Baguio Attractions
Mines View Park
Baguio City started out as an American mining town in the early 20th Century, and one of its lasting attractions is Mines View Park.
A ridge located at the extreme northeast side of the city, past The Mansion and Wright Park, Mines View Park boasts of a spectacular view of Benguet's gold and copper mines and the Cordillera mountains.
The main attractions in Mines View Park nowadays would be the commercial activities such as the souvenir and silverworks stores by the park. The one especially worth visiting is Rimando's, that offers the best carved artifacts, on the Gibraltar side.
Tourists also have a chance to get dressed in full Cordillera regalia -- bahag, shield and spear for the men, tapis for the ladies, vests and headdresses for both.
A visit to Mines View Park would not be complete without a stop at the Good Shepherd Convent where
one can buy strawberry and ube jams, peanut and cashew brittle and other goodies. They also have a very nice view deck with the vista of the mountains of the Cordillera range as a backdrop for photos.
Mines View Park: Then & Now
On my first visit to Mines View Park in the early 1970s, the main attraction was throwing coins down the mountain ridge and having little children find them even through the smallest cracks of the earth below.
Later in the decade as residential communities started sprouting below the ridge, children used to catch the coins very deftly, using homemade cups on sticks.
Horses from Wright Park Riding Circle and Baguio Country Club used to be able to pass the area, so I would actually get off there, have some refreshments or do some quick shopping, get back on and head back downhill.
Nowadays visitors go down stone steps to the ridge to a look to the distance to the Cordillera Mountain Range, the "gazebo" is a little run down but is a still much photographed structure for its unique shape.
The souvenirs stalls are multiplying, extending to the sides of Gilbraltar Road Outlook Drive and many are located closer to the ridge itself. In general these are the same items that can be found in the dry goods section of the Baguio City Market but the selections are better.
One of the charming denizens of Mines View Park is a popular and friendly Saint Bernard named "Doglas" who is available, for about Php20.00, for picture-taking with tourists. It is interesting to note how in Baguio City, it is actually possible for a dog to feed his owner!
Pretty tourists from Manila shopping at the
souvenir stalls at Mines View Park
How to Get There
By private transportation: From Sesion Road, climb up and turn to Leonard Wood Road, past Teachers Camp and Botanical Garden, past the Pacdal Rotunda, and go straight up C. P. Romulo Drive past Wright Park Riding Circle and the The Mansion.
As the road climbing up curves left you will be on Outlook Drive (you will see Baguio Townhouse to the right and do not take the road going straight down to Itogon, Benguet) and Mines View Park will be at the top.
An alternative route will be to pass Gibraltar Road, which is to the left of Wright Park Riding Circle. When you see the Good Shepherd Convent to your left, Mines View Park is just a few meters away. This route is actually more direct, but C.P. Romulo Drive is way prettier, and you get to pass by some more popular Baguio attractions along the way
By Public Transportation: Public jeepneys are also available using the Plaza-Mines View line. You may also hire one of our many taxis cabs to take you there, and contract the driver by the hour or for the day. If your group is large, it may be better to hire a jeepney instead.
BAGUIO ATTRACTIONS NEAR MINES VIEW PARK: Wright Park Riding Circle, Wright Park, The Mansion, Good Shepherd Convent
Related Articles
- Travel & Transportation @Baguio Directory
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map of Baguio City to find the exact
location of Mines View Park.
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