When you think of Burnham Park, what usually comes to mind? It's the lake with the boats, right? But just recently, as I went to Baguio, I learned that Burnham Park is so much more than the boat ride on the lake. The park is huge, with so many areas to discover.
I was missing the cold weather lately, and since I was celebrating my birthday, I had an excuse to travel and relax. So me and my niece went up to Baguio, to rest, but who rests while on vacation, really? No one does! We just walked and walked and walked.
So let me take you on yet another adventure, this time close to home.
Burnham Park is located in the center of Baguio City, and it is centered around a man-made lake, wherein you can rent a boat and row yourself around the lake. There are also other areas, and these are what we are going to explore.
Burnham Park was named after its planner, Daniel Burnham, and it is a favorite place for locals and visitors alike to relax in. While we were in the city, we were always commuting, which was very easy and convenient. We only ever took a taxi from the bus terminal to where we were staying.
The park is huge! I have been there several years ago and since we did not have a lot of time as we were touring some friends from Hong Kong, we just had time to ride a boat and that's it! This time we took time to explore and we were pleasantly surprised.
The park has several entrance and exit points on all sides, and you can go into the park from whichever side you are on. I think this time we almost covered the entirety of the park.
Chairs and benches are scattered throughout the place where people can take a seat, have a picnic, or just relax. Wish all places should have something like this where people can just have a great time outdoors and enjoy the nice weather.
The park is full of people at all times of day. We were there on weekdays, but there were always people. Children from nearby schools hang out, people coming out of their offices relax here first, meeting up with friends before going home, and the likes.
There is also an area where you can rent bikes and scooters and just ride around the park. There is also a children's playground, a football field, a skating rink, an orchidarium, which sadly, we did not have time to explore, we just passed it on the way to lunch one day.
While we were there, the city was already getting ready for the Panagbenga Festival, and there were already several floral displays to be found in the park.
Since Baguio is located on the mountains, they have colder weather than the rest of the country, that's why it is called the summer capital of the Philippines. And for having colder weather, flowers and vegetables grow beautifully like these hydrangeas.
The booths are entering the competition I think, so each booth has a theme, and the booths are from different companies and groups.
I love succulents. They look so nice grouped together like this and I couldn't help but keep clicking on my iPhone. :-) Yes, all photos have been taken by my old iPhone 6.
We just came from La Trinidad the day before and was treated to a view of vegetables and sunflowers and strawberries, and here we are again looking at another beautiful display.
I think these are called birds' nests. And ferns, so the theme must be the jungle.
Aside from the flower show, there is also a 'market' where different kinds of merchandise, mostly clothing, shoes, souvenirs and all kinds of things are on sale.
These are snapdragons and other flowers, and I just love the explosion of different colors!
How can one not stop and admire the beautiful colors! The display stretches for several meters, alongside the tents that sell goods.
This looks like an outdoor garden, and my, if I have this outside my house, I can sit outside all day! I don't have the luxury of a space for a garden like this though.
This even features a small 'fountain', which creates a relaxing atmosphere.
This was the entry of one Catholic church, but I forgot which one.
The only thing I don't like about the lake is that the water has a very fishy smell. I could not stay near it for more than five minutes without gagging, sorry. Not sure what measures can be taken to clean the water though.
We were there late afternoon and also to relax after having lunch the next day at a nearby restaurant near the park. So while digesting our food, we took the time to stroll leisurely on other areas of the park we did not see the day before.
I did not even take a picture of all the displays. I just took some! If I took everything, my niece would have probably dragged me away already. But she was also having a great time looking at the displays.
Flowers just have a way of relaxing the eyes and the mind and heart of a person. Nuff said.
I know in Manila there are not a lot of places where people can go in for free and enjoy parks like this. If there are, I believe more people would go out more and enjoy nature, not spending their days in malls.
I think some people are blessed with hands that can grow anything like these flowers and plants. Others, try as they might, the plants just die no matter what they do.
Of course we can only dream of having gardens like this if we have a spacious outdoor area.
And you know what, the park is also filled with stalls that sell all kinds of food! So if you are travelling on a budget and not have enough money to eat in a fancy restaurant, a meal at the park is enough. There are burgers, pizzas, corns, barbecues, shawarma, and everything else. You can just buy something and go sit on one of the benches and enjoy your meal.
Succulents were used to spell out the words God bless our home.
This is the area where one can just spread a picnic blanket, or just sit on the grass under the shade of the trees and enjoy the cool breeze.
This area is near the bike rental place, and we enjoyed green mangoes soaked in vinegar, sprinkled with salt and chilli powder. Yum! We just ate lunch but I guess we had room for mangoes!
I should have rotated the picture so the heart shape is better seen but I did not, so enjoy!
It was almost dusk when I took this picture. We just passed by as we were looking where to take the jeepney to where we were gonna have dinner at, and there will be posts about the restaurants we ate in of course!
These are the only orchids I saw as we did not have time to visit the park's orchidarium.
This is the area near the rose garden. As yo can see, there are quite a lot of people seated.
The bike rental area. So if you're just learning to ride a bike, you can learn it here.
First picture is of the lake, and the last picture is of the lake. If you're anywhere in Baguio and you want to visit Burnham Park, you can just take any jeepney that goes to Plaza. It will surely pass Burnham Park. Fare is just P8.50.
It's going to be Panangbenga festival this week, so there will be lots and lots of people congregating in the city. That's why I traveled earlier so as to avoid the crowds and avoid the heavy traffic.
