Kabayan National Museum

The Cordillera


This compact museum is a good introduction to this part of the Cordillera. Ask the friendly curator to explain the difference between traditional clothing of the rich and poor; show off a backpack used to carry pigs and a female mummy; explain local death rites; and point out the Kankanay and Ikalahan ritual artefacts and plants used in the mummification process.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby The Cordillera attractions

1. Opdas Mass Burial Cave

0.3 MILES

On the southern edge of town (in someone’s backyard), this spooky charnel house has hundreds of skulls and bones between 500 and 1000 years old lined up…

2. Tinongchol Burial Rock

1.14 MILES

About 3km northwest of Kabayan, near barangay Kabayan Barrio, is the Tinongchol Burial Rock, where several coffins have been leveraged into cuts in a…

3. Timbac Caves

2.06 MILES

These are the most well-preserved and interesting Ibaloi mummies that you can see in the area but unfortunately the caves have been closed since 2016…

4. Bangao Mummy Caves

3.04 MILES

The forests around Kabayan hide dozens of mummy caves that only Ibaloi elders can locate; the nearest site where you can see some (not terribly well…

6. St Louis University Museum

21.15 MILES

This campus museum is run by Isekias 'Ike' Picpican, one of the country’s foremost authorities on the history and culture of the Cordillera people. You…

7. Camp John Hay

21.2 MILES

A Japanese internment camp for Allied prisoners of war in WWII, and then a US military rest-and-recreation facility, 246-hectare Camp John Hay has been…

8. Night Market

21.48 MILES

Didn't realise Baguio was so cold? The Night Market is a great place to find a cheap used hoodie or a raincoat.