Quiet break - Baguio

The Philippines has suffered in the tourism stakes because of its position on the map. Imelda Marcos once said it was "hamburgered" geographically. What she meant was that the Philippines receives fewer visitors than other Southeast Asian countries - about two million a year compared to Thailand's six million - because it is not part of the Southeast Asian mainland. Travellers on the traditional Asian trails tend to get as far as Thailand or Hong Kong, but ignore the Philippines because it involves an extra flight, albeit it a short one, across the South China Sea.

BAGUIO , also known as City of Pines or City of Flowers, lies on a plateau 1400m above sea level. It was built by the colonizing Americans as a recreational and administrative centre, from where they could preside over their precious tropical colony without working up too much of a sweat. Baguio is also etched on the Filipino consciousness as the site of one of the country's worst natural disasters, the earthquake of 16 July 1990, in which hundreds died. Most of the damage was to shanty towns, which have either been cleared or rebuilt.

Although for many visitors it's little more than a stopping-off point en route to Sagada and the mountain provinces, Baguio, with its pine trees and rolling hills, has a few secrets worth discovering, such as its parks and bohemian cafés, and the climate is a pleasant respite from the searing heat of the south

Finding your way
Loakan Airport is 7km south of the city beyond Camp John Hay. The approach to the airport is not for the faint-hearted, but if you can bear to look you'll be rewarded with panoramic views of the plateau on which Baguio is built. Jeepneys run regularly from the airport to Burham Park and Session Road. Bus companies with regular daily services from Manila to Baguio include Victory Liner, Dangwa, Dagupan Bus and Philippine Rabbit. All have terminals in Baguio on Governor Pack Road, a couple of minutes on foot from Session Road. You can also get to Baguio by bus from most other towns in the north, including San Fernando (La Union), Dau (Clark), Angeles, Vigan and Dagupan. These buses also arrive at terminals on Governor Pack Road.

The tourist information office (daily 9am-noon & 1-7pm; tel 074/442 6708 or 442 7014) is in the DoT Complex on Governor Pack Road, a ten-minute walk from Session Road. They have maps of Baguio, but not much else, and even the maps aren't great. A good place to go for general advice, guided tours and visa extensions is the ubiquitous Swagman Travel , near Rizal Park at 90 Abanao St (tel 074/442 5139). There's a post office , with a poste restante service, at the junction of Session Road and Governor Pack Road. Internet cafés are few and far between, but one of the most popular is Cyberspace, at the Mount Crest Hotel in Legarda Road (daily 8am-1am; P100 an hour with free coffee). You can change money at the Philippine National Bank at the northern end of Session Road, while Equitable Bank on Magsaysay Avenue (tel 074/443 5028) will give cash advances on MasterCard or Visa. Baguio Medical Center (tel 074/442 4216) is in Governor Pack Road.

Things to do
On the outskirts of Baguio heading north towards La Trinidad and best reached by taxi from Baguio (about P50), TAM-AWAN VILLAGE is a replica Ifugao tribal villlage established by well-known Filipino artist Ben Cabrera, known as Bencab. If you want to spend the night in a tribal hut, this is your chance. You can stay in wooden huts on stilts and drink rice wine around a traditional Ifugao fire. Food is available from a small kitchen and work by local artists is on sale in the small shop. Staff often perform impromptu ceremonies and dances. There are six huts of varying shapes and sizes. One particular hut, built on stilts like all the rest, is a fertility hut. Carvings of men with impressive sex organs adorn the walls. Higher up on the hill are two large family huts. Tam-awan is hardly the height of luxury, but well worth an overnight stay for the experience. Small huts for two people are P550 a night. Family huts are P800. Toilets and showers are shared. Take a jacket because it can get surprisingly cold.

Baguio's centrepiece is Burnham Park , a sort of hilltop version of Rizal Park in Manila. It's a nice place for a stroll, with a boating lake and strange little three-wheeled bicycles for rent. The park area was designed by Daniel Burnham, who was also responsible for parts of Chicago and Washington DC. On the eastern edge of the park is Harrison Road and immediately behind that and running almost parallel to it is the city's congested main artery, Session Road, where you'll find shops and restaurants. Standing imperiously above Session Road, and reached on foot by a flight of a hundred steep steps, is Baguio Cathedral , an example of "wedding cake gothic" in an eye-catching shade of rose pink. At the St Louis University Silver Shop, just a few paces away from the cathedral, you can watch silver craftsmen at work and buy the jewellery they make. The southern end of Session Road leads to Magsaysay Drive and the City Market , which sells produce from the Cordilleras such as strawberries, peanut brittle, sweet wine, honey, textiles, handicrafts and jewellery. The best museum in Baguio is the St Louis University Museum of Arts and Culture (Mon-Sat 9am-4.30pm; tel 074/442 3043), near St Louis Hospital on Bonifacio Street, a fifteen-minute walk north of Session Road. The museum has hundreds of artefacts from the Cordilleras. Travelling out of the city eastwards on Leonard Wood Road for 4km brings you to Wright Park where you can hire horses for riding, and a little further to Mine's View Park , where there are souvenir stalls, antique shops and some restaurants. Jeepneys to Wright Park and Mine's View leave from the northern end of Session Road. The Baguio Botanical Gardens are nearby in Park Road. For some ethnic shopping try the Easter School of Weaving , Easter Road, on the northwestern outskirts of the city. Weavers produce everything from clothing to tablecloths and you are allowed to watch them at work. You can get there by jeepney from Kayang Street, at the northern end of Burnham Park.