Baguio: The Cool Mountain Capital of the Philippines

SHOW NOTES Baguio: An American Hill Station in the Philippine Highlands

Today on the GoNOMAD Travel Podcast, Senior Writer Chin Liang takes us up into the cool, mist‑wrapped mountains of northern Luzon to explore Baguio (BAG‑ee‑oh), the Philippines’ original highland escape. While most of the country swelters in tropical heat, Baguio sits comfortably below 70°F year‑round — a climate that first drew American colonizers here in the early 1900s and still lures travelers today.

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Chin begins his day in Burnham Park, the century‑old civic park designed by famed American planner Daniel Burnham. A man‑made lake sits at its center, ringed with weeping willows and bright yellow daisies, where families paddle small boats across the water. The lawns, rose gardens, and skate ramps echo the classic American park style Burnham brought to cities across the world.

Just across the street, Chin stops at Café by the Ruins, a beloved Baguio institution. Their signature crispy tapa — thin slices of beef marinated in local spices and served with mountain rice, eggs, tomatoes, and onions — fuels the morning’s adventures.

Baguio’s nickname, City of Pines, becomes clear at Camp John Hay, once an American military recreation facility and now a sprawling eco‑tourism resort. Visitors can stay in forest cabins, ride horses, play golf, or wander the pine‑scented trails. Chin highlights the Yellow Trail, a favorite for shinrin‑yoku, the Japanese practice of forest bathing: feeling the bark of a tree, breathing in the pine needles, and walking slowly with a 5‑step inhale, 5‑step exhale rhythm.

Inside the camp sits the historic Bell House, named for U.S. Army General Franklin Bell. Its polished wood floors and broad veranda preserve the atmosphere of early 20th‑century American life in the Philippines. Right next door, Chin discovers one of Baguio’s quirkiest attractions — the Cemetery of Negativism, a playful lawn of cartoonish “gravestones” where visitors symbolically bury their bad thoughts.

Back in the city, Session Road buzzes with life. Pastel‑colored American‑era buildings now house cafés, shops, and bakeries. When Chin visited, a full county‑fair‑style festival was underway: line‑dancing girls stomping in rhythm, locals in cowboy hats riding ponies, a beauty pageant beside an arm‑wrestling contest, and a singer belting out “Sweet Caroline” as the entire crowd — kids, parents, grandparents — sang along in perfect chorus.

To understand the region’s Indigenous heritage, Chin visits the Igorot Stone Kingdom, a massive stone fortress built without cement, echoing the engineering of the Cordillera rice terraces. Towers, terraces, and walls rise like life‑sized sandcastles — a tribute to the Igorot people and the builder’s mother, a Cordilleran woman.

Just north of Baguio lies La Trinidad, the strawberry capital of the Philippines. From November to May, visitors can pick their own berries and try local favorites like strawberry taho — warm soft tofu sweetened with brown sugar and topped with fresh berries — and strawberry ice cream. Nearby, the Valley of Colors bursts across the mountainside, hundreds of homes painted in bright hues like a giant mural. Locals say it looks as if “God spilled paint over the hillside.”

With its cool air, drifting fog, pine forests, and blend of American history and Indigenous culture, Baguio remains the Philippines’ beloved Summer Capital — a place to breathe, wander, and escape the heat.

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