Citylight Hotel in Baguio

Baguio has always been my favorite city in the Philippines. Baguio brings back childhood memories when my parents would bring me here and we would buy wooden toys and knitted sweaters. When I entered college, I studied in UP College Baguio and so the memories piled up that there are times I cannot bear to contain them anymore. Studying in Baguio has seen me grow from being a child to a young adult. Living away from my family became less dreadful because the fact that I am living in Baguio. It is the city that ushered my independence and has helped me a lot with regards to my self-confidence. It is where I met my dorm roommates who are now my lifelong friends. Baguio has seen me in aspects I myself did not realize I have in my personality. And even long after I left Baguio and pursued the rest of my college education here in UP Diliman, I always go back to Baguio just to reminisce and feel the cool breeze Baguio is well known for.

However, looking for a place to stay in Baguio has always been a hit and miss. Despite the fact that I always return, I do not have a particular hotel or BnB that I can always vouch for. I've stayed in so many hotels in Baguio but there's still none that I want to return to again. Anyway, for our most recent trip, we opted to stay in Citylight Hotel along Gen. Luna Road upon the recommendation of my mom.

Location wise, it is near the Katedral ng Baguio, and walking distance to Session Road. However, because the road is steep (as most Baguio roads are), it is quite inconvenient for a senior citizen, or parents with little kids to walk to and from the hotel. Hailing a cab can be quite a challenge especially during weekends. Because Gen. Luna isn't along the main thoroughfare, only a handful of cabs pass along it, and they most of the time have passengers.

Lobby is quite impressive considering Baguio hotel standards. It is spacious and welcoming and they have nice, new couches. There is free wifi in the lobby and free coffee and juice is overflowing.

The room that we chose is indeed spacious. Having stayed in hotels in Hongkong and Singapore, I am used to small rooms where you almost have no space to place your luggages. Citylight's rooms are huge, and the beds are, too! Upon booking, we know we are staying in a room with two queen sized beds.But upon entering, we find the queen sized beds can pass for a king-sized. The room is clean and new and they have not much decorations, which is a thumbs up for me. Faucet and shower are working, though a bidet could've been helpful. The only downside was that we were given a room with no view. And since it was only a second floor room, our windows, when opened, do not give us the fresh, cool Baguio air.

Breakfast buffet, I believe is one of the things this hotel is known for. They have a wide spread of choices and they accommodate walk-ins. Because of this, they hold the said buffet both in their in-house restaurant on the ground floor as well as on the penthouse. The ambience at the penthouse is far relaxing than on the ground, though.



All in all, it was a nice stay. It wasn't amazing, but yes, I would still recommend the place if you don't mind the walking. We found this out the hard way especially on our last day in the city, when we had lots of shopping bags and loads of fresh produce from the market with us and we couldn't book a taxi.

I Miss Baguio

My childhood has lots of wonderful memories of Baguio. That's why when I was choosing a UP campus when I was applying for college, I wrote the Baguio campus of the University of the Philippines as my first choice. I was ecstatic when I passed. Thus, I spent the first one and a half years of my college life in Baguio, but because I got bored with Journalism and realized I wanted to pursue Film Making, I transferred to UP Diliman. But I kept going back to Baguio even after that. I even wrote a show where we had a week's worth of episodes shot in Baguio. My co-writer Andrew and I went up and enjoyed a Baguio vacation for free. Shortly before I got married, my family and then fiance spent a weekend there and that was it. That was the last time I was there. This summer, with all the activities and visitors coming over, I couldn't squeeze in even just two days of Baguio. I long to go there even for a weekend, I hope I get to visit the city of Pines and introduce it to my daughter this summer.