Camarines Norte serves as the gateway to the Bicol Region from the rest of Luzon. It faces the Pacific Ocean on the north, San Miguel Bay on the east, Basiad Bay on the west and the provinces of Quezon and Camarines Sur on the south.

Camarines Norte is also the home of prominent people like Jose Maria Panganiban, a brilliant propagandist during Rizal's time; General Vicente Lukban, a patriot and revolutionary leader; and Wenceslao Q. Vinzons, one of the youngest delegates to the 1934 constitutional convention and a World War II hero.

Like other provinces, agriculture is the primary source of living in Camarines Norte, with coconut and abaca as major products. Other crops harvested are banana, corn, rice and root crops. The townspeople along the coast on the other hand, are into fishing. They export fish, shrimps and assorted dried fish from the town of Mercedes to Manila. Some residents are also engaged in small-scale businesses such as handicrafts, furniture-making, metal craft, ceramics, garments and a few food-processing factories.

The province also has rich deposits of gold, iron, copper, uranium, lead and zinc. The town of Paracale is considered as the 'gold country' of the province. Way back the pre-Spanish period, the residents are known to have worked the mines and goldsmiths have molded the metal into fine crafted pieces. Paracale is the center of jewelry-making industry and is still regarded as a good place to purchase fine gold jewelry. One of the ancient jewels made in Paracale is the 'agrimon', a flat necklace chain of the 19th century.

Tourist attractions include white sand beaches, underground caves, waterfalls, historic shrines and parklands. Mercedes town has the underwater Canton Cave, which is visible only at low tide. The capital town of Daet boasts of being the first municipality in the entire Philippines to erect a public statue of our National Hero, Dr. Jose Rizal.

Camarines Norte holds some well-known festivities such as the Capalonga Festival. It is an annual celebration held every May 11-12 honoring the feast day of the Black Nazarene, which draws people of Chinese descent to this small town to seek favors for an auspicious business climate. A series of processions are held around the main streets of the town during the day. Other festivities are the Mercedes Fishtival, a fishermen's thanksgiving celebration from August 4-8; Vinzons Day, a commemoration of the birth of Wenceslao Vinzons; and Daet’s Pineapple Festival, held on June 15-21 every year showcasing the famous sweet Formosa pineapples that are abundantly growing in Daet.

Daet is the center of the route linking Manila and Legaspi. It can be reached by the buses that leave Manila every hour daily. The trip from Manila takes about 6 to 7 hours.