were evacuated and thus avoided injury when the explosion occurred on June 15, 1991.  The eruption pushed over 30 billion tons of dust and sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere, disrupting the global climate for at least two years thereafter.