To help out those who are first timers like me at The City of Pines, sharing with you a detailed itinerary I made for our 3 days 2 nights stay in Baguio City and how much we spent.

Day 0: Manila- Baguio

We had the 12:20AM trip to Baguio and arrived a little before 6:00AM.

Day 2: The City of Pines: Baguio City, Day 2

• BenCab Museum
• Lunch
• Lourdes Grotto
• Tam-Awan Village
• Baguio Cathedral

• Free Time
• Burnham Park
• Baguio Cathedral
• Lunch at Good Taste
• Baguio- Manila

As much as we wanted to spend less on our trip to Baguio, of course we wanted to experience Baguio only restaurants. There are lots of famous restaurants in Baguio City, but here's the list of where we dine on our 3 days 2 nights stay at The City of Pines.

On our first day, we had our lunch at one of the restaurants inside The Ketchup Community located along Romulo Drive near Wright Park. The Ketchup Community is consist of five small restaurants namely Canto, Happy Tummy, Rumah Sate, Green Pepper and Rancho Norte, each offering a different cuisine. We opted to try Canto.

Canto

Canto is famous for its Lomo Ribs.

Menu

Of course we ordered the famous Lomo Ribs. A grilled homemade BBQ ribs served with cascade salad, rice or mashed potatoes. We ordered a whole slab for boyf and I to share.

Lomo Ribs with Cascade Salad- PHP199.00 Half Slab/ PHP375.00 Whole Slab

Cascade salad is a mixed organic Baguio greens, argula or alfalfa sprouts, cucumber, candied nuts and cheese. Drizzled with their homemade vinaigrette, tipped with watermelon.

We also ordered Fishy Pizza. A plate-sized thin crust pizza with mozzarella, tuna chunks, cooked in white cream sauce topped with arugula and alfalfa sprouts.

We enjoyed our dishes and it's reasonably priced with its huge serving. A recommended restaurant when in Baguio.

On our second night, we had our dinner in one of Baguio's famous restaurants, Cafe by the Ruins.

Cafe by the Ruins

Searching the web, this one's a highly recommended restaurant whether for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It's very refreshing to have an ambiance like this at the center of a commercialized area.

Upon entering I really felt that this one's famous. We have to wait before we can have our seat. Good thing we arrived a little early before a jam-packed of tourists arrived.

Here's what we ordered:

After BenCab Museum, next on our itinerary is Lourdes Grotto. The Lourdes Grotto is another Catholic shrine and place of meditation in Baguio. It is located on a high hill in the western part of the city where you will find the image of the Lady of Lourdes.

Our next stop is Tam-Awan Village. Tam-Awan is a local word which means "vantage point". Entrance fee is PHP50.00 each.

Tam-Awan Village is also called "The Garden in the Sky", because maybe, you need to climb uphill to explore the place. You may choose the easy route or the shorter but steeper route. We chose the steeper route with the colorful salamander design.

There is a cafe and a souvenir shop. And you can also have yourself sketched by the Baguio artists for a fee. Overall, it was a tiring but an experience to be able to explore more of Baguio. Don't forget to visit Tam-Awan Village when in Baguio City.

After this, we went back to the transient house to rest, then attended the mass in Baguio Cathedral.

The place is jam-packed of Baguio locals and tourists, so, we decided to visit again on our third day. Baguio Cathedral is just near SM Baguio.

We also walked around Burnham Park to kill time before having lunch and head back to Manila. Burnham Park was named after the American architect and urban planner, Daniel Hudson Burnham.

And finally, we had our lunch at The New Good Taste Cafe and Restaurant (where to eat in Baguio will be in a separate post) near Burnham Park before heading back to Manila. Now crossing Baguio City on my travel bucket list. Share your experience at The City of Pines too?



xx, Joyce

After 384804274 years, finally, ladies and gentlemen, I'm updating this blog with our recent trip to The City of Pines, Baguio City for boyf and I's 4th anniversary. So without further ado, we started our trip without any confirmed bus ticket. We made few calls with different bus companies and most are fully booked since its a long weekend. But since plans are made, we pursue this trip. We are hoping there are still available seats for us, because its impossible there's none. Whatever happens there's no way we cannot go and celebrate what has been planned. Upon reaching the Victory Liner bus station in Cubao, I immediately lined up to buy our tickets and kept on praying that there's still available seats for us, and there is. We arrived at the station around 10:00PM and got the 12:20AM regular bus trip to Baguio City. We still have to wait for more than 2 hours though, but that's okay. I noticed that every 5-10 minutes, buses to Baguio are departing because maybe, they added their trips since its a long weekend. And infairness, buses departs on-time and sometimes ahead of time. We reached Victory Liner in Baguio a little before 6:00AM and lined-up again at the ticket booth to buy our tickets back to Manila. We then headed to where we booked our accommodation called Babs Place Transient House to change our clothes and leave our bags.

The first on our list is the Philippine Military Academy  (PMA), the military school of the Armed Forces of the Philippines located at Fort del Pilar, Baguio City. Visiting hours is 8:00AM til 5:00PM and make sure to bring a valid ID.

Bell Amphitheater

Wright Park and The Mansion

Last stop for our first day is Mines View Park. A park located on a promontary of land on Baguio's northeastern section, about 4km from downtown Baguio. It overlooks the mining town of Itogon and offers a glimpse of the Amburayan Valley.

We also had our souvenir shopping here. From Mines View Park, its a few minutes walk to Good Shepherd where you can buy the famous Ube jam and other pasalubong. 

And this concludes our first day in Baguio. Hope this helps you if you have plans in going here too.


xx, Joyce