Baguio Family Trip

Baguio is one of the favorite destinations of Filipino families for vacation or even just to escape the buzzing city life a bit. Tourists flacks especially during summer season because of its nice cold weather.  Another reason why Baguio is always visited by tourists, both local and foreign is that it is readily accessible from Metro Manila. You do not need to pre-book bus tickets unless it is peak season. You can just go directly to any bus station to buy a ticket and after 6 hours of sleeping in the bus, you will wake up in Baguio City just like that.

It was already June this year that we decided to have a last minute summer vacation. It was not a bad idea afterall since its pre-off season, minimal people travels this time of the year. This was my first time to travel with family in Baguio and also my first time to travel with not much planning.No budget plans and no itineraries except for the house that we rented a week before. We just paid when we got there.

Transportation:

We booked a Friday 12-midnight bus trip to Baguio from Cubao via Victory Liner and reached the City of Pines at 6am. Regular bus schedule to Baguio is every hour. Fare is P455. It would be wise also to get a return ticket at the bus terminal on your first day. This will save you time from lining up for ticket when you go back to Manila.

Accommodation:

Our house rental costed P3,500 for an overnight stay. We were allowed to cook so we have saved some on meals. We only lunched out on our 2nd day.

I will not dwell on details of the tour since Baguio is a common destination to many. I will just share our simple yet fun-filled adventures.

Day 1

Our welcome food. Taho vendors are everywhere on Baguio.

Strawberry Taho

Early morning bike in the park was fun and energizing. Good to jumpstart your day.

Burnham Park

This is just a normal Saturday in Baguio. Zumba, cyclists and other sports enthusiasts gathered in the park to do their own thing.

Saturday is Zumba day in Burnham Park.

We settled our things in the house, ate lunch, rested for awhile and proceed to our afternoon tour.

Mines View Park

Good thing about traveling in a group is to save expenses. You can save more on group rates compared to invidual or by twos.

8 adults and 1 kid

My niece Kate riding the famous pink pony at Mines View Park.

We also came to Good Sheperd Convent to buy pasalubong. I love their ube jam. The nuns make the best ube jam in the city.

We went back to Mines View Park  and from there we walked to The Mansion. It took us 20mins to finally get there. Along the way are pines and greeneries.

You know it’s Baguio when you see pines.

At The Mansion.

Nothing really special here. You cannot even go inside it. Maybe what interests people is the history which you can read at the main gate. People normally come here for picture taking.

The main gate of The Mansion.

From The Mansion, we went to Wright Park.

We visited Baguio Botanical Garden last because it is the nearest spot in area where we stayed. It is walking distance to the house that we have rented.

I have no idea why would one touch the nose of this totem pole. Lol

End of Day 1. Our house is a 5-minute walk from the garden. We went to the market nearby to buy groceries for our dinner and breakfast the following day. We got at the house around 6:00pm.

Day 2

We travelled to Benguet to see the strawberry farm but it was off season.

Strawberry Ice cream with real fruit bits.

We were caught by traffic from Benguet going to Slaugther House to have our lunch. There were few eateries within the compound and mostly visited by tourists and locals too. Some dishes are exotic and of course the are normal Filipino food. Food at the Slaughter House is cheap but sumptuous. This place is perfect for budgetarians. Our meal summed to P900 only (rice, bulalo, chopsuey, pork liempo, ensaladang talong and Coke).

After lunch, we went back to the house to get our things bound home. But before heading home we hit Camp John Hay and had a short stop at Choco-late de Batirol. They serve their famous traditional cocoa peanut drink and local delicacies.

Celebrated Independence Day at Choco-late de Batirol.

You will see this upon entering.

A cup of hot chocolate for a rainy day. Traditional Blend at P80.00

Bibingka at P105.00

 Turon de Langka (3pcs at P85.00)

Suman Sa Lihia P64.00

We ordered Batirol merienda set Group of 6 for P740.00 which comprised of 6 Traditional Blend, 1 Bibingka, 1 Suman, 1 Turon(3pcs). We just added 2 Traditional Blend for P80.00 each. Total cost is P900.00 for 8 persons. We saved a little bit by ordering a merienda set.

This is located in the garden area.

Choco-late de Batirol is located at Gate 2, Igorot Park, Camp John Hay, Baguio City. Monday-Thursday: 9am to 8pm, Friday: 9am to 9pm, Saturday to Sunday:9am to 10pm. Don’t miss to visit and have merienda at Choco-late de Batirol. It is worth it.

It was nice ending our trip at Choco-late de Batirol. The place was cozy, clean and zen. It was something worth remembering. We enjoyed  a lot so we stayed a little more.

We went home happy not until our assigned bus departed ahead of time. In short, we were late at the bus station and so we waited for another bus but with added fees. The bus departed at 5.45pm and arrived in Manila on Sunday before midnight.

Total Expenses: P14,580 for 8 pax / P1,822.50 each

Transportation

Bus – P7,280/ P910.00 each

Taxi/Jeep – P1,100 / P137.50

Accommodation – P3,500 / P437.50 each

Food/ groceries – P700 / P87.50 each

Dine-out – P1,800 / 225.00 each

Bus extra fees – P200/ 25.00 each