Burnham Park Lake Is Open — First Look From Opening Morning

I walked five rounds of the lake this morning. Five laps. That is my daily thing when the rain stays away, and today it started at 6:30.

Opening day did not look like the brochure. There was already a crowd when I got there — people who wanted to be the first to see the new lake. The boats were on the water, roughly fifty of them sitting there, but they were still being set up. No one was renting yet at six in the morning; renting started later in the day, once the crews finished.

The photos on this page are that exact morning, taken as I walked the loop. This is the lake as it opened, not a rendering from a better year. It is grey and a little misty, and it is real.

I will be honest about the state of it. The lake opened on schedule, and it looks genuinely good — the water is back, the shoreline is tidy, and there is a real feeling that the park finally caught up with itself. That part is real.

What was not finished: there was still a lot of cleaning going on earlier. The crews were out, the edges were being tidied, and a few things were clearly still being readied when the first visitors walked in. It is open. It is not one hundred percent polished. That is the honest caveat, and it matters if you show up expecting a finished postcard.

The boats tell the same story. About fifty of them on the water, waiting. They rent later in the day once they are ready, and you can also rent bikes near the lake. I did not catch the boat price posted when I was there, so I will not guess it — ask at the dock when you go.

Here is the honest route, because it is the whole point of staying with us. From the gate at 92 Valenzuela Street, it is ten minutes on foot to Burnham Park. Go the other way and it is three minutes to Session Road, and three minutes to SM City Baguio.

Those numbers are measured, not advertised. On a morning I wake at six, take a black coffee and my vitamins — including vitamin D — and walk three minutes to Session Road first, then another eight or so to Burnham. I do the two-hour loop and walk back. The whole thing is on foot, and the rain is the only thing that ever stops it.

What to bring: an umbrella for the mist, comfortable shoes for the loop, and your camera for the boats. In September the light off the lake is soft and grey, and it photographs better than you would think.

The advice I keep giving, and the advice I would give you: come on a weekday.

Weekdays are when the lake is actually enjoyable — fewer people, shorter waits, you can take the loop at your own pace. Weekends it will be crowded, as it always is with a freshly reopened lake. Opening week is the worst for crowds; the people who have been waiting for this are all coming now.

That is not a reason to stay away. It is a reason to pick your day. If the only day you have is a Saturday, go early, do your loop, and be glad you were there — just know you will be sharing the shoreline.

The honest version: everybody can visit the lake right now. It is open, it is walkable, and there is no reason to wait. Whether it is your first time or your hundredth, the new lake is worth the loop.

What changes is where you sleep. If Burnham is the reason you came, stay where Burnham is walkable. Our place is ten minutes to the lake, three minutes to Session Road, and three minutes to SM — which means you can do the lake in the morning and the city on foot the rest of the day. That is what staying central is for.

To book: message facebook.com/vosbaguio with your dates and headcount. A 30% deposit via GCash or BPI holds the room, the balance is on arrival, and rooms run from ₱799 a night.