Text and Photos by: Gypsygal Prime

Better known as the summer capital of the Philippines, travellers usually flock to Baguio to escape the heat and dust of Manila. Located some 1,500 meters above sea level, nestled within the Cordillera in northern Philippines, temperature in Baguio is always below 30 degrees Celsius (this even at the height of the summer months of March to April). In the colder months of January to February, temperature drops to less than 20 degrees Celsius– that’s pretty cold for a tropical country like the Philippines.

But there’s more to Baguio than its mild climate. It has the vibrancy of the city minus the pollution and the crowds.

Below are some of the things that you can do if you can only spare a weekend in Baguio. All the venues included here are at/and or near Session Road – – the city’s commercial center and main thoroughfare:

1. Nature Tripping at the Baguio Botanical Garden — The perfect place for people seeking for a moment of peace, the Botanical Garden is home to numerous pine trees and flowers. The park is soo huge, that you can always find a corner, where you can just let your mind wander. If staying still is not your thing, you can walk, jog, do the sun salutation, or perhaps be an amateur botanist by identifying every type of plant that you can find here. There’s also something for art lovers here – right smack at the entrance is a beautiful bronze sculpture created by Filipino artist Ben-Hur Villanueva depicting the original builders of the city – Cordillera natives, Americans, Chinese and Japanese.

Directions: Just a kilometer away from Session Road, Baguio Botanical Garden is at Leonard Wood Road. If you’re taking a cab from Session Road, just tell the driver to bring you to the Botanical Garden (cab fare is less than two dollars, one way). If you’re taking the jeep, you can take the jeep going to any of the following: Mines View, Pacdal, Beckel, Country Club, Navy Base, Tuding and Itogon.

Facilities: souvenir shop, stalls selling snacks, toilet, some benches where you can sit, eat, write, and meditate; you can bring pets and kids

Fees: None

Business hours: Open daily. The gates close around 6 or 7 pm.

2. Horseback riding at the Wright Park – This is for you all cowgirls out there! Wright Park – named after Luke Edward Wright, who once Governor-General in the Philippines from 1904-1906 during the American colonial period,- is the only place in Baguio where you can rent and ride a horse for a few hours and explore Baguio on a horseback.

Lisa, long time Baguio resident and rue-blue cowgirl, has suggested some horse riding trails here

Directions: If you have a car (or in a cab), from Session road, go pass through Leonard Wood Road, past the Botanical Garden. When you reach Pacdal Circle, go towards the road which gently climbs uphill. If you’re taking the jeep, take the jeep plying the Plaza-Mines View route.

Facilities: stalls selling souvenirs, and snacks, a small cafe called Cowboy’s Haven

Cost: 300 pesos (about 6 U.S. dollars) for a one hour ride (plus guide)

3. Picture taking at Mine’s View Park –- Stand on top of the ridge and just marvel at the view of the old cooper and gold, a reminder that mining used tp be one of the key industries here. You can have your picture taken with the view of the minesite (obviously….) and the Cordillera mountain range as the background.

Directions: If you have a car (or in a cab): from Sesion Road, climb up and turn to Leonard Wood Road and go straight up C. P. Romulo Drive. As the road climbing up curves left, you will be on Outlook Drive. Mines View Park will be at the top. Or take the jeep plying the Plaza-Mines View route. Just ask the driver to drop you off at Mines View Park.

Facilities: stalls selling snacks, souvenirs, silverwork

Entrance fees: None

Business hours: Opens daily.

4. Buy bottles of strawberry jam, ube jam and peanut brittle at Good Shepherd Convent – Very near Mines View, this is the only place for the ultimate pasalubong from Baguio. The products were produced in the Mountain Maid Training Center (MMTC)- where the Good Shepherd nuns and the lay staff employ poor Cordillera students to make jams and other yummy food products including orange marmalade, pickles, sampaloc candies, mango jams…. (are you salivating already?) to be sold in the store (at the convent entrance) and thereby earn money for their schooling

Popular Filipino food blogger Marketman just can’t get enough of these Good Shepherd products:

“They really do have some of the yummiest peanut brittle I have ever tasted. Finely chopped peanuts in a delicious wafer thin caramel and flavored with just a touch of butter that is cut and expertly packed into cylindrical plastic bottles and sell for PHP95 for 500grams… what a deal!”

