How to get to Baguio
So I would say there is two way to get there, and one is by car and the other is by bus. Since we have a car when we are in the Philippines we chose that option. But I would also say if you have the opportunity, that would be the best option. Because the buses in the Philippines are known as the death buses but don’t get me wrong, we have taken a bus a lot of time. Last time we went there and took our car, most of it is a highway, where buses are allowed to driver either 60 or 80 km/t, and we were driving 100 km/t and were still overtaken by a lot of buses, and they do think they are the kings of the road.
Another option if you are more people are of course to rent a small minivan, where you also can instruct the driver if you don’t feel comfortable if he drives to fast.
Most people are properly driving from Manila as we did, and the route takes anywhere from 2-3 up to 5-6 hours depending on when you drive doing the day and which day. Here I would recommend checking on Waze or Google Map, so you get an idea of the trip you are going on.
Weather in Baguio
I thought this deserved its section on the page because it is not like the rest of the Philippines. We went there in January, and doing the night time it the temperature dropped to somewhere just below 20 degrees, which was so nice for a Scandinavian man like me to experience in the tropical.
So do remember to bring hot clothes. Doing the day however it was like a North European summer day, somewhere between 25-30 degrees.
The reason for the colder weather is because it is high up in the mountains.
Where to stay in
Baguio is full of hotels, and you can get anything from budget to premium, we stayed at a hotel called Travelite Hotel Legarda and it was a good choice. They had private parking and it was not too far away from the city center where you have Burnham park and nearby Session Road.
Next time I would properly stay near Session Road since it seems to be here thing is happening in Baguio and you still have a short walk to Burnham park
We paid 2000 PHP per night, and the rooms were big enough for 2 adults and 2 children.
What to do
This is not a full list of all the things to see and visit in Baguio, and if you feel like we are missing someplace, please head down to the comments section and let us know.
But all the place listed here is places we have visited ourself. We went there Friday morning and went home again Sunday, and would say it was enough to see the main attractions.
Mines View Observation Deck
We started our day here since we heard if you come early there are less people, and even better the traffic was not that bad. Which we could easily see when we left, the was a long queue for cars to get op here. We chose not to take our car and took a taxi instead since they were cheap, and we did not have to get into the hassle of parking.
The Observation Deck in a nice place to get a picture of some of the spectacular landscape surrounding Baguio, and can easily be recommended, since the next attraction (The Mansion House) is just a short walk from there. Don’t be lazy it just takes 10 minutes to walk don’t there, and it is good for most people 😉
The Mansion House & Wright Park
The Mansion House is nothing special. I mean it is properly nice inside, but when we where there you could just walk inside the gate and take a picture. It would have been nice if they would have opened a bit more so we at least could take a stroll around in the garden.
Wright Park was an okay pine tree garden to take a stroll in, but again nothing special, but walking is healthy for all of us and nice to walk and talk with the kids.
But if we do combine all three attractions, I do think the short trip up there is worth it.
Burnham park
When we were here in 2020, we saw some big plans of making this city center even better. But don’t cheat yourself for a bit of rowing on the lake. Everybody can do it, and it is fun for the kids to do a bit of slow sailing if they are not used to it.
The surrounding gocart track we did not try, and honestly, I think one track would have been enough, but the Filipinos seemed to love it.
Overall Burnham park is a nice place, and you could even bring a picnic basket and have your lunch here.
Main Street / Session Road
We only went to the beginning of the street, but it did seems like it would have been nice to take the challenge and walk up the streetand down again. As I saw it was a mix of restaurants and shopping.
It is an uphill street so be prepared with nice footwear.
Night market
The night market in Baguio seems to be quiet popular, but in my opinion, if you have younger kids, then don’t go. It is so over crowded and is way beyond there sleeping time and not worth it. Save you money and don’t buy that extra pair of pants that you don’t need anyway 😉
Strawberry and veggies Farms
This is worth a visit, we went there on Sunday, but I would say go there as early as possible because we had to drive through all of Baguio again to get out, and back to manila, and the traffic in Baguio is insane on Sunday noon.
we took a small stroll here and to finally see fresh veggies here in the Philippines was nice. But since it had been raining a bit doing the night we did no got out into the fields, but then again nothing beat picking you own strawberries even they are more expensive than the already picked.
Also, the veggies seamed cheap here, so we did buy some for the following week which can be recommended. But don’t buy all their strawberry wine and so on, even it seems like a good idea at the time when they give you the tasting, then you are properly never going to enjoy that much when you come home 🙂
So my recommendation would be to only buy some strawberries and fresh veggies.
Watch the video from our trip
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