Azalea Baguio: Your Home in the City of Pines

When you think of summer in the Philippines, you would immediately imagine white sand beaches and crystal blue seas. But did you know that the place that racks up the most local vacationers every year—even beating El Nido and Boracay—is actually high up the mountains and boasts of a year-round cool and breezy climate, making it the perfect escape from Manila’s scorching heat? It is no other than the City of Pines itself, Baguio City! And we’re so elated that we were able to cap off our summer in this lovely city, all thanks to Azalea Baguio!

Azalea Baguio Hotel Facade

One wonderful Tuesday in May, top fashion, food, and lifestyle bloggers were all hurled into three different vans for a long, butt-numbing 5-hour drive! Our destination? Azalea Hotels and Residences Baguio! Our mission? To visit the Summer Capital of the Philippines and enjoy one last summer getaway before we officially welcome the rainy season!

 

Azalea Hotels & Residences Baguio

Azalea Baguio is the first and only 4-star serviced apartment hotel in Baguio City. They have luxury suites that each come complete with their own kitchen, living, and bedroom areas. What I love most about Azalea Baguio is its proximity to the city’s top tourist attractions BUT, because it is far from the busyness of the city and not located directly along a major road, it is the best place you can book if you’re searching for some peace and quiet.

Azalea Baguio Hotel

The front desk welcomes you as you enter the main door into the hotel lobby. Behind it are their incredibly friendly staff who would be more than happy to assist you with your inquiries and requests.

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Marios Sunday Lunch Buffet

A few months ago, we went up to Baguio with a couple of fellow foodie friends and bloggers to celebrate Mario’s Restaurant‘s 40th year. Throughout our 2-day, 2-night stay, we enjoyed meals in their restaurant in Upper Session Road (watch out for part 2 of our feature). The whole Baguio trip concluded with a sumptuous meal at Mario’s Sunday Lunch Buffet.

Mario's Baguio, located at the Upper Session Road

Since this was an eat-all-you-can buffet, I initially thought that the dishes they’re going to serve won’t be the same as the ones on their regular menu. Most of the buffets we know only serve mediocre food compared to the items on their ala carte menu, but I was pleasantly surprised to know that Mario’s Sunday Lunch Buffet spread will give you a chance to enjoy their delicious regular menu dishes eat-all-you-can style.

Since I usually take a round of photos first before I eat, I initially planned on going to each buffet table armed with my camera. But, when I passed by the meat table, I couldn’t help, but pause my photo-taking. 😀

Cochinillo - roasted suckling pig

I went straight to get a serving of the Cochinillo, a suckling pig roasted to perfection! They serve this with lechon sauce, but the crispy, thick skin and the meat of the pig are flavorful enough on their own. I had to control myself and not get another serving of this. However, I couldn’t resist to take some from Ken’s plate when he went back for seconds. 😀

Roast Sirloin of Beef

They also have a big slab of Roast Sirloin of Beef, sliced as you order and then served with Brandied Peppercorn sauce.

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Vegetarian Delights at Bliss Cafe in Baguio

I cannot imagine myself ever becoming a vegetarian. I love meat. Just the sight of a thick, succulent slab of beef roasting on the grill makes me salivate like a rabid dog. But, that doesn’t necessarily mean vegetarian dishes have no place in our table. In fact, they are very welcome, especially when they’re as delicious and flavourful as the ones we had at Bliss Cafe located in Hotel Elizabeth, Baguio City.

Bliss Cafe, the brainchild of Jim Ward and his wife Chef Shanti, has finally found its third and, hopefully, permanent home in Hotel Elizabeth.

Bliss Cafe at Hotel Elizabeth in Baguio

In a corner of the hotel’s main lobby stands a door that opens to a small restaurant. Design pieces from various countries and cultures are perfectly placed into a controlled chaos, giving an atmosphere of being laid-back, peaceful, and eccentrically artistic. Jim informed us that the design of the restaurant changes every six weeks to provide different designers and artists a venue to feature their works. That’s pretty cool in our book. 🙂

The display inside Bliss Cafe

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Why You Should Stay at Hotel Elizabeth Baguio

In the first week of March, we were invited to go to Baguio by Mario’s restaurant in celebration of their 40th year. We were quite excited about it because it was the best way to escape the early summer heat here in Manila, especially after we found out that we were staying for 2 nights at the very luxurious Hotel Elizabeth.

Hotel Elizabeth in Baguio

Hotel Elizabeth Baguio, awarded as Baguio’s Hotel of the Year for 3 years, is managed by Fersal Hotel Group, the umbrella company that established Fersal Hotels here in Manila. Just by these facts alone, you’d expect a very memorable stay at the hotel. And that’s exactly what we got.

We arrived just in time for dinner at Hotel Elizabeth on a Friday night, March 9th. This was the day that they were also celebrating their 7th year as one of the top hotels in Baguio. We joined in the celebration and it was a truly fun night.

Hotel Elizabeth Baguio celebrates their 7th year

By the way, as soon as we made it to the hotel, we were all in awe at how beautiful it was. I had to take a photo of the hotel at night and just scroll down for the photo I took in the morning.

Hotel Elizabeth Baguio at night

I absolutely adore these gazebos (photo was taken on the 5th floor). And the breeze wasn’t just cool, but it smelled of pine trees. Ahhhhh…. Baguio! How I love thee… let me count the ways! 😉

The gazebos at night

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