Panagbenga Survival Tips
February 7, 2007 by lisa
Filed under panagbenga
Note: Although this post was original written a few years back, it is regularly checked for relevancy and updated.
I did a bit of blogrolling to check out sites that reference Baguio on Technorati today, and found quite a lot of Multiply sites that kept announcing excitedly, “Baguio, here I come!” And it was very heartening to note that folks, especially the young ones, still look forward to coming up for the Baguio Flower Festival (Panagbenga) despite concerns in recent years about how crowded it gets, how there’s no parking, etc.
Maybe I’ve just been listening to folks who expect to just relax in Baguio each time they come up. Of course it’s crowded! And that’s to be expected because the Panagbenga rose quickly to the top of the Philippines’ fiesta calendar in just a few year after it was founded in 1995.
February can never really be relaxing anymore as:
1. Valentines Day has tens of thousands of college students swarming all over the malls and squeezing into restaurants
2. PMA Week (2nd week of Feb) sees the gentlemen (and ladies) and their families coming up for the Alumni Homecoming
3. The Panagbenga, which is held the whole month and peaks on the 3rd weekend, is exciting, vibrant, eventful with many things going on at the same time. With Baguio being such a small place, and with almost all activities centered on Session Road & Burnham Park, expect that tens of thousands of people will squeeze into available spaces in these areas to catch a glimpse of the parades.
So here are tips for enjoying the Panagbenga:
A. Before coming up, know that you will be doing a lot of walking, so –
1. Plan your itinerary – check out the events schedules and their locations so you don’t “zigzag” across Baguio. Should you want to tour the Summer Capital while during your Panagbenga visit, then you may want to check out tour itineraries that will allow you to explore the city on your own.
2. Book your lodging accommodations as early as possible – those who think there will be suitable rooms available upon their arrival should think again , especially with young kids in tow, and with chilly weather like this. As much as possible select an inn or hotel along Session (also roads like Governor Pack, Calderon, Assumption, Abanao) or Burnham Park (Kisad & Legarda), at most 1km away like those along Leonard Wood, Navy & CM Recto, Upper Session & Military Cut-Off.
I have grouped Baguio hotels as to location types to help you select a suitable area to stay in first, then choose lodging from among those available in the area you have selected.
3. Check the weather a few days before your trip so you know what to pack. Here’s a searchable weather sticker and 5-day forecast.
4. Pack comfortable walking shoes – know that there will be very little or no parking in the festival event areas, that your car can only take you as close as possible and then turn back. Traffic to Session & Burnham will be bumper-to-bumper and you may want to get off and walk the rest of the way.
B. While you’re here –
1. Get your supplies from the groceries and market early if you intend to do your own cooking. Plan your meals so you can save. For your reference, please check “Eat-in or Dine-out? and Baguio Restaurants.
2. Secure your belongings. You’ll never know … with large crowds come our “transient” thieves (those who hit our guests one-time and scurry back down to the lowlands). Wear your backpack in front.
3. Be conscious of your personal safety — If you’re staying in congested residential area (lots of transient homes are located there) remember that many will be in a drunken holiday mood and so do not walk alone, and avoid passing those sari-sari-store-and-monobloc-table-by-the-road-gin drinkers. Walk in groups and limit yourselves to well-lit areas.
4. Expect a huge crowd always. In case you get agoraphobic, escape to Camp John Hay.
5. Be early during the parade days. If you’re watching the parades on Session Road, secure a seat early on the 2nd floor (find a suitable restaurant and stay there) so you get an unimpeded view. If you choose to stay on the sidewalk, you will be many persons deep. Know that the floats, streetdancers, bands will all end up at the Melvin Jones grandstand so that’s a good place to watch from, too.
Harrison Road and Burnham Park are good areas to watch the parades from, although for the streetdancing and band parades, the performers will be probably a little tired by the time they get there.
6. Meeting pretty girls. If you spot a pretty girl in a bar, think twice about even talking to her as an insecure “taga-Baguio-yata-ako-and-I-belong-to-a-gang” boyfriend or suitor might get offended and challenge you to a “duel” (this means he has a whole group backing him up). The best way to meet a girl is during the day, and make plans to meet up with her and the all-girl barkada later in a nice, wholesome area like Camp John Hay or Session Road or maybe to have a barbecue at your vacation home and just party there.
