Things to Do at Session Road

Session Road slices across Baguio on a long, sloping diagonal, the kind of street where the city’s 5,000-foot altitude hits you in every lungful of cool, pine-scented air even at noon. It drops from the ridge near the hillside down toward Burnham Park, its flanks packed with commercial blocks whose faces swing from faded Art Deco to blunt concrete. Sidewalks are narrow and always shoulder-to-shoulder; the smell of roasting peanuts and ube pastries slips out of bakeries jammed between clothing stalls and banks. Jeepneys crawl uphill in first gear, chrome bumpers flashing under the thin mountain sun. Session Road has carried Baguio’s commerce since the American colonial period, and a walk still peels back decades—old cinemas reborn as department stores, second-floor canteens ladling the same bulalo since 1973, milk-tea bars shoehorned into every spare meter of ground floor. The rhythm is slower than Manila’s; people pause to window-shop, gnaw corn from street carts, duck into alleys that spill into wet markets where cleavers ring against tile. On Sundays the road closes to traffic and becomes a pedestrian runway—families develop chairs, kids race scooters down the center stripe, and the entire strip feels like a neighborhood block party held at cloud level.

From Manila, most travelers reach Baguio by bus—Victory Liner, Genesis, and Joy Bus all run frequent services from Cubao and Pasay terminals, with the trip taking five to six hours depending on traffic through the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway. Joy Bus's deluxe service is the most comfortable option for the long haul. Once in Baguio, Session Road is a short jeepney ride from the Governor Pack Road bus terminal—nearly every jeepney route in the city passes through or near Session Road, so just confirm with the driver. From Burnham Park, it's a five-minute walk uphill. Taxis are available but the city's one-way system and narrow streets mean walking is often faster for short distances. If you're driving, parking along Session Road itself is limited and competitive; the SM Baguio parking structure a few blocks away is a more reliable bet.