Baguio Christmas Staycation during COVID – Experience Sharing

As COVID is still running rampant, international travel is out of the picture. Even local travel that require planes is out of the picture as my family is still a bit leery of plane travel. That leaves us with limited options. So for this Christmas, we decided to go to Baguio.

Boy, what a pain. So first of all, Baguio has a limited capacity (a certain number of visitors allowed to enter the city in a day). To control this, they require you to register at Visita Baguio.

But before you can book a stay, you first need to create an account, which requires you to upload a photo of yourself and a photo of your valid ID.

Afterwards, you then need to register the dates when you want to stay at Baguio. The issue here is you also have to declare where you’re staying (much easier to book a hotel vs Airbnb as less questiond asked), what car you’ll be bringing etc. Oof. So we scrambled to find a place, but it was actually quite difficult despite us booking for more than a month out. At first, we wanted to book Azalea’s serviced apartment. But then we were told after that they were fully booked!!! But our Visita booking was for Azalea, so we had to go back and cancel our Visita booking because Azalea wouldn’t have approved it.

Next, we wanted to go with Orchard, but they weren’t picking up their phone Zzz. In the end, we decided to go with Oak & Stone instead – a fairly new bed and breakfast place operated by Xtremely Xpresso.

Finally, it was D-day! We left QC around 9AM, and reached Baguio around 1:30PM. Not bad right? 4.5hrs, thank you highways.

We were a bit worried triage might take awhile but it was really quick. We were directed to Camp John Hay for the drive through triage. They asked us for the confirmation of our Visita booking (an ID which you can access on the site once your booking has been confirmed – you should save this on your phone), plus the vaccination cards of each of us (a photo suffices). Triage done in 10mins. Phew!

Afterwards, we popped by Vizco’s for their strawberry shortcake since we were already in the area. Let me say though, the chiffon itself is excellent but the frosting is way tok sweet – I could see the condensed milk!! The strawberry during this season isn’t too sweet either too. I find I much prefer Caramia’s version. Some friends have also mentioned that Purple Oven also does an excellent strawberry shortcake.

Afterwards, we popped by Fairways & Greens Bed and Breakfast to reserve raisin breads by Baguio Country Club, which we’d pick up on the day we head back to Manila. These raisin bread run out SUPER fast so I highly recommend you reserve in advance. Here’s the number for your reference: 09985410821 / 09985515719

From here, it was time for a late lunch. We opted to go Amare la Cucina for pizza (their Alvin’s Pizza is excellent). There was tons of parking (a rarity in Baguio) and a minimal queue. You can read about our experience here: Amare La Cucina Baguio Honest Review – Goldie Goes Global

Next, it was time to check into Oak & Stone. I was quite pleasantly surprised. It’s cute! We booked two 4-persons room, which was a bit of an overkill as there were only 5 of us LOL. The rooms are super cute – one room had a skylight!!! And the facilities are still very new.

The internet and water pressure was pretty weak in one of the rooms though (Blue). The Brown room was better in that regard, although the Blue room was a lot more roomy. Parking was a bit of a squeeze, and if you ended up double parking, the front desk would call you up to move the car if needed.

After settling in, we popped by SM Baguio to buy HDMI cable so we could hook up our laptop to the room TV and watch movies. Yes, we went to Baguio to chill and watch movies…

Dinner was at Hill Station, a Baguio institution. I highly recommend you make a reservation since they allow it. Of their dishes, I liked their lamb the most. You can read about our experience here: Hill Station Baguio Honest Review – Goldie Goes Global

The next day, we had breakfast first at Xtremely Xpresso (this came with the room). We got the omelette, the longganisa rice, french toast, and blueberry waffles. They were all ayt.

Then we headed off to the Baguio Central Market. Forget parking. Just have someone drive around while you guys shop quickly. Traffic here is horrendous. I recommend you go down and walk to the market. Then agree on a pick up point with your designated driver (this was across Metrobank for us). The Central Market is excellent for purchasing vegetables, although it’s critical you know what market prices are because they’ll try to charge you a higher rate. My mom got excellent veggies at the following rates: cauliflower (₱100/kg), brocolli (₱150/kg), baguio pechay (₱50/kg), chai sim (₱70/kg), french beans (₱160/kg), bellpepper (₱180/kg). They weren’t super cheap – Balintawak has comparable rates but the veggies here are a lot fresher. Really big and beautiful.

From here, it was time for lunch at Lemon and Olives. Their Evia Salad is super good. The Moussaka and desserts – also excellent. Here’s a detailed review: Lemon & Olive Baguio Honest Food Review – Goldie Goes Global

Afterwards, back to the hotel we went to chill and watch more movies. For dinner, we headed to Chocolate de Batirol – a Baguio tradition for our family. Their chocolate is delicious, the suman and turron also something to look forward to. For detailed experience, you can check this out: Chocolate de Batirol Baguio Honest Review – Goldie Goes Global

Early the next morning, we went to Mine’s View Park to purchase walis. They’re very sturdy here. We got the 8 Fingers, these multi-colored ones (supposed to be very strong because they’re treated further), and this one whose name I cannot recall. The important thing to look for here is:

• It should be one straight walis. There should be no breaks in the broom. The breaks are noticeable when you see a bulge between the handle and the actual sweepers.
• The handle should be thick and sturdy
• Eight fingers – the braided stuff keeping the sweeper clumps together is the sturdiest.

We were also supposed to go purchase ube jam (₱230) from Good Shepherd but darn, they were closed because of the holiday. Ackkk. Anyway, if you do go Good Shepherd, make sure to go VERY early. They open at 8AM. Otherwise, you run the risk of long queues and running out of ube jam.

Anyway, it was alright. We ended up buying ube jam/halaya and ube flan from Redzel’s instead. We’ve tried these before and they’re quite good too. Plus they allow reservation. Super important because we didn’t have time to queue anymore. Here’s their number for your reference: 09976694186

For our final lunch, we ate at Agara Ramen – this was just ayt. Here’s my detailed review : Agara Ramen Baguio Honest Review – Goldie Goes Global

And we were off! Grabe, took us 5 hours to get back to Manila this time. Thank you Lord for my brother who drove all the way to Baguio, and all the way back to Manila.