Avoid Nevada Square and Legarda Road bars as the good-for-nothing-boys-spoiling-for-a-fight are there nightly, unless you are a large group. A relatively safe yet happenin’ bar to go to will be Dug Out on Leonard Wood Road and tell Chris, the owner, you’re there because Lisa recommended it. He should keep watch over you in that case.
7. Parade TV coverages. If you miss out on parts of the parades, know that you can probably watch them on TV that night or the next day, but this time you will have to suffer the shallow commentators that the TV stations assign to cover these events. The older folks may prefer to stay home and avoid the crowds and watch the event coverage instead, but lemme tell you, there’s nothing like being there yourself!
8. Ride taxi cabs to get around. The best way to get around during the Panagbenga is a combination of cab rides and walking. Consider taking cabs to move around in, especially in the Central Business District (Session, Harrison, Magsaysay, Bonifacio, Abanao) as you can just get on and off whenever you want. Plus flagdown is just Php35 and drivers give you the exact change.
9. Bring an umbrella, whether or not it’s going to rain. An umbrella can act as your walking stick, you see. Plus our skies are so clear, there’s so much direct sunlight at midday. February was chosen for the Panagbenga because the weather is generally great, except that one year that it literally “rained on our parade,” 2001, I think.
10. Consider coming up a day early, or staying an extra day, so that you can enjoy Baguio some more — as the Panagbenga events may be so hectic that you will not be able to take in the other sites and delights of Baguio, plus, immediately after the popular parade dates for which most visitors come, Session Road in Bloom immediately starts, and this street festival can be a lot of fun too!
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Hi Lisa,
It’s great this blog is up! Time flew by fast, I didn’t realize it was flower fest already.
You have great tips for people who want to visit Baguio. Very sensible too
.
Hello Tina,
Yup, a working WordPress blog finally! Thanks for your tips and encouragement. Really helped.
i shudder to think how this year’s panagbenga will be exploited by campaigning politicians.
maybe we should cancel it during election season
i so agree with you, nash.
when it rained cats and dogs in 2001 on parade day and the local government officials, who were the organizers, then declared “the show must go on” and forced the little kids to dance barefoot in the rain, it was because they were trying to accommodate all the politicians who wanted high visibility by marching down session road and waving at the crowds.
payback? the ruling baguio party lost the elections that year (except for congressman domogan), despite paying the kids P300 each for risking pneumonia.
i think we don’t have to cancel the event during election year, though, just cancel the politicking. no one should be allowed to march during the parade on foot if they are not contestants.
i once shouted down gordon and aquino-oreta one time because they held up the parade and were distributing campaign leaflets. i tore one in front of their faces. i think the organisers will be under pressure to allow the senatoriables to join the big parade. i hope they will ban them from walking…it should be a no-campaign zone.
even the banners of globe and smart get annoyingly larger each year.
gma always says she will come but she cancels the last minute because she knows she will be heckled big time. a lot of us still don’t forgive her for using baguio rizal park to give her big lie.
the panagbenga has gone astray….i think it should be scrapped….
thanks for the insights and tips!
will be going up there this weekend and with my wifey and two kids in tow, your tips are priceless.
cheers!
nox
Hi Nash,
If we scrapped it, we’ll have nothing to do in February! It just has to be managed better …
For those who want a more relaxing Baguio, March promises to be quiet as Holy Week’s on April yet.
Hello Nox,
Thanks for dropping by. Can’t wait for the photos you will take this weekend. Hope you publish some on your site. If you need anything while you’re in Baguio, just let me know. Enjoy!
Lisa,
May I know the exact date of the parade?
thanks!
The Parades are scheduled for Feb 23 & 24, 2008. For your reference:
1. Baguio Festivals & Events
2. Panagbenga 2008
hi!! it’s nice to know that someone is able to share BAGUIO in the blogshere. I’m also based here in baguio..and i’m quite glad to know that i’m not the only one..
hi lisa! we’ll be going up there this Panagbenga 2008, and this is very useful for us. thanks for your tips!
i love baguio,,may i know the artist who will participate on feb.23-24. 2008 thanks!
thanks for your effort to bring out the best of baguio,,im your fan,,
i enjoy reading all the articles. im so impressed! can’t say anything more but..great! and thanks too! for the tips, i’m sure our vacation here will be unforgettable esp. for my four kids. god speed.
Lisa.. can you email me the exact date of the festival for 2009. Thanks
Hello, everybody who commented on this post in February 2008 — it seems I wan’t able to reply to anyone at all at that time. February is always uber-busy because of the Panagbenga!
