The Wheel of Life: Affordable Trip to Baguio City and La Trinidad, Benguet

Baguio City has been dubbed as the Summer Capital of the Philippines. The city is renowned of its finest pine trees and cold temperature that are perfect for a grand vacation. It has so much to offer that you can't help yourself but to gape from admiration. You will surely love visiting this place.

With God's grace, my friend and I were given the change to visit Baguio City and La Trinidad, Benguet last June 22-25, 2017. So I will be sharing with you my budget trip to these amazing places.

CEBU CITY TO MANILA

We originated from Cebu City and we were so lucky to avail promo tickets via Philippine Airlines (PAL) during their anniversary. The flight was early in the morning at 4:45AM and arrived at NAIA Terminal 2 at around 6:00AM. Each of our round trip ticket only cost Php 1,598.

TIP: For cheap airfare, please await for airline promos. Mostly Cebu Pacific and AirAsia offer a number of promos unlike PAL. You may follow them in Facebook, Twitter or IG. They will be posting their promos on these portals aside from their websites.

MANILA TO BAGUIO CITY

Since NAIA is in Pasay City, it is much convenient to depart from Victory Liner Terminal in Pasay to Baguio City since Cubao is quite far from the airport. We choose Victory Liner because this bus company has been famous for its safety and comfort over the years of service. We took Uber service from NAIA to Victory Liner Terminal which cost Php 150.

TIP: Victory Liner is known for its safety and comfort. We booked our ticket online via their website so we can avoid the long lines at the terminal. They have a special lane for online passengers. It is fast and you can depart right away. Check their schedules online as well. Fare to Baguio City is Php 450 regular aircon. The bus has TV and wifi as well. It is slow if there are many passengers. Manila to Baguio City would take around 7 hours.

ACCOMMODATION AT BAGUIO CITY

Since we are not rich, we cannot afford to stay in a hotel. There are so many transient houses in Baguio City which are affordable. You can check it via AirBnB. We stayed in a transient room which cost Php 750 per night. Our place was fronting Moldex Residences along Marcos Highway. We stayed for 2 nights so we only paid a total of Php 1500 via AirBnB. The room is good for two persons with cable TV and T&B. Check in was at 2PM so it was perfect since we arrived at around 3PM in Baguio City.

TIP: Book affordable accommodation at AirBnB (app based or online). You have to make an account first and please reserve in advance as well. Payment is only thru credit cards. It is safe and affordable. There are also hostels in Baguio City but I find it not safe since you will be sleeping with different people you do not know.

So here's our DAY 1 Schedule and Individual Cost:

June 22, 2017

04:45AM - 06:00AM || Cebu City to NAIA || Php 799

06:00AM - 07:00AM || NAIA to Terminal || Php 150

07:00AM - 08:00AM || Check In and Breakfast || Php 50

08:00AM - 03:00PM || Pasay City to Baguio City (with 2 stopovers) || Php 450

03:00PM - 06:00PM || Check In and some rest || Php 750

Fare to SM Baguio via jeepney || Php 8.50

06:00PM - 07:00PM || Dinner at SM Baguio Mang Inasal || Php 130

Fare from SM Baguio to house || Php 8.50

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ROAMING AROUND BAGUIO CITY

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*** Jeepneys. Yes, jeepneys. If you are on a budget, then yes you have to take jeepneys. One way fare depends on the location of your destination is cheap. If you have enough money, you can take a taxi on a provincial rate. But still we find riding jeepneys affordable and fun even though we do not know the place. REMEMBER: The jeepney landmark is PLAZA. All jeepneys have plaza sign. So you won't mind if you get lost, just tell the driver to drop you at the plaza. And always sit at the back of the driver or at the front seat. Waiting time for jeepneys is not that long. Usually it would just take around 5-10mins and they will go. You might have read blogs that jeepneys are slow due to public commuters but they are not. I swear.

*** Ask. We have read a lot of blogs about travelling in Baguio City, memorizing the street names and landmarks but when you get there, you ended up asking. So when you're heading to your next destination via jeepneys, just ask the local drivers. They know everything.

*** Where to eat? This is hard part we realized about Baguio City. We were in thirst searching for affordable place to eat there but even local karenderias are expensive. Like 1 serving of vegetables will cost you Php 50, pork serving at Php 75 without rice, without drinks. So we ended eating at SM Baguio or at nearby fast food stores where complete meals will only cost Php 50 - 100.

*** Sites to visit. When taking jeepneys for your city tour, you have to group them by location. Visit nearby places together. Below will show you our sample itinerary in Baguio and La Trinidad. Hiring or taking taxi is really expensive not unless you have enough money.

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SPOTS TO VISIT IN BAGUIO CITY (DAY 2)

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DAY 2 || June 23, 2017 || MORNING

Group 1:

* Mines View Park

* Good Shepherd Convent Baguio

* The Mansion

* Wright Park

* Baguio Botanical Garden

* Teacher's Camp

DIRECTION:

1. Ride a jeepney from Baguio Plaza going to Mines View Park. Where are the jeepneys? Ask the drivers around. Fare is 8.50. No entrance fee at Mines View Park. Don't forget to try their strawberry taho.

