Weekend Story: A Baguio Holiday

After several years, the hubby and I have finally gone back to Baguio. This time around, my sister Jodie tagged along with us. It was her first time to visit Baguio and it seemed she had a blast even if it was just an overnight trip. Availing a vacation package from Edel’s Travel & Tours (this was our joke the entire time we were in Baguio!), she enjoyed the City of Pines by checking out as much tourist spots as our time and energy could handle.

Burnham Park on a Saturday morning

We stayed at Baguio Holiday Villas (BHV) on Legarda Road. It’s been our hotel of choice ever since the hubby and I first visited Baguio as a couple several years ago. We just love it there! The cozy vibe, the lush gardens in front of the villas, the very good service, the location, the low rates, the cleanliness, and a few more things. In short, we highly recommend it. Haha.

at BHV

We left Manila Friday night and rode a bus by Victory Liner through its Sampaloc terminal. The long trip was uneventful. We arrived on time in Baguio early morning of Saturday. The weather was cold but not as cold as I expected it to be. We immediately headed to our hotel, left our bags there (check-in wouldn’t happen until 3PM), went out of the hotel, had breakfast at a Jollibee near Burnham Park, and started our pasyal for that day.

boating at Burnham Park

I’ve always enjoyed walking around Burnham Park. There’s just so much to see there: the pine trees, the flower gardens, the vehicles passing through, the people walking in opposite directions, and the street vendors selling anything from snacks and fancy jewelries to little gadgets and knickknacks. I even saw what looked like a guitar center at one corner. (There was a man playing guitar, too, perhaps to attract potential buyers.) During our short stay, we’ve passed through Burnham Park several times (both riding in a taxi or just walking) because of it’s close proximity to our hotel.

So, we took Jodie to the following places: Burnham Park, Mines View Park, The Mansion, Wright Park, the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto, the Baguio Cathedral, Mt. Cloud Bookshop, SM Baguio, and the rest of Session Road. It rained hard on Saturday afternoon that instead of visiting more places, we got stuck in the hotel and just did the next best thing — sleep! We went out of the hotel at night only to have dinner and buy more food for our midnight snacking.

at SM Baguio

Anyway, here are some screenshots of Jodie’s Instagram account to give you an idea how happy she was about this Baguio holiday:

We also visited the rest house of the Legardas (the family that owns La Cocina de Tita Moning), also on Legarda Road. We wanted to check out the organic farm there and thankfully, Sir Billy was there vacationing with friends and he happily granted us access.

The only resto we tried during our trip, which was new to us, was 50’s Diner. It was packed with diners lunchtime of Saturday. We waited for several minutes before we got seated. Food arrived fast and in big servings. While the prices of the food were quite affordable, the taste was ordinary. You dine here for the ambience and the cheap food, that’s all.

my two hungry Baguio companions

Uploading pictures to our social media accounts, we received a lot of suggestions (places to visit and stuff to do) from well-meaning friends who obviously love Baguio as much as we do. Thank you, guys! We, however, weren’t able to do any of them due to time and budget constraints. On the bright side, this leaves us with more things to do in Baguio on our next trip there (hopefully this December).

On Sunday, we just had breakfast at the hotel, fixed ourselves up and packed our things, heard the morning mass at the Baguio Cathedral, bought pasalubongs for family and friends, had lunch, went back to the hotel to check out, and left for the bus terminal.

Our flight back to Manila was at 4:40PM. We hit the road on time but we encountered heavy traffic along NLEX (Bulacan part) that it took us seven and a half hours to reach Manila instead of the usual six. No biggie, though. What mattered most was that we arrived home safely.

And that’s it. Our short and fun and relaxing weekend in Baguio! 🙂

May you choose happiness always,