Hiya James,
No schedules out yet — the organizers, would you believe, release specific event dates just a few weeks before. That’s something we tackled in Suggestions for a Better Panagbenga.
But please know that the parade weekend is usually on the 3rd week of Feb. Session Road in Bloom on the last week of Feb.
GoBaguio! usually has all the events listed as soon as they are out. Please check http”//www.gobaguio.com/events.html
hi.. my college friends were planning to go to bagiuo this 17th to 19th of the month.. may iask when is the panagbenga festival and what activities we can do with low cost but unforgettable?… thanks..
Hi Anna,
The Panagbenga happens in February with the 3rd weekend being the most fun. All you need to know about having a low cost but unforgettable experience in Baguio can be found at http://www.gobaguio.com
hi,
I and my hubby are planning to visit Baguio this FEb 28- March 2 for our anniversary. May I know which dates are the busiest so we can atleast adjust our travel dates for a more relaxing Baguio.
I heard that the Fluvial Parade will be on March 1, will that be the busiest day/event ?
Hi,
OOOps… March 1 will ne the Floral Float Parade not Fluvial… sorry…
Hi Chaz,
That will be the busiest weekend of all. I just published the Panagbenga 2009 Schedule of Events at GoBaguio! Feb 28 and March 1 are the Grand Parades. Hope this helps, and happy anniversary!
Hi Lisa,
Oh my gosh, I’m getting addicted to your site now! What’s in “The Fluvial” parade? I’m returning here (US) the 21st of February, so I’m going to miss the Grand Parade on the 28th. Now that I know the main event is on the third week of the month, I’ll schedule my next visit that time then.
Thank you.
Hi Aurora,
THe Fluvial Parade is held in the lagoon at Burnham Park where all the boats are dolled up with flowers. While at Burnham, you can also visit Market Encounter (which is a flea market) and the Landscaping Competition Exhibit, which is usually held there, too.
p.s. Its alright to be addicted to the site, hahaha, a few others are too (check the posts and see regular commenters there). It actually serves as a forum for discussion for all those who love Baguio City and a way to show our concern for it.
hi liz BIG tenkz to ur blog..
me and my friends are scheduled to go to baguio dz feb 21&22 coz we thought itz when the big event will be held.. and found out that 28&1 is the busiest day of fest.. gez we should talk about it again for rescheduling our stay there..
and glad that my friends suggested to reserved our accomodations like u said,,
lots of people will be staying there for this fest.. tenkz tenkz LIZ..
hmm liz izzit ok if i post this helpful blog in my site..
il give credit to u of course and link them to ur page for other questions..
tenkz more power..
Hi Cyndz,
Even I expected that the grand parades would be held on the 3rd week, as usual. It is rare for the organizers to set them back so late in the month. Good to book your lodging now, there’s still enough time to have a choice of hotels or inns.
You’re very welcome to post a link to this site at your blog, or even cite excerpts of articles with a link to “read the full article” pointing to here using the proper url (ex. http”//www.i-baguio.com/panagbenga-survival-tips/). Copying the article in toto will cause search engines to penalize us for duplicate content, you see (mini SEO tutorial here
).
Thanks
OT: nakaka aliw the new way of spelling words now brought about by text messaging such as cndz. there’s even a bit of art into it.
Hiya Resty,
When comments are made in Filipino, I try to respond in Filipino. If Taglish, I feel entitled to do the same. But it was hard to do a mini SEO tutorial for linking posts with the letter Z – hahaha! I was so tempted, though.
Seriously, my mom was recently decrying the bastardization of the English & Filipino language (my sister was recently a juror at “And Talentadong Pilipino) and we got into a long discussion of how there was no such word as “talentado” plus it sounds more like “tarantado.”
But I argued, “Language is in constant state of evolution. Otherwise, we would all still be speaking Latin.”
I guess text messaging language could be compared to jazz somehow.
hello, how about the panagbenga park what will we expect to see there? are the retired parade floats displayed there? thanks. be going up there this weekend, hope it gets colder again cause this past few days it has been warmer here in manila.
Hi Andrew,
The Panagbenga Park is a tiny spot of land, right outside the old Camp John Hay main gate near South Drive, Upper Session and Loakan Roads, that is just a good place for a few folks to sit and read a book in, or talk. No floats on display there as the flowers will after a few days. The floats are usually on display at Burnham Park in the days after the parade.