2. Take a few walks from Mines View Park to Good Shepherd Convent. It is just very near the Park. You may ask the locals as well for direction.

3. Jeepneys back to Plaza are just outside Mines View Park. Once you're done here, ride a jeepney back to Plaza but you do not really have to reach Plaza, along the way you will pass by The Mansion. So please tell the driver to drop you off at The Mansion. It is just very near. Fare is 8.50. No entrance fee at The Mansion.

4. Fronting The Mansion is just the Wright Park. So you do not need to ride a jeepney. Just walk. No entrance fee at the Wright Park. Enjoy Baguio! Take pictures as many as you can.

5. Below the Wright Park you can find the Baguio Botanical Garden. Just ask the locals where to go. Just few meters away. You might wanna enjoy walking down the streets of Baguio and taking pictures as well. No entrance fee here as well.

6. From Baguio Botanical Garden, you can take few more walks down the streets to reach the entrance of the Teacher's Camp. Just ask the locals where to go and they will tell you where. They are friendly. Don't be afraid. No entrance fee as well here.

7. If you're done, ride a jeepney outside Teacher's Camp going back to Plaza to take your lunch. Fare is 8.50. So for the morning, it only cost a total of Php 17. Not unless if you wish to buy souvenirs etc from the spots.

DAY 2 || June 23, 2017 || AFTERNOON to EVENING

Group 2

* Burnham Park (Plaza - Boat Riding, Picture, Etc...)

* Tam-awam Village

* Lourdes Grotto

* Diplomat Hotel

* Session Road

DIRECTION

1. Ride a jeepney from Plaza going to Tam-awan Village. Fare is 8.50. Entrance Fee is at Php 50.

2. From Tam-awan Village, we took a Taxi going to Lourdes Grotto which only cost Php 40 to catch the time. No entrance here. You will climb going up to the grotto.

3. Ride a jeepney from Lourdes Grotto going to Diplomat Hotel. Fare is 8.50. No entrance fee here as well.

4. Ride a jeepney going back to Baguio Plaza to take your dinner and don't forget to have a leisure walk at the famous Session Road at night.

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SPOTS TO VISIT IN BAGUIO CITY (DAY 3)

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DAY 3 || June 24, 2017 || MORNING

Group 1:

* Lion's Head

* Kennon Road View Point

* Philippine Military Academy

* Stobosa Valley of Colours

* Strawberry Farm in La Trinidad Benguet

DIRECTION:

1. Ride a jeepney from Plaza going to Lion's Head. Fare is 8.50. No entrance fee. The Lion's Head is just along the main street. You will pass by Kennon Road View Point first before the Lion's Head.

2. We opted to hire a taxi cab going back to city proper Plaza and asked the driver to have a very quick stopover at the Kennon Road View Point. Fare was around Php 100. No entrance fee.

3. From Plaza, ride a jeepney going to Philippine Military Academy. Fare is around Php 15. No entrance fee here. We were so lucky because there was a program when we get there. We saw the military cadets on formation.

4. Wait for a jeepney inside PMA going back to Plaza. Same fare. Then you may want to eat your lunch first.

5. Ride a jeepney in front of Baguio Cathedral going to Stobosa Valley of Colours. You may tell the driver to drop you off at Stobosa. They already know it. Fare is at 8.50. It is just near.

6. From Stobosa, ride a jeepney heading straight to Benguet State University where you see the vast Strawberry Farm. Fare is at 8.50.

7. Since it was already around 4pm and check out time is at 12noon, we already talked to our host that they will just get our bags and place it in the reception. So we head straight to our accommodation to pick up our bags and head to Victory Liner terminal to catch our trip at 6PM going back to Manila.

TIP: Again, it's convenient if you book your tickets online. It is fast and convenient. When we got to terminal, there were many passengers in line. They have a different counter for the online passengers and you can check in right away and ride the bus.

We arrived at Victory Liner Terminal in Pasay at around 1am and we check in at a nearby affordable hotel.

The morning we spent it strolling in SM Mall of Asia and Robinsons. I really have a lot of list to visit in Manila but I was very tired to realize their traffic situation. And it is very hot there. And of course, I tried to ride MRT for the first time. It was fun experience we do not have MRT in Cebu City.

We visited a relative in Manila as well and we went to NAIA Terminal 2 at around 6pm to catch our flight back to Cebu at 7PM.

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I hope that this will help you a lot in your budget travel to Baguio City and La Trinidad Benguet. You may also want to visit the Chinese Bell Tower but we did not do visit that anymore and some other sites in Baguio.

Enjoy your trip! Enjoy each memory! Enjoy each moment of your life!

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PICTURES AND MEMORIES

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