Camarines Sur (Central Bikol: Habagatan na Camarines; Tagalog: Timog Camarines), officially the Province of Camarines Sur (Bikol: Probinsya kan Habagatan na Camarines; Tagalog: Lalawigan ng Timog Camarines), is a province in the Philippines located in the Bicol Region on Luzon. Its capital is Pili and the province borders Camarines Norte and Quezon to the northwest, and Albay to the south. To the east lies the island province of Catanduanes across the Maqueda Channel.
Camarines Sur is the largest among the six provinces in the Bicol Region both by population and land area. Its territory includes two cities: Naga, the lone chartered and independent city, as the province’s religious, cultural, financial, commercial, industrial and business center; and Iriga, a component city, as the center of the Rinconada area and Riŋkonāda Language. Within the province lies Lake Buhi, where the smallest commercially harvested fish, the Sinarapan (Mistichthys luzonensis), can be found. The province is also home to the critically endangered Isarog Agta language, one of the three critically endangered languages in the Philippines according to UNESCO.
Where to Go?
PEÑAFRANCIA BASILICA
Located on the outskirts of Naga City, the Peñafrancia Basilica enshrines the image of Our Lady of Peñafrancia—an 18th century sculpture of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Patroness of Bicol. It is one of the largest Marian Pilgrimage Sites in Asia.