The temperatures are still a very nice 15 degrees, nothing as “painful” as the 7.5 degrees last week, although I loved it!
thanks for the information, this site is really helpful. needless to say i always browse through your site months before going to baguio : )
Hi Andrew,
My pleasure!
Sometimes I use the excuse that I’m so bored here that I can afford the time to respond to most comments and emails; sometimes I tell folks that it gets tiring to answer constant questions offline from friends about traveling to Baguio which is why I started these sites for everyone’s reference, but really, honestly, I LOVE doing this — crowing about my the place I love the best in the world, learning how to create websites at my age, and basically documenting history for posterity.
hello its me again, by any chance do you know what time the maryknoll eco sanctuary opens? thanks again
Hiya Andrew,
Honestly, I don’t — but a good guess would be regular office hours. Thanks for asking it here though, other readers may know and respond.
This blog is really really helpful even if its already 2009. Notes were taken and your tips well kept. Thank you so much for being sensible enough to publish this entry!
Thank you!
Any transient to stay. un mura lang pls. atmalapit sa burnham
I was wondering what time does the street and float parade start? Does it start at the Athletic Bowl then doen Session Rd then back to the Bowl again?
Thanks
You’re welcome, Fudge!
Aldrink, find the information you need at http://www.gobaguio.com
Hi Wil,
The parades usually start from the top of Session Road (that’s why the crowds there are the thickest), passing the length of Harrison Road and ending up in Burnham Park. The grand parades are usually held in the morning, when the sun is kindest to the participants, so it would be good to head out early, ride to as close to the city center as possible and walk the rest of the way.
Hope this helps.
Thanks ever so much.
thanks, lisa… the information here is very helpful… keep up the good work!
hi lisa, my friends and I will be there in baguio on mar 3-5. Unfortunately,we will not be able to watch the floral parade, are there any more events after the parade. My friends are all balikbayan and it is their 1st time to go to baguio.I want this to be a memorable trip for them.pls help..thank you very much!
Hi topher,
Just check the Panagbenga schedule here. The 2009 Panagbenga festival runs till March 8 and I believe you will catch Session in Bloom which is a fun street festival.
thank you very much lisa.more power to you.your site is very helpful.
hi lisa,
We are going to Baguio this weekend for the panagbenga 2009. however we booked our bus transportation just recently so the only available bus schedule we got was for Saturday at 2am. I guess my main concern is if we arrive Baguio by 9 or 10am, we might not be able to catch the parade. would you know what time it usually starts?
By the way, what is the difference between the parade on SAT and the one on SUN, March 1?
We are really excited to go there so we want to maximize our time as much as possible.
thanks for such a wonderful site!
topher, you’re very much welcome!
sapphire,
the parade usually starts at the time you’ll be arriving, and folks secure their position hours before. may i suggest you head straight for burnham park, because that is the last stop for all competitors.
saturday is all about street dancing and bands, while sunday will feature all the floats. both are marvelous events.
Keep going good Liza with your bloguio.
Im a fan.
I just came today in Ireland from Baguio a day before the great Panagbenga.
Seems everything getting ready for the occasion when we get down.
We have a lot in Longlong, Benguet courtesy of SLU-SVP Housing Cooperative
in Bakakeng.
Our lot is situated almost top of the mountain and yet, on the very top,
a big building is also almost done…. a Korean building! that’s
how koreanized Baguio really is nowadays..
We’ll keep watching…
More power to you Liza.
Thanks, Hansito, and yes, we’ll all keep watching
Hi Lisa! I´m moving to Baguio soon to work and study, I´m still pretty young (20). I love your blogs and this website BTW! I was reading your part on meeting pretty girls and I LOL´ed (I will definitely get my butt kicked or kick some butt haha, It´s hard for me to stay away from pretty girls!)
I´m a little worried regarding the ¨gangs¨, can you give me some info on these gangs? I saw a movie called The Gran Torino the other day and those asian gangs really scared me! I hope it´s not like that.
Hi Brian,
The city has identified about 28 gangs and they call themselves “fraternities.” The juvenile gangs are populated by the most insecure, insignificant, insolent imbeciles and I suggest that, when you move up, take it easy on the night life and pretty ladies on your first couple of months till you meet some friends or colleagues who can tell you “who’s what” when you’re out partying.
I understand it is important for you young whippersnappers to adopt butt kicking as a way of life, but honestly, that’s too jologs for me. Puede ba? Excel in life, in work, in love, in everything but brawling — the latter is too caveman for me and this is the 21st century!
Good luck to you Brian!