BAGUIO CITY, PHILIPPINES

The City of Pines, The Summer Capital of the Philippines, The City of Flowers are just some of the names that is given to Baguio. Baguio is about 4-6 hours from Manila by Private transport or by Bus.

A little history about Baguio . Baguio's name rooted from the Ibaloi word "BAGIW" which means moss. Baguio was a densely forested area when the Americans arrived. The Americans hearing the locals call the moss as "Ba-giw" which they could not clearly pronounce, Bag-iw was pronounced as "Ba-geow", and later on named Baguio. I practically grew-up in Baguio. Although I was not born here, I have lived most of my life in this City. I grew up in PMA, Philippine Military Academy located at Loakan where my father was a serviceman. Now that my father has retired from service and we relocated to Tarlac, I only get to go up to Baguio once in while to "chill-off" from the heat of Manila.




There are many tourist sites Baguio has to offer and we will share them with you.

1. PMA - Philippine Military Academy. The Premier Military Institution in the Philippines. Since this is a place dear to me, I have written a separate article for PMA (click on the title or open in a new window to read article about PMA).

2. Camp John Hay. The orginal gate being used was the one fronting NEVADA Square (Nevada Square came about after the earthquake when NEVADA Hotel literally "knelt down" from its foundation during the 1990 Killer Quake). Now the gate is located along Loakan Road just before you reach Scout Barrio.

Trail to the Secret Garden

Bell House

Amphitheater

3. Lourdes Grotto. If you have the legs to climb a couple of hundred steps, then you'll be fine going here.

4. Mansion House. Where the Presidents of the Philippines takes their Vacation during Christmas and Holy Week. This is located a few steps in front of Wright Park.

5. Wright Park. Are you the Cowboy type? Well, you can ride horses here at the Wright Park.

6. Burnham Park. Burnham Park was named after the American Engineer who made the city design for Baguio. Baguio's original design was that the whole city would be "revolving" making burnham park as its center or core. Burnham Park offers a Biking area, boat ride, I'm not sure if the skating rink is still available, picnic area.

7. Botanical Garden. This park was developed during the Marcos regime. First Lady, Imelda Marcos had this constructed. The Park offers variety of plants and flowers.

8. Tam-awan Artist Village (no image). Located along Naguillan Road. The village features Native huts where you can see the art works of the several artists of the village.

9. Session Road. Of course one would not miss the ever famous Session. The old session road only has small buildings not taller than 3-4 storeys high. But now, I think it's too crowded and busy that you can't enjoy strolling anymore.

10. SM Baguio. The first non-airconed Mall I have ever seen. The design of the mall is like allowing the natural cold breeze of Baguio to cool it through. The Terrace at the back of the Mall allows you to view a large area of the City. The roof of the mall is a canopy that made it even more interesting.

 View from back terrace

Dining @ Maxs'

There may be other places that you can see. But we go up (home) to Baguio not to see the sites but to enjoy the coldness... feel the cold breeze touch our faces and 'freeze' our lungs with the cold air... visit Baguio and experience it yourself!

Until our next travel. Hope you enjoyed.