Stay tuned for the next post and for more travel articles, please go to this page.
I was missing the cold weather lately, and since I was celebrating my birthday, I had an excuse to travel and relax. So me and my niece went up to Baguio, to rest, but who rests while on vacation, really? No one does! We just walked and walked and walked.
So let me take you on yet another adventure, this time close to home.
Burnham Park is located in the center of Baguio City, and it is centered around a man-made lake, wherein you can rent a boat and row yourself around the lake. There are also other areas, and these are what we are going to explore.
Burnham Park was named after its planner, Daniel Burnham, and it is a favorite place for locals and visitors alike to relax in. While we were in the city, we were always commuting, which was very easy and convenient. We only ever took a taxi from the bus terminal to where we were staying.
The park is huge! I have been there several years ago and since we did not have a lot of time as we were touring some friends from Hong Kong, we just had time to ride a boat and that's it! This time we took time to explore and we were pleasantly surprised.
The park has several entrance and exit points on all sides, and you can go into the park from whichever side you are on. I think this time we almost covered the entirety of the park.
Chairs and benches are scattered throughout the place where people can take a seat, have a picnic, or just relax. Wish all places should have something like this where people can just have a great time outdoors and enjoy the nice weather.
The park is full of people at all times of day. We were there on weekdays, but there were always people. Children from nearby schools hang out, people coming out of their offices relax here first, meeting up with friends before going home, and the likes.
There is also an area where you can rent bikes and scooters and just ride around the park. There is also a children's playground, a football field, a skating rink, an orchidarium, which sadly, we did not have time to explore, we just passed it on the way to lunch one day.
While we were there, the city was already getting ready for the Panagbenga Festival, and there were already several floral displays to be found in the park.
Since Baguio is located on the mountains, they have colder weather than the rest of the country, that's why it is called the summer capital of the Philippines. And for having colder weather, flowers and vegetables grow beautifully like these hydrangeas.
The booths are entering the competition I think, so each booth has a theme, and the booths are from different companies and groups.
I love succulents. They look so nice grouped together like this and I couldn't help but keep clicking on my iPhone. :-) Yes, all photos have been taken by my old iPhone 6.
We just came from La Trinidad the day before and was treated to a view of vegetables and sunflowers and strawberries, and here we are again looking at another beautiful display.
I think these are called birds' nests. And ferns, so the theme must be the jungle.
Aside from the flower show, there is also a 'market' where different kinds of merchandise, mostly clothing, shoes, souvenirs and all kinds of things are on sale.
These are snapdragons and other flowers, and I just love the explosion of different colors!
How can one not stop and admire the beautiful colors! The display stretches for several meters, alongside the tents that sell goods.
This looks like an outdoor garden, and my, if I have this outside my house, I can sit outside all day! I don't have the luxury of a space for a garden like this though.
This even features a small 'fountain', which creates a relaxing atmosphere.
This was the entry of one Catholic church, but I forgot which one.
The only thing I don't like about the lake is that the water has a very fishy smell. I could not stay near it for more than five minutes without gagging, sorry. Not sure what measures can be taken to clean the water though.
We were there late afternoon and also to relax after having lunch the next day at a nearby restaurant near the park. So while digesting our food, we took the time to stroll leisurely on other areas of the park we did not see the day before.
I did not even take a picture of all the displays. I just took some! If I took everything, my niece would have probably dragged me away already. But she was also having a great time looking at the displays.
Flowers just have a way of relaxing the eyes and the mind and heart of a person. Nuff said.
I know in Manila there are not a lot of places where people can go in for free and enjoy parks like this. If there are, I believe more people would go out more and enjoy nature, not spending their days in malls.
I think some people are blessed with hands that can grow anything like these flowers and plants. Others, try as they might, the plants just die no matter what they do.
Of course we can only dream of having gardens like this if we have a spacious outdoor area.
And you know what, the park is also filled with stalls that sell all kinds of food! So if you are travelling on a budget and not have enough money to eat in a fancy restaurant, a meal at the park is enough. There are burgers, pizzas, corns, barbecues, shawarma, and everything else. You can just buy something and go sit on one of the benches and enjoy your meal.
Succulents were used to spell out the words God bless our home.
This is the area where one can just spread a picnic blanket, or just sit on the grass under the shade of the trees and enjoy the cool breeze.
This area is near the bike rental place, and we enjoyed green mangoes soaked in vinegar, sprinkled with salt and chilli powder. Yum! We just ate lunch but I guess we had room for mangoes!
I should have rotated the picture so the heart shape is better seen but I did not, so enjoy!
It was almost dusk when I took this picture. We just passed by as we were looking where to take the jeepney to where we were gonna have dinner at, and there will be posts about the restaurants we ate in of course!
These are the only orchids I saw as we did not have time to visit the park's orchidarium.
This is the area near the rose garden. As yo can see, there are quite a lot of people seated.
The bike rental area. So if you're just learning to ride a bike, you can learn it here.
First picture is of the lake, and the last picture is of the lake. If you're anywhere in Baguio and you want to visit Burnham Park, you can just take any jeepney that goes to Plaza. It will surely pass Burnham Park. Fare is just P8.50.
It's going to be Panangbenga festival this week, so there will be lots and lots of people congregating in the city. That's why I traveled earlier so as to avoid the crowds and avoid the heavy traffic.
Stay tuned for the next post and for more travel articles, please go to this page.
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