If you feel a bit peckish, there’s another stall in which sells snacks like chicken empanada and cup cakes also made in MMTC.

The store also sells the Good (Food) Book for 250 pesos each (or about 4 U.S. dollars)- a compilation of recipes by the Good Shepherd’s lay affiliates who are helping the MMTC in training Cordillera students.

The store accepts credit cards, but better bring cash, because the machine sometimes don’t work.

Website: http://www.goodshepherdsisters.org.ph/baguio
Address: 15 Gibraltar Road, 2600 Baguio City
Telefax: 6374- 4423865

Bonus tip: the convent has a deck which provides an excellent view of the minesite (I got my pic taken there.). You can skip Mines View Park and just head here

5. View some artworks (and have a good meal too…) – Baguio is a creative hub ( must be the weather, or the bohemian vibe or the proliferation of many parks and gardens in the city) , and if you just need to view some good artworks produced by mostly Baguio-based artists, I suggest that you go to some of these cafes (so you can have some hearty meal – and really good coffee – while looking at some paintings and photos. A meal for each person in any of these restaurants can run from,P200 to P500 (5 to 10 U.S. dollars)

If you’re a vegetarian like me then I recommend what I believe is the best vegetarian restaurant in the Philippines: Bliss Vegetarian Cafe Its funky interiors and yummy vegetarian chicharon are just two very good reasons why you have to come to this place.

Another favorite is Oh My Gulay! (OMG!), where I usually had some pasta and calamasi juice.

Those who prefer a more vatied fare can head to the renown Café by the Ruins (which is just beside the Baguio City Hall)

a. Bliss Vegetarian Café

Address: Bliss is located in lobby of Hotel Elizabeth (Gibraltar St. Corner J Felipe). The hotel is near Wright Park.

Business hours: Opens daily

Monday: 6 pm to 9 pm Dinner Only

Tuesday to Sunday: 11 am – 9 pm Tuesday – Sunday

Website: http://blissnbaguio.multiply.com/

b. Café by the Ruins

Address: 23 Chuntug, Baguio City

Telephone: 6374-4424010 / 446-4010

Fax: 6374-442-5272

Website: http://cafebytheruins.com.ph

c. Oh My Gulay!

Address: Fifth floor, La Azotea Building,upper Session Road

Just a few blocks from the SM shopping mall

6. Hear a mass at the Baguio Catholic Cathedral – or if you’re an atheist, you can always go here just to admire of the country’s most beautiful architectural structures. The rose-colored church sits on top of a hill in the heart of the city and has a view deck where you can have a bird’s eye view of Session Road.

The church was constructed Belgian Catholic Mission, consecrated in 1936 and dedicated to Our Lady of Atonement. During World War II, the church served as an evacuation center.

Directions: From Session Road, pedestrians can take the long concrete stairways (with more than a hundred steps)). If you have a car (or in a cab), you can enter the Cathedral grounds via the access road behind the Baguio Post Ofice building.

Address: Mount Mary, Cathedral Loop

Telephone: 6374- 4424256

Fax No.: 6374-3042064

Website: www. baguiocathedral.com

You can view the daily mass schedule here.

7. Shop till you drop – There are so many places to go if you need some retail therapy. In Session Road alone, you can either go to the mall, and/or haggle your way in the Baguio Public Market – cardigan, accessories, home furnishings, jam, bags, jams, strawberries. I personally recommend Narda’s Handwoven Arts and Crafts, which is just a few steps away from the Victory Liner bus station. The store sells woven bags, ponchos, placemats, tapestries and other home/fashion accessories. Oh they also accept credit cards. And store also operates a café (with Wi-Fi!) – where you can have some coffee after a day of shopping.

Narda’s
Address: 151 Upper Session Road, Engineer’s Hill
Telephone: 6374- 422 2992
Fax No.: 6374-443 9875

Website: www.nardas.com

Gypsygal’s Travel Resources

Baguo city is easily accessibly from Manila. The Victory Liner has the widest fleet catering to travelers going from Manila to Baguio. You can find schedules, ticket fare and terminal location in this site : http://www.victoryliner.com

Here’s a link to an interactive map in Baguio.

And if you want to know more about Baguio, then better head to www.gobaguio.com

the most comprehensive website on anything and everything about Baguio.