Baguio City is the "Summer Capital" of the Philippines. It is located in Benguet, one of the provinces in Cordillera Region. Starting from the month of January to May people travel here because of its cold weather and tourists attractions. There is also a festival that is celebrated during the month of February. That festival is called "Panagbenga Festival", wherein lots of events and activities were done the whole month of February and lots of tourist not just local tourist but international tourist come to experience the Panagbenga Festival in Baguio City. I didn't attend that this year, what I decided is to spend Holy Week there in Baguio City because I haven't experience it yet. So me, my brother and my niece decided to visit Baguio City during lenten season.
I am from Zambales, it took 5 hours to go to Baguio City. We booked our ticket a week before our trip because there are lots of passengers during the holy week. Our trip departed at 11:30 in the evening and we arrived at 4:30 in the morning in Baguio. We stayed in Baguio for two days and one night. We stayed in a hotel located near "Burnham Park" one of the must place to visit in Baguio, City.
DIPLOMAT HOTEL
Our first destination was the former Dominican Hill Retreat House also known as Diplomat Hotel.
This retreat house was built during 1915 and it became a hotel after years passed by. It is now abandoned and rumors have been told that there lots of ghosts lurking inside and outside this abandoned hotel.
Some tourists have experienced ghosts, some didn't. So it's up to us to believe them or not but when we were there it's just creepy inside but we didn't saw or felt ghosts in the building.
TAM-AWAN VILLAGE
http://www.cityofpines.com/tamawanvillage.html
Here in Tam Awan Village there is an entrance fee, 50 pesos for adult and 30 pesos for kids/students.
This is the map given to you upon entering the village. They give map to each tourist who enters there because there were no tour guide to guide you to the trail, just follow the map.
This is one of the painting in their artwork gallery area, painted by Ifugao's.
It's a little bit tiring because it's a little bit high. There are 2 decks/stations where you can rest and see the top view of the village. There is also a restaurant inside the village where you can dine if you are hungry but we didn't dined in there. There is also a souvenir shop where you can buy some accessories and garments and other stuffs for pasalubong.
Strawberry Farm
https://www.discoverphilippines.com/attractions/strawberry-farm
Strawberry Farm is located in La Trinidad, Benguet. This farm is where a tourist can pick strawberries on the farm and pay for the strawberries they picked, it is priced per kilo. You can also harvest some vegetables their like romane lettuce, iceberg lettuce, leeks, etc. Those vegetable were also pay per harvest. Prices may vary depending on the season.
DINOSAUR ISLAND & THE HOLY LAND
Dinosaur Island and Holy Land is the newest tourist attraction here in Baguio, City, it was established on June 2015. There is an entrance fee on this site. It costs 350 pesos per pax but what I did was to get a ticket online through the use of the mobile app metro deal. I find it useful because it was discounted in metro deal so I did not hesitate to buy ticket because it is only 199 pesos in metro deal. So I highly recommend if you are going to a place with entrance fee like this, you must first see online to see if there are discounted deals just like what I did. We just had a tour in Dinosaur Island because it's late afternoon when we came there and they closes at 6 o'clock in the evening.
This place is for family, so if you want to go alone or couple I don't recommend that you go in this place.
BENCAB MUSEUM
From Burnham Park to Bencab Museum, it is a 40 minutes ride, so I think if you want to go there separate a half or whole day here in your itinerary. Because an hour is not enough, there is also a trail if you want to see the beauty of nature but we didn't go for the trail. There is an entrance fee of 150 pesos per pax but they give 20% discount to students if you have a school id to present.
I highly recommend this place for all the tourist. This museum is not just an ordinary museum that people wander. This is for art lovers just like me. At first glance I didn't expect more inside the museum but when I went inside I was amazed and astonished by the artwork galleries of "Benedicto Reyes Cabrera". I'm speechless of his artworks and I will be back here again.
These were just some of the artworks inside the museum. If you want to see more, go there and be amazed!.
BAGUIO CATHEDRAL
This cathedral was built in 1936 and it's name is "Our Lady of Atonement Cathedral". We attended the mass here during Good Friday and we also attended the procession. We pray and thank God for the safe travel and ask for forgiveness and ask for His blessing.
As you can see, we didn't go to the popular tourist spots like _"Wright Park, The Mansion, Philippiine Military Academy, Botanical Garden, Grotto's, Bell Church and others" it's because when we were there during "Holy Week" lots of tourists were there, it's like a rally or a concert on the streets. See a picture of "Minesview Park" when we got there:
Look at that crowd! Even the traffic is heavy during holy week on those places.
If you want to go all the tourist attractions in Baguio City, I suggest that book for a 3 or 4 days tour and much better if you do it on your own. It is much cheaper if you book it to a travel agency. The advantage of D.I.Y travel is that you will have enough time to spend on a certain spot that you want to go, unlike if you have a tour guide he/she will call you immediately for your next destination while you are still not yet satisfied and you can't enjoy well enough. If you also have your own car, much better. I don't have a car and I don't know how to drive a car, what we used is taxi in Baguio City. There is a mobile app that I used while we were there and it's very convenient and efficient, that is the mobile app "GRAB" . We used that app to call for a taxi because if we rent the taxi for whole day it will be too expensive. Thanks to "grab" .
"IT'S MORE FUN IN BAGUIO, CITY...IT'S MORE FUN IN THE PHILIPPINES"