Studying in Baguio
A mountain city at around 1,500 meters, cool all year, full of students, and a long way from the beach. Here is what living here is actually like for the months you are studying.
Most people picture the Philippines as sand and palm trees, then arrive in Baguio and find pine forest, morning fog and a jacket they did not pack.
That gap between expectation and reality is the single most useful thing to fix before you book. Baguio is not the tropical postcard, and the students who thrive here are the ones who wanted the other thing: cool air, a working city, and a term where the beach is not sitting outside the window asking questions.
The year, month by month
There is no bad month to study here, but there is a wet one and a bright one, and knowing which you are booking changes what you pack and what your weekends look like.
February is worth a special mention, because the Panagbenga flower festival fills the city for most of the month and Session Road closes to traffic for the street party at the end of it. It is the busiest and one of the best times to be here. The rainy months are not the washout people fear either: it rains hard and then stops, classes are indoors regardless, and the mountains are greener than at any other time of year.
The packing mistake everyone makes. Baguio is mild in the day and genuinely cold in the evening by Philippine standards. Bring a jacket and a couple of warm layers whatever month you arrive, and something waterproof if you are coming between June and October.
What the city gives you
Baguio is a real city rather than a resort strip, and that is the point. It has a working center, a university population that keeps it young and cheap, and enough going on that a term here does not feel like a retreat.
An absurd number of cafes
Baguio takes coffee seriously, partly because the mountains around it grow some. For a student this matters more than it sounds: quiet tables, wifi and somewhere to read that is not your room.
Parks and pine
Burnham Park sits in the middle of the city, Camp John Hay's pine forest on the edge of it. Both are ordinary parts of a weekend here rather than tourist outings.
The public market
Strawberries, woven cloth, silver, vegetables from the surrounding highlands. It is also the best cheap place in the city to practice English on strangers.
A student city
Baguio has one of the largest student populations in the country. You are not an unusual sight here, which makes it an easy place to be foreign and learning.
Where students actually go
Weekends split into three kinds. The first is the city itself: Session Road, the market, a park, a long lunch. The second is nearby: the strawberry farms in La Trinidad just outside town, the viewpoints on the ridge, the night market if you want to buy a jacket for the price of a coffee.
The third is the proper trip. San Juan in La Union is the surf town a few hours west, and the mountain villages to the north are the kind of place people plan a whole term around. Our own activities program runs trips through the term, and the field trip to San Juan post shows what one of those weekends looks like from the inside.
Living here, day to day
- English is used in signage, shops and offices across the country
- Jeepneys and taxis cover the city; the campus office can tell you the sensible routes
- ATMs and banks are easy to find once you are in the center
- A local SIM is cheap and worth getting in your first week
- Pharmacies and clinics are close; tell the office if you are unwell
- Evenings are cold enough that a jacket lives on the back of your chair
- Keep valuables out of sight and use registered transport late at night
- Tell campus staff before a first solo trip out of the city
Baguio or the beach: the honest version
Cebu and the island schools have something real to offer, and it is not our job to pretend otherwise. If your priority is diving on Sunday and studying around it, go there. What the highlands give you instead is an afternoon class you can concentrate in, evenings cool enough to study, and a city where the main entertainment happens to be talking to people. Students who come here for a score, or who have tried studying somewhere very pleasant and found out how little studying they did, tend to be the ones who understand the trade. We wrote the full comparison in Baguio or Cebu.
Questions about life in Baguio
What is the weather like in Baguio?+
When is the rainy season?+
Is Baguio a good place to study English?+
Do people speak English in Baguio?+
What is there to do at the weekend?+
Is Baguio safe for international students?+
What should I pack for Baguio?+
Come and see the mountain
If cool air and a city that leaves you room to study sounds right, the next questions are practical ones: when to fly, which airport, and how you